Some time ago I reviewed Vampire Vow by Michael Schiefelbein. I said then that it was one of the best three gay themed books I’d read. Since then I actually rated it my number one all time favorite gay novel. Small wonder then that I was eager to dive into this book, another of Schiefelbein’s stories…eager but also a bit anxious lest I be disappointed. I wasn’t. Blood Brothers is good… great fun but not, I think, so many-layered as Vampire Vow.
Blood Brothers is set in contemporary Spain and deals with the interactions of two men both from upper class Spanish society. After being forced to witness his parents’ murder, Juan Ramon was raised in a nun-operated orphanage, attended college, seminary, and, as the story unfolds was ordained in the Roman Catholic Church. The storyline is one of long planned revenge.
Juan Ramon chooses to view God, Jesus, and the Church through eyes clouded by rage, hostility, violence, and misplaced self-reliance. For better or worse, all these negative feelings are focused, nay laser-directed, at killing the three men who raped, then killed his mother and murdered his father. In a sort of reverse history he replaces the primary teachings of Christianity with the “eye for an eye” Code of Hammarabi.
Juan Ramon plotted for years but never learned the lesson of “less-is-more.” When he has opportunity to employ the ringleader’s son as part of his revenge package he leaps at the chance.
The story is told in alternating chapters from the viewpoint of Juan Ramon and the young monk, Bernardo, son of the man most responsible for the deaths of his parents. Enough of the plot line, wonderful though it is.
The contrast here is initially between the active, ruthless Juan Ramon and his passive tool, Bernardo. The homoerotic passages are vivid, violent, and vengeful, certainly more lustful than loving…but wait… can love grow, then bloom amidst lust, rage, and overarching egocentrism? If you are into the leather scene you’ll experience these passages with cautious glee, but, I admit, such sexual aggression is not for everyone, nor even most of us.
The story is relatively short, like Vampire Vow, but tightly written with excellent character development. There is little doubt that Juan Ramon begins to experience love along with his lust and hyper-focused manipulation.
There is a short unremarkable passage that initially seems only to be of peripheral importance, yet it is pivotal in illustrating how the protagonist grows. He discovers almost to his own surprise that he needs to protect his lover, passive Bernardo. I wonder if perhaps a primary element of true love is the desire to protect, to shield the beloved.
The story ends I think, somewhat ambivalently. Optimist that I am, I see hope for Juan Ramon and Bernardo, however fragile.
Did I like Blood Brothers as well as Vampire Vow? Yes, but in a different way. Both stories have violent, raging protagonists whose sexual approaches often border on rape. Both protagonists are master manipulators of their environments and their sexual partners. Yet they are both sympathetic characters, neither of whom gets the happy ending they seek. For Juan Ramon one can always hope.
Like Vampire Vow, I could not put down Blood Brothers. Like Vow, I will no doubt re-read it, probably very soon.
I liked Blood Brothers and really recommend it. I do speculate through about the spiritual and emotional life of the author.