Dr. Greta Helsing Series by Vivian Shaw (Books1-2)

Hi guys!
So today I will be discussing (read: spoiling) the first two books of the Dr. Greta Helsing series, Strange Practice and Dreadful Company.  As anyone that has already talked to me about them knows, I liked Dreadful Company, the second book, far more than Strange Practice, number one (the book, not pee).  I thought the plot was better, and the side characters were more well-developed. In each paragraph, I will start out with a basic summary of the book, followed by my thoughts on the plot and characters.

In the spirit of synchronicity, I will start with Strange Practice.  In this book, we meet Dr. Greta Helsing, a medical doctor specializing in supernatural undead beings, such as vampires, demons, werewolves, mummies, and ghouls.  While these beings are mainly hidden amongst the rest of London, some choose to hide in plain sight like vampires, while others prefer to stay completely out of sight, such as ghouls that hide in the extensive tunnels under the city.  The book takes place in London, but it is heavily implied (and possibly stated; I don't remember every word of the book) that they exist all over the world.  This is later confirmed in the second book.  In her normal life, Greta runs a small clinic fixing up diseased and injured supernaturals.  She inherited the desire for this work, as well as many of her clients, from her father, a well-respected doctor to all manner of beings, That is, until the events of this book take place. Her main friends/patients in this book are Lord Edmund Ruthven (vampire), Fastitocalon (demon), Sir Francis Varney (vampyre, a vampire that reincarnates every full moon), and August Cranswell (a mere mortal).  Ruthven is an old-fashioned man with impeccable manners, a beautiful home, and good taste in coffee.  Varney is a darker, more mysterious character that is slowly falling in love with Dr. Helsing.  Fastitocalon has been a friend of Greta's family for years, and has been her protector ever since her father died.  In this book, human monks start attacking supernaturals, although there is no evidence that they are aware that they are supernaturals when they are assaulting them.  The first concern was that someone had figured out that they exist, and was trying to eliminate them, but this was disproven fairly early in the scheme of the book.  Dr. Helsing is attacked, after she begins to question what is going on.  She can sense evil lurking beneath the city, but spends the majority of the novel trying to discover what is going on.  As it turns out, the disturbance is a UV blue light that possesses the human monks to do its bidding.  It is eventually stopped by Greta and her friends, with the help of Samael (the real life devil).  Soooo... the characters get better developed in the second book, but in this book there is just enough character development, humor and compatibility to convince you to read the next book.  As for the plot, I thought the ending could have been something more than "a blue light made me do it."  Moreover, if the blue light possessed human minds in the sewers and tunnels, why didn't it effect the ghouls living there? The cop out answer might be that the ghouls don't like light, so they wouldn't go close enough to it to become entranced, but the book never really addresses it (that I remember).


On to Dreadful Company! In this novel, Greta is at a conference in Paris, and gets kidnapped by a new vampire (vampires that don't really follow the old rules) coven trying to get back at Ruthven for hurting their leader, Corvin.  This book addresses the unofficial vampire code of conduct.  For example, if you turn someone, you are supposed to train them how to be a vampire: how to feed, vampiric diseases, etc.  This comes into play when Greta learns that her captors have been turning people without explaining anything to them, expecting them to simply do as the leader of the coven says.  These vampires are the vampires of story, who kidnap people to throw elaborate parties where they suck them dry and then dispose of the bodies in the morning.  Unless Corvin likes one of them, in which case they get involuntarily turned into the latest member of the coven (breaking another vampire rule, stating that the person must want to be turned into a vampire).  One of these new vampires called Sophira amongst the coven (who have all changed their names to more vampiric ones per Covin's wishes), learns of these vampire rules from Dr. Helsing while she is in captivity. Many of these rules had been broken as they concern her, so Greta teaches her how to be a vampire.  Initially, she seems fairly weak, innocent, and subservient, but her strength of will grows throughout the book.  When one of the other vampires parties a little too hard, Greta is willing to help, despite the fact that they have been holding her captive for a few days at that point.  This vast amount of care for people other than herself helps Grisaille, Corvin's right hand man, to have second thoughts about what the coven has been doing.  Grisaille is portrayed at first as a dark, confident, and (in my opinion) sexy vampire, and as you learn more about him, you see that he is a better person than he initially appeared.  Ruthven and Varney come looking for Greta (Fatitocalon still being on break in Hell after the first book), but she is already well on her way to escape when they finally find her.  Of course they still want to get rid of the coven that has been plaguing Paris from the Catacombs under the city, so they release a hoarde of ghosts to help them fight the vampires.  Side plot time: These ghosts have been displaced from their resting grounds by the grave robbing of Lilith (the previously mentioned sick vampire that Greta helped), who was robbing graves in order to perform a summoning spell to summon supernatural pets to keep her company while Corvin mostly ignored her affections.  So time for the super satisfying resolution...  Dr. Helsing escapes the Parisian Catacombs right into the arms of her boyfriend Varney (yea, they got together) and St. Germain (the werewolf guardian of Paris' supernatural beings), and much to her surprise, Grisaille, who had been leading them to the back entrance to the lair in order to help her.  Of course, they still decide to go after the coven, and that's when the ghosts come in.  Greta makes sure Sophira, who's real name is Emily, gets out safely.  She also tries to help Grisaille with a terrifying wound after Corvin stabbed him in the back (literally).  Meanwhile the others are all fighting Corvin and his minions, while Fastitocalon helps get the ghost attack plan to work.  In the end, Grisaille survives, and is given the option to move in with Ruthven while he recovers, and seems to be planning to stay considerably longer than that in the epilogue.  Emily, who has shown an aptitude for Dr. Greta's work while helping Grisaille, becomes the head of a breeding program for the magical pets summoned by Lilith back in the barn at Varney's house in England.  Like, I said, super satisfying ending, and I would love to see the two new additions to the team in the next book, but I don't have high hopes for it, since the next book takes place at a mummy retreat outside Marseille. 

Up next we have the first two books of the Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan, A Natural History of Dragons and In the Tropic of Serpents.  See you soon-ish. Feel free to leave any comments/questions/thoughts/book ideas in the comments!
Dana