# SMALL VAMPIRES - Picus the thief



## Boneman (Oct 28, 2011)

There's been talk on threads here (and in some presses) that the Vampire novel has been done to death (thanks a lot, Stephanie Meyer...) and that another series would be as welcome as a stake through the heart. Well, if that's true, it appears possible that not only might it rise from the dead, but it could live on for some time yet. 

Robin Bennett's *Picus the thief*, Book One of the Small Vampire series, is that seemingly-impossible take on the genre - funny, intelligent, imaginative storytelling, that mixes Arthurian legend with faeries and vampires, and comes up with a unique mix of all three. 

The book starts with the author's account of how the story came about. Robin Bennett runs a translation bureau in Henley-on-Thames, and was contacted by a customer who wanted him to translate three large volumes of work in an _unknown _tongue, and he would be paid handsomely to do it. Since 1997, he has worked on the translation and Picus the thief is the first result of those volumes. The fact that the customer was named Arnold Falaise-Palmer gives you the first clue that Robin is going to use language to entertain in more ways than simple narrative.  And in fashioning this relexivity he cleverly winds his threads into our world and the hidden world of the Small Vampires. There's a wonderful clue right at the beginning of the book that speaks volumes (no pun intended) of what is to come in future books, and it's clear there's trouble ahead. 

Because they're not the wicked creatures of Hollywood fantasies (thanks Stephanie...); they're the size of dragonflies, and the author tells us that we've almost certainly seen several and indeed been bitten by one or two right in our own back gardens, completely unawares. Only close inspection with a magnifying glass would reveal two bite marks, the mark of the Small Vampire. And the volumes Robin has translated are the secret history of that kind, a story _that started when the Empire of Man was still new and Vampires, the most powerful but also the best of all creatures, ruled with fairness, grace and good humour...   _

Which was _nearly two thousand years ago in the dense forest that surrounds an area known today as Transylvania. _Picus the Vampire, the thief of the title of the book, is fleeing in the rain, pursued by _the immensely powerful, fat and furious Vampire Raben;_ because Picus has stolen a dagger and property belonging to Raben, and he wants it back. Picus rationalises that he'd been cheated out of his money by Raben in the first place, by cheating at cards - _at least I'm honest about pinching stuff _-he thinks, as he's pursued.  And he uses magic to evade capture - although a talking wimp of a gem on the dagger's hilt tries to give him away. 

And this level of humour runs through the whole book - Picus is very Puck-like, and has a mischievous side to him that makes him a likeable and sympathetic hero. His fence, Arthur, commonly known as Art, is a cockney-talking wight, and gives Picus a commission to steal a misery ring - which has a live figure trapped inside it - from a long-dead vampire, in the best-protected crypt in the world. When he achieves it, with the help of his cousin Lark, it transpires that it had all beeen a setup, a test of his abilities, and he is charged with reclaiming a magical sword. The problem is, it was lent to humans a hundred years before and they never gave it back. And it's vital to the Hidden World, as they're slowly losing their magic. So Picus sets off on his grail-like quest to retrieve the sword. 

The book flows at a fast pace, with Picus chased all the way by Raben's agents, and ends up in Camelan Castle, where he meets Wink, the son of the king Uffa, and sets about trying to get the sword back. 

On one level the story will easily appeal to teenagers who will lap up the inventiveness that seems to be aimed directly at them. In so may ways it reminded me of Artemis Fowl, but it has a satisfying deeper level of political and historical intrigue running through it, with a relationship between Picus and his parents that Freud would approve of. I believe Adults will find echoes in the same way they did with The Hobbit - a book written for children and loved by children of all ages. Adult introspection is there from the start - at the beginning of each chapter there's an added 'footnote' discussing various aspects of Vampire history and observations on all kinds of matters. The very first says this: _The biggest mistake we Vampires and others in the Hidden Kingdom ever made was to hide away - for what you Humans cannot see, you fear and what you fear, you would make monsters of. _

The website for the Small Vampires says it's JK Rowling meets Jonathan Stroud, which is a very accurate representation, and I'm hopeful that the story will darken more, in the same way the Lord of the Rings (and the Harry Potter stories) did. And (as with HP)  I have a feeling those teenage readers will move into adulthood as they read the series, and still love it, probably get more out of it when it's read again as an adult.

I hope Robin can keep the pace up, that he has set himself, because he's set a benchmark that will be hard to follow. Volume 2 is out next summer.


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## Boneman (Oct 31, 2011)

I ommitted to point out that there is a Kindle Version as well as Apple to download (and hence a lot cheaper). Personally, I still want a book in my hand, so I'll continue to pay, and find room shelf - somewhere...


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