A devastating love story. A bewitching twist on history. A blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power, and redemption.
In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gévaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake.
Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of his indwelling demon, Sarmodel – who takes payment in living hearts – it nearly cost him his life to bring the monster down.
Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d’Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the promise of a reconciliation with Antoine, Sebastian cannot refuse.
But Gévaudan is not as he remembers it, and Sebastian’s unfinished business is everywhere he looks. Years of misery have driven the people to desperation, and France teeters on the edge of revolution. Sebastian’s arcane activities – not to mention his demonic counterpart – have also attracted the inquisitorial eye of the French clergy. And the Beast is poised to close his jaws around them all and plunge the continent into war.
Debut author Cameron Sullivan tears the heart out of history with this darkly entertaining retelling of the hunt for the Beast of Gévaudan. Lifting the veil on the hidden world behind our own, it reimagines the story of Europe, from Imperial Rome to Saint Jehanne d’Arc, the madness of Gilles de Rais and the first flickers of the French Revolution.
REVIEW
The Red Winter is all about for me, politics and power. Greed even, during the time when the seeds of Revolution are growing. And it makes me wonder whether the sequel will go into more darker truths. That that creature of the beast that is described, could be a creature from Celtic times. I would urge Cameron in the sequel to really explore French fantasy on this scale.
There is a rich world, a world hidden beneath the very corridors of power within France and it’s history. A history that no one dares to talk about; and that’s what our characters within this story are forced to confront. The path to power in France has always been murky. Sebastien has to deal with the clutches of what humanity can be. I can’t help but feel I want to read a prequel in the Medieval Era with those monsters actually existing.
French history itself is a very rich foundation for fantasy novels. I urge more authors to pick up French medieval mythology or stories. There’s a ton to be made upon this. Even the Bourbon Dynasty itself in its later stages is ripe for fantasy settings. The prose of this book is amazing. I loved every second of this book and I can’t wait to read book 2! I don’t wish to spoil the book for you. It is a journey you must take dear reader! You will not be disappointed!
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