Forever and the Night
Review by The Mad Bibliographer, submitted on 1-Jan-1993

Adapted from "Vampires in Print" in The Vampire's Crypt #9 (Spring 1994).

Review by Cathy Krusberg

Linda Lael Miller. Forever and the Night (Berkley, 1993; $5.50/$6.99)

This book has everything -- everything you've ever seen before. There is Aidan Tremayne, the Tragic Hero Vampire who hates being what he is but lacks the courage to End It All. There is the Jealous, Possessive, Petty Bitch who made him what he is: Lisette, Queen of Vampires, who is recovering from Aidan's rejection and fully intends to Teach Him a Lesson. There is the heroine, ordinary human Neely Wallace. On top of being in love with a vampire, she knows a Senator's Secrets, and he has Powerful Friends who would like to Put Her Out Of The Way. Serving as point four of what might be merely a romantic triangle is the ancient yet boyish Valerian, who loves Aidan almost as much as he loves the vampire condition itself. Finally, shining like a beacon, there is Hope for Aidan: a possible way to Become Human Once Again! For merely *desiring* this secret guarded by the vampire Elders, Aidan risks being staked out in the sun: human-vampire liaisons are frowned upon in the vampire community. Faced with Lisette and her powers, Valerian and his blandishments, and the Elders' less than cordial attitude toward a vampire of *such* tastes, Aidan nonetheless remains Determined To Go Through With It, even preferring True Death to the Vampire Condition.

Despite all the cliches of plot and premise, Forever and the Night has many genuinely tender moments, sometimes courtesy unexpected sources (the best kind). Miller's characters and writing are often so intense that they overcome the goo their well-meaning author has laid upon them; they draw us into the charming thing that their story is meant to be rather than the pretentious and slapped-together travesty it often is. Valerian in particular upstages everyone else in his courage, his fondness for adventure -- and his unvampirically selfless love of Aidan.

In large part, however, Forever and the Night is formulaic, bits included because, well, because that's what is done. There have to be a few sex scenes, and so there are. The subplot of the sleazy senator has to be played out, and so it is (ominously, even Neely thinks her revelation of his secrets is too easy). The damsel must be rescued from threats to her life, and so she is; Aidan must undergo an ordeal, and so he does.

And so on. Instead of letting characters and their traits just be, Miller has hurt her story by forcing gimmick upon gimmick in an effort to wring the greatest emotional response from readers. My own emotional response to Forever and the Night is sorrow that a tale with such potential has been cheapened by its author's preference for the harsh glare of neon in a setting that begs for a gentle wash of pastels.