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Reviewed by C.R. Hurst for Readers' Favorite
If you enjoy reading historical intrigue with compelling characters told by a talented storyteller, look no further than Lucille Turner’s The Sultan, the Vampyr and the Soothsayer. This impressive novel transports readers to 15th-century Eastern Europe and the Ottoman Empire, where they meet Sultan Murad II and his son, Mehmet, whose political ambitions lead them to take hostage two sons of the Dracul family from Wallachia: Vlad and Radu. The older son, Vlad, has a mysterious illness that fans of the Dracula story will surely recognize. Despite this illness (or perhaps because of it), Vlad captures the attention of the soothsayer from the Sultan’s court, who cannot predict how the future may unfold for the Ottomans with a strigoli, better known as a vampyr, in their midst.
What I appreciated most about The Sultan, the Vampyr, and the Soothsayer was the complex world-building. Lucille Turner captures the religious zeal and quest for domination and revenge of an era rarely seen in historical fiction, where power was the ultimate goal for ambitious men. In addition, the characters are well-drawn, especially Vlad, who I thought (strangely enough) the most sympathetic of them all, because his motivations are personal, not political. Even the continual sense of menace captivated me. After all, Dracula’s reputation precedes him, and his story, both fictional and not, will continue to engage and frighten those readers who love books that embrace high drama. I wholeheartedly recommend The Sultan, the Vampyr and the Soothsayer.
