The Black Castle is number one in a five-book series. I picked it up because it looked like classic horror to me. Like Boris Karloff would be narrating. Of course, it was probably a subconscious thing as when I looked up the book online, I saw that there was a movie starring Boris Karloff called, The Black Castle.
The story takes place in Spain 1496. The Spanish Inquisition is going strong. I’m no historian so I don’t know how accurate this is but in the book the Inquisition was more about kicking out the Jews and non-Christians or killing them then about hunting down witches. There is actually a bit of historical characters in this book including appearances by Torquemada, The General Inquisitor and Christopher Columbus, who is made out to be a good guy who got a bum rap. Interesting.
Super dick Diego is the local Inquisitor. He wants more power. He wants to be known, famous and feared. Most importantly he really wants to catch some witches doing witch things and kill them.
He’s in luck when a local group of witches gets noticed by local tavern owning alcoholic tattle tale guy. Only one of the ladies was recognizable. Her name is Margarita. She once belonged to a wealthy family, but they were killed for being Jews. Apparently, if you renounced Judaism or whatever other religion you believed in and committed yourself to Christ you were allowed to stay in Spain. Of course, you were always being scrutinized and looked down upon as not real Christians. Boy howdy, this Les Daniels guy was not a fan of Christianity. He really lays it all down. These are some very evil, very stupid people.
So, Diego has caught his first real actual witch. He’s ecstatic. He heads on out to his family’s abandoned castle. Who’s there but his deceased brother, turned vampire, Sebastian. The two depend on each other. One for survival, the other for power. Diego lets his brother feed on the victims of the Inquisition. Sebastian is writing a book on witchcraft, monsters, the occult and the power of the devil in his brother’s name. Diego thinks the book will make him famous, which is ultimately what he wants. The brothers despise each other. Sebastain is by far the brighter of the two and is constantly mocking Diego and his hypocritical religion.
Back in the tombs Margarita the witch refuses to turn in any of her coven. She truly believes Satan is real and will come and rescue her. She is tough as nails and mean as fuck. I absolutely loved her. I saw what was coming a mile away and was counting down the pages until it happened.
Your hate for Diego and the Inquisition in this thing is powerful. Man, you want these bad guys to get what’s coming to them. Especially because you know that this was a real thing. It’s heartbreaking. What happens to the bad guys in this book just didn’t satisfy my desire to see them be absolutely destroyed. I needed more. Put them up on the fire and burn them alive. Put it out half way and do it again tomorrow. Yeah. This book gets you riled up.
The writing is on point. It flirts with romance but for a second. It’s a power struggle between good and evil. The author clearly having a stance on what true evil is. I loved it. But also I agree with it. The vampire parts weren’t corny but they also weren’t brutal gory monsters. There was a little of the classic tropes but not over the top. Ok, he did have to be invited in, which will always be corny but you know, it’s a vampire book. There has to be a little corn. I will say, even though I immensely enjoyed this, I don’t really have any desire to read the other four. Like a band where you just want one of their albums. It’s a really good album and it did the job. Put a stake in it.
Berkely 1978
Review by Nick Anderson
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