The Review
I decided to read this book on a whim after reading this article: Meet the nun who writes Catholic vampire books. Unexpected headline, for sure.
We’ll start with a quick review, but charge into my head space for what I would do if vampires were real. Welcome to my book review of The Curse He Chose by Sister Allison Regina Gliot.
I’m not usually into vampires, outside of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, of course. I like more classical Middle Earth themed adventures. But how does a Catholic into fantasy pass up a book about vampires written by a nun?
And I am glad I did. I love the intertwining of vampire lore with Catholic theology. That was amazing. If you run into a vampire, it 100% makes sense that prayer would be the proper response, and that it would be effective.
I also enjoyed the characters. Everyone, from the main character, the main vampire, the worried sister, and the confused best friend, seemed like different people who would react to various things as they did. And that is a hard sell for a vampire book! I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened.
Is it perfect? No. In a surprise to no one, nuns may not be the most adept at writing fight scenes. I thought the pacing was a little off in the back quarter, but not enough to stop reading. And I have a pretty low bar to stop reading.
The long story short of this review is that if you’re Catholic and into fantasy, you’ll probably like this book. If you’re Christian and into fantasy, you’ll probably also like this book, but you might need to consult the appendix to figure out what in the world is happening around the Catholic stuff. Yes! An appendix! If you’re not a believer but want more vampires, you might still enjoy this book.
But the real reason I wanted to write this entry is to get down all the thoughts I had after reading the book. I would have handled the situation entirely differently! No direct spoilers ahead, but you might get hints as to the weapons used in the book.
Step One: Locate Priest
So let’s say vampires are real and they have decided to hunt me after I inadvertently interrupted their violence. This is decidedly bad. As mentioned above, prayer is a good way to go. And the protagonist did eventually go talk to a priest, but that is the first thing I’d do.
Why? Because if vampires exist, I’m sure Rome knows about it. The priest may not, but I imagine a Men in Black situation where if somebody were to call and inquire, there’d be a team dispatched immediately.
Oh yes, there’s a team. Wouldn’t know about vampires and not have an entire secret department for it, full of researchers and exorcists and probably a whole convent of nuns dedicated to praying about it.
This is a battle sister from the Warhammer 40k universe. I have a feeling they’d be pretty useful in this situation.
Hanging out at the Church
I think I’d just stay at the church. First of all, holy ground also seems effective. I would not want to leave. It isn’t 100% though, so daily Mass would be required.
As in the book, the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ. So daily communion would also be an effective weapon against any vampire looking for a quick snack. The Tabernacle is there, so I’d never be too far from the Real Presence regardless.
I would fill the time by memorizing the Bible. The Word of God is sharper than any sword, and has real power. Vampires aren’t fans.
I’d also be easier to find when the vampire special ops team showed up, so I could tell them I’m down to join that convent.
But that isn’t the Story
If I were the protagonist, I wouldn’t be for long. We’d end up following some team of an exorcist and a battle nun. The poor good-guy vampire in the novel would run off and we’d never see him again. I’d end up locked away in Italy, praying for the situation.
So it is good we did not follow a faithful 45 year old in this case, but I did have some fun thinking about it! What more could we ask for from a book? 9/10 for The Curse He Chose by Sister Allison Regina Gliot, would recommend.
Have you read this book? What did you think?
If you’d like to read some fiction right now, though lacking in the vampires or nuns department, make sure to check out my fanfiction.
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