Fevre Dream by GRRM: Mind Blowing

Repost since I got the book name wrong last time

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Gotta admit at the beginning I wasn’t so appealed.

The atmosphere is there for sure, but I didn’t see any difference between Julian and Joshua : they are both formidable, powerful and seemed to be doing shady deeds.

And Martin wasn’t particularly likable. The description of Mississippi River, the cities and the piloting though makes sense but too long.

Then around 1/4 the pacing really picked up and everything changed. It started with Martin taking actions to resolve his suspicions over Joshua. Then I was taken. What an honorable Vampire I thought , it’s not like any vampires I’ve encountered in any works. A lot of them are created as a powerful, extremely intelligent partner in romance yet this is the first time I’ve known a vampire that carries an agenda, to redeem, to save, to free his people. Omg.

Then it came to me: is GRRM using using Red Thirst as a metaphor? Is he implying slave owners are vampires, the slaves are cattle (vampire terminology)? Then Martin went to Toby, a slave cook of his boat, to share his changed view: he now supports abolition. Man, this is writing on a whole other level! It’s a great way to show the dynamics between Martin and Joshua, over their partnership: Joshua opening up by Martin’s insistence, Martin moved by Joshua’s mission. They two CHANGED because of each other. Such great writing, convincing character arcs!

From this moment on, I got sooooo into it. For several nights in a row, I read until my eyelids couldn’t hold anymore. The next part moves to Joshua’s dinner with Julian. Gotta say Joshua is a bit naive tbh, has he not be defeated before? How could he be so confident that he’s that bloodmaster of all bloodmasters? But this is Joshua, this is who he is.

Even after Marsh managed to get him out (it’s quite moving as well. Though Marsh said he’s saving the boat but I think he was deeply touched by Joshua’s belief and thus trying to rescue Joshua) Joshua refused to drink, refused to be dominated by red thirst again even if means he would have to return to Joshua. His determination, endurance at this moment made him almost  saint to me: how much would one sacrifice to achieve his belief? And it’s not even for his own good! 

Marsh never boasted what he believed , yet his devotion to save a vampire( yeah some other species that can slaughter him in seconds), in order to free other vampires (which has nothing to do with him) in great danger, if you don’t call that a hero, I don’t know what a hero is. In the last few chapters, after their final reunion, Marsh expressed deeply how he loved Fever Dream, then it occured to me, Joshua and Marsh they are the same kind of people: they both want to create, rather than consume. They want to make stuff, rather than exploit, compared to Julian. These two, have like the best and most memorible dydamics/ design. Great job, great job.

Other stuff I enjoyed:

1. The vibes, the air, the atmosphere.  With GRRM’ s writing it was as if the mystified, humid, hot, dense air of the cities along the river is touchable. I even had a nightmare one night, being chased by a vampire in a tight corridor. The writing is THAT good.

2. The way the story intwines with real history events. As I mentioned earlier Marsh had voted Lincoln and civil war eventually led to the freedom of slaves though it took another century for them to gain equal status in society (I’m not saying discrimination and inequality don’t exist no more, it’s still significant and should be addressed).

With the recent events taking place in Jan, 2026, I can’t help but believe humans, or among humans, some are cursed with red thirst. The name of Red Thirst today is called “exploitation”. Powerful countries exploit poorer countries (with arms or not), big companies exploit employees. When would human’s red thirst be healed? With such economic development and growth in the past decades, it only seemed to worsen. Julians are walking in daylight.