I suddenly got to thinking about how many books I have in my tbr pile, how it's more than I'll probably ever read in my lifetime, and then I thought, why am I reading this book that I'm struggling through? Sure it has some elements that I like, but overall it was not an enjoyable experience, effort that I could have been putting elsewhere.

My main complaint about this novel is the terribly stilted dialogue, my goodness. Just because it's a historical novel doesn't mean the dialogue has to be stiff! ( )

Emma Andrews discovers all manner of horrors when she goes to visit relatives at sprawling estate in 1860s England. Haunted by her mother's madness and her own fears of suffering a similar fate, she must learn to trust her instincts when begins seeing things that no one else can. She and Valerian Fox must join forces to battle an ancient evil in order to save Emma's cousin, Henrietta, from a horrible fate. Along the way, she discovers the truth about her mother's madness, and therefore the truth about what she really is.

As a heroine, Emma leaves a bit to be desired. I stopped counting how many times she said, "I froze," or "I was helpless," etc., etc. She spends most of the book frozen and helpless. She has some flashes of kick-ass heroism and manages to keep Valerian, herself, and Henrietta from getting killed, but she could have done more. I understand that she is hampered by her lack of knowledge about her own past and her own powers, but a little less "woe is me, I don't know what to do" and a little more action would have been great. ( )

This is a gothic vampire story, set in the 1920s in England, with a young heroine who finds she's meant to be a vampire hunter. The vampire is in the horror vein. It was decent, not great, I'd pick up the sequel. ( )

I absolutely loved this book. You can read about it on my book blog here: http://keriansthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/08/jacqueline-lepore-descent-into-dust.... ( )

This book was not quite like the other vampire stories I've read. I did however really enjoy it. It has a little bit of freakiness and spookiness in it that came across in the written word really well. I enjoyed the suspense of the story and the pace as well. I don't usually like "period" books but the language and etiquette of the time frame didn't get in the way. In fact I think it worked quite well. I think this would be a great movie. I loved the main protagonist. She was strong and confident without being overbearing. The author showed her vulnerable side appropriately. I found her sister to be quite annoying, but I think that was the point. I thoroghly enjoyed to relationship between her and Mr. Fox. I thought the back and forth was great and it was subdued just enough no tto be annoying. I found this to be a more mature read than most of my recent choices and enjoyed the change. The story was great. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good old fashioned vampire hunting story. ( )