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Paperback
Publisher: Alyson Books
"I’d be damned if I would ever worship their God of unconditional forgiveness. Mine was the Old Testament’s God of justice—the God who had exposed the lascivious elders of Babylon plotting the ruin of Susannah, the God who fortified yound David against a giant Philistine. . . . They were flesh and blood, they prized their own worth, and asserted it, even to the point of bloodshed. What God brought out of their revenge for Israel or anyone else was not their concern. Who knows the mind of God? Man’s business is to know his own mind, and he sins when he ignores its commands."—from Chapter Four In Madrid at the age of 7, Juan Ramon Fuertes witnesses the murder of his parents by two thugs supervised by his father’s business partner, Martin Esteban. His identification of the murderers dismissed by the police, the boy vows to avenge his parents. Sustained by his lust for revenge, Juan Ramon endures years of abuse in a Spanish orphanage, where he follows the movements of Esteban in news reports, eventually noticing Esteban’s beautiful and pious son, Bernardo. Later, when Bernardo begins training as a monk, Juan Ramon’s plan crystallizes: Use the son to get the father. With cool calculation, Juan Ramon begins monastic training, finally entering Bernardo’s monastery in Toledo as Father Juan Ramon. Sensing Bernardo’s attraction to him, Juan Ramon seduces the young monk to gain access to Esteban. Gradually enthralling the devout, troubled Bernardo, Juan Ramon pursues the two thugs while planning Esteban’s murder. But all his schemes for justice hit an unforeseen snag when the fierce avenger falls in love with his tortured protege. Told from the points of view of both Juan Ramon and Bernardo, Blood Brothers explores the fascinating mixture of lust, love, spirituality, and revenge underlying the mutual seduction of a holy monk and his unholy brother. Michael Schiefelbein has lived in Italy and Washington, D.C., and now resides in Memphis, Tennessee, where he is a professor of writing and literature. He is also the author of Vampire Vow.
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| an utterly amazing book |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I found this book during one of my walks through listmania, and decided to buy it when I read the reviews. It was a great decision, because I have read a very well crafted book. The only criticism I have is that it is too short :)
The premise of the book has been explained in other comments, so I will not get into that, but I do want to say, that if you are longing for a good, very well crafted, book, then look no further. I really hope there is going to come a sequel to this one, because I want to read more on these characters.
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| blasphemous |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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A word of caution: this is not a book for everyone. The homosexual sex is very explicit and the author's ideas about religion are very peculiar and might sound extremely disturbing for believers.
The first problem of this book is its cover pic which, though pleasant in itself, is hardly related to the content.
As I mentioned above there is a lot of explicit sex but this is hardly a porn. As is the case in his vampire trilogy Mr Schiefelbein's main interest is (catholic) religion. He focuses on monastic life to underline his spite for the traditional catholic vision of religious life. He makes his dislike very clear but gives us very few hints about what his personal opinions might be to let us think for ourselves instead.
The plot in itself is not particularly original for those readers who have already read "Vampire Vow": Juan Ramon is clearly Victor's younger brother; his rage, his iconoclastic fury are much the same. The sweet Bernardo is the twin of the two innocent monks of the other trilogy.
What makes this short novel worth reading is the astonishing quality of the writing: much the same you find in "Vampire Vow" with the addition of the stylistically most interesting shifting between the two narrators you find in the later "Vampire Thrall". Not a word wasted, every turn of phrase deceivingly simple.
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| What monks really think? |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I have been trying to get this book forever, and finally I got it and read it in one day. It's only about 200 something pages, which is very short in comparison to other books I read.
Though short, this novel is very interesting and present us with, if not the secrets, the hidden thoughts of monks. How they think and struggle and what they have to sacrifice for faith. In the book we see the extremes of the two monk heroes: Bernardo, who is extremely pious and tries despretly to abstain from even touching himself at night, and when he does he prays and confesses like no other; and Juan Ramon, for whom any piece of ass would do just fine.
The two get tangled up together in lies and deceipt. Bernardo loves Juan Ramon, but uses him to get the monk's father back for kiling his family. Juan Ramon is delibretely rough during sex and hurts Bernardo in his frenzy, but Bernardo takes it without complaint. Poor Bernardo is still a saint, in the sense that he submmits like a quiet puppy all in the name for love.
When everything seems to fit his plan perfectly, Juan Ramon falls in love with Bernardo and has second thoughts about everything. Now things are not so clear anymore, but the ending got me wanting to read more. It was too short, I thought.
I really hope that Michael will write a sequal as he did for "Vampire Vow".
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| Theology, Eroticism, Violence, and Passion |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I read a review of this book, and thought it would be quite interesting to read a book that combines so many atypical characteristics and themes for gay literature. At seven years old, Juan Ramon Fuertes watches his mother be raped and killed, sees his father shot dead, and is cast aside by the murderer, a man he can name and remember, but who has enough power to pass by the police. This boy grows, and plots revenge from the cold horrible orphanages he endures through adolescence.
He sees that the man who killed his parents has a son, Bernardo. Bernardo is entering a monastary to become a monk, and the plan for revenge begins. Juan Ramon will find a way to use the son to get to the father, and is willing to first pass through all the steps of becoming an ordained monk himself to do it.
The story alternates between Juan Ramon and Bernardo, the son of the murderer, and is absolutely packed with sexual tension, erotic prose, and dark emotion. Juan Ramon can sense the attraction Bernardo has for him, and slowly realizes his own feelings for Bernardo are growing to be more than usery, but with so much blood on everyone's hands, is the innocent Bernardo doomed? Written with some deep theological internal debate in Bernardo's voice, and even darker violent anger in Juan Ramon's, the libidinous charge that saturates this novel is just nail-biting. Ultimately, where the end of the novel goes is a sharp shock, and the characters are definitely true to themselves, though not in a way you might think. Good for fans of thrillers of any sort, but definitely a solid choice for fans of the gay genre written at its most sensual.
'Nathan
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| Great summer read... |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I was looking for some new authors and after reading the customer reviews decided to try this one. Excellent, starting Vampire Now, as a result of reading Blood Brothers, and even thinking about going to Spain....lol...
The writing is amazing, the depth of characters and the visual images he creates in such a short work captured me.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did...
Thanks..
Wolf
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