Review: Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter by A.E. Moorat

This Book Is About

My Thoughts On This Book

Have you ever wanted to see an enraged and desperate Queen Victoria in a high speed wagon chase, pursuing a carriage full of werewolves who have kidnapped her beloved Albert? Than is this ever your lucky day!

I really enjoyed Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter. The author did a lot of research and apparently based much of the personification of Victoria on her diary entries. The author’s note on historical accuracy at the back of the book reads…

Though I have of course played fast and loose with history, the main action of the book adheres as closely to the real-life events of Victoria’s life as humanly possible, given the demands of weaving in the fictional elements – though I have conflated some events and massaged certain timelines. Meanwhile, all anachronisms are intentional, even those that are note.

So, Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter is a historical fiction novel about the young Princess Alexandrina Victoria becoming Queen Victoria, but with the supernatural tied in via an insidious demon plot to take the throne and rule Britain. The book has romance, warrior women, and revanants (zombies). The story covers the span of several years, from the night the old King dies to a year or so after the birth of Queen Victoria’s second child. The Queen doesn’t do any demon hunting until the second section of the book, about halfway through, so I was pleased about that.

There are several strong women in the book, besides Queen Victoria. With demons a reality and a threat in this supernatural historical, there is a Royal Protektorate to serve as secret bodyguards to the monarch. The leader of the Protektorate is the amazing Margarete “Maggie” Brown, sword swinger without peer and wife of the historical John Brown. The Protektorate’s skilled and exotic archer, Vasquez, is a woman who runs across the tops of hedges in a maze while firing at moving werewolves in a very cinematic, Legolas kind of way.

The horror part of Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter comes in with the zombies. They’re initially part of a side plot that eventually becomes joined with the main plot. They eat people, as they’re wont to do. And the author, the sneaky, sneaky bastard, uses sparse descriptions of the horror scenes that give just enough detail to make the reader’s brain do all the work. Because, let’s face it, no one can work you into a freaked out state any better than your own imagination.

So, yeah, the book is pretty gory in places and I did get a little green during the first zombie feast. But the chapters are short and the horror-movie gore doesn’t last the whole chapter when it happens. So it’s easy to skim or skip over the icky bits and still read and enjoy.

There’s also a lot of dark humor that makes Queen Victoria even more entertaining. For instance, in one of the first chapters Maggie Brown is racing to Princess Victoria’s side just ahead of a pack of dark riders. She’s trying to remember everything she knows about them…

… Even to gaze upon an Acherider is to hasten your own death, she had been told…

On the other hand, perhaps it was the followers of Astaroth that one should never gaze upon? No, they had terrible breath; you should never inhale, for fear of making their breath your last. Then was it the Nephilim? She grinned despite herself, thinking of her old teacher burying his head in his hands, exasperated, ancient demonology texts tossed to the wall in frustration. …

My only real complaint with the book is that the third section is badly edited. There must have been a deadline issue because there are extra words in sentences, wrong pronouns, and the first chapter of this third of the novel doesn’t make much sense. The copy editing and proofreading phase should have caught all this. (bad EOS, no cookie for you!) It’s a minor annoyance, though.

I liked the ending and the author kept me guessing even WHILE I was reading it.

Oh, and one more thing… Maggie Brown is AWESOME!

Rating & Levels For This Book

I Give This Book 3 Vikings out of five	Violence Level 4 Burning Huts out of five	Romance Level 2 Hearts out of five
# of actual vikings in book: 0 What do these levels mean? »	Humor Level 1 Smiles out of five	Lust Level 2 Kisses out of five

Author and Publishing Information For This Book

Author & Book Details Title: Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter Author(s): A.E. Moorat ISBN#: 9780061976018 Genre(s): Historical fiction horror mashup Edition Reviewed: Trade paperback Illustrations: N/A Page Count: 304 Part of a Series: No

Publishing & Copyright Details Publisher(s): Eos Copyright: 2010, 2009 In Print: Yes Original Language: English Published in Other Languages: No Find a Local Book Store »

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One Response to “Review: Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter by A.E. Moorat”

1. Jessica says:

   May 17, 2010 at 5:26 pm

   Too funny! Bad editing and typos in books totally annoy me, too. I have been debating if I wanted to read this one or the Abe Lincoln, Vampire Slayer one … I might try Victoria though now that I know there are zombies involved.

   Great review, thanks!