The double winner of the Grand Prize for Imagination has placed his new work under the cross auspices of Anne Rice, Alexandre Dumas and Quentin Tarantino. For “The intoxicating atmosphere”, for “The breath of epic adventure”, for “The frantic pace and the scenario cut with the scalpel”. The ambition was high. The result does not disappoint. So much this lush and cultivated story appears meaningful. Historical fantasy, raised to this level, certainly adds to the diversity of the literary landscape.
The adventure begins on August 31 of “the year of darkness 299”. In a remote city of Auvergne, Jeanne Froidelac, daughter of an apothecary, witnesses the massacre of her family by the henchmen of the one who, as soon as he died in 1715, benefited from a “transmutation” allowing her to prolong her reign indefinitely. Louis XIV, the Sun King, achieved immortality.
Now “King of Darkness”, for three centuries he has imposed a regime of terror on Europe. In a few pages, Victor Dixen displays the themes of an uchronia at the crossroads of the fantastic, of History and of a completely contemporary reflection, which constitute its palpitating material. This is because in this time that has become stagnant, the peoples are subject to a tithe of a particular nature: each month, one tenth of their blood is taken from them, which the aristocracy in power then drinks in order to perpetually regenerate itself. Following a new bloody episode, Jeanne took on the identity of a young nobleman of her age who fell victim to it. Then she fled and found herself in… Versailles. Victor Dixen then tightens his focus to gradually penetrate to the heart of the castle, in the dark room where, like Dracula, Louis “the Immutable” lies in a coffin during the day.
The vampire theme, which feeds the story from start to finish, refers here at the same time to Bram Stoker and to a whole literature of political criticism. The more so as a Fronde, savagely repressed, opposes the irremovable sovereign. An alliance of ambitious people, only eager to take their place, and more radical opponents of the system. Jeanne finds herself in the conspiracy. The episodes of his perilous journey, between horrors and brilliance, are linked to the rhythm of the galloping imagination of Victor Dixen. Without ever losing sight of the other dimension of the fight: “How to be young in a world threatened by the past? One of the very topical questions that give strength to this inventive and fascinating novel.
This lush and cultivated story appears to be meaningful.
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