New Book Alert: Psychonautic by Darren Frey; Deep Psychological Vampire Dark Romance

 

New Book Alert: Psychonautic by Darren Frey; Deep Psychological Vampire Dark Romance

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Alright, I give. I surrender. I used to hate Vampire Romances. Since high school, the very names of Dracula, Lestat, Buffy Summers, and Angel made me roll my eyes long before Edward and Bella had their first sparkle. I thought the Dracula movie starring Gary Oldman, Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles and Buffy The Vampire Slayer were some of the most overrated pieces of entertainment ever. If I ever saw another romance starring a dark brooding Byronic vampire antihero, it would be too soon. I often joked that the only vampire that I ever liked was C.D. Bitesky from Mel Gilden's Fifth Grade Monsters.

Well, I am willing to admit when I am wrong. I found that there is room in the saturated vampire subgenre to intrigue and impress me. I found that out twice this year. First, with The Genius of Our Wiles by Blythe Gryphon. It was a historical fiction about a vampire falling in love with the woman that he transforms. The two spend the changing centuries studying the history of vampires, including looking for the original vampire.

 The second book that changed my perspective is Psychonautic by Darren Frey. In contrast to The Genius of Our Wiles, Psychonautic is a modern psychological drama about a damaged human who is accepted into a coven of vampires and feels the love of family, friendship, and romance that had long eluded him.

The human who becomes closely encountered with the undead is Julian Frost. He has a coffin full of problems. He was a child of abandonment and abuse having been left by his father and abused by his mother, her boyfriend, and his grandfather. The only family member that he felt close to was his loving grandmother and other relatives kept her death from him out of spite. He just ended a long term relationship when he caught his ex in bed with another man, and not just any man but her brother. Not only that but he has Retina Pigmentosa (RP) and is therefore legally blind. Many, including relatives and his ex have used his disability against him and mocked him.

Julian is trying to put his life together. He spent time with a shaman and took Ayahuasca, hallucinogenic drugs, to deal with his pain. He also got as far away from his Virginia home as possible to attend college courses in Las Vegas. Why, he even has a new potential love interest in classmate, Violet Trouton. 

Things are starting to look up.Okay, Violet panics and retreats into a bathroom when the sun rises. But she is gorgeous. Sure, she can read his mind and knows a lot about his dreams. But she's so sweet and understanding about Julian's past. And okay, she can float in the air and fly, but nobody's perfect.

 It takes a while, almost a comically long time, for Julian comes to terms with the truth that his new potential girlfriend is really a vampire. Oh yeah and Violet takes him to New York (flying on her back, instantly in less than an hour) to meet her vampire family. There they get involved in a civil war with other vampire clans and vengeance seeking humans who are out for blood, vampire blood.

A psychonaut is described as someone who explores an altered state of consciousness, especially through hallucinatory drugs and that is what Frey's book excels at. Yes, of course there are times where Julian takes hallucinogenic drugs to deal with his troubled past. But what really stands out is the exploration of Julian's mind. In some ways, vampirism becomes a metaphor for this exploration and how Julian emerges as a stronger person who challenges his past.

Julian suffered tremendously from the abuse, abandonment, and betrayal in his past. He became closed off and rejected close intimacy. He has been clearly scarred and is unable to move forward with such baggage behind him.

His taking of drugs allows him to open his mind and recognize those issues. It identified the problem, but his friendship with Violet and her family allows him to take action.

Naturally, when he discovers that Violet is a vampire, he is a little concerned and terrified. After all, can he be sure that she doesn't want a snack or will attack him? He even has nightmares about her mocking him, like his ex did, before attacking him. 

This is before he gets to know Violet and realizes what a sweet kind person she is. She also has many difficulties from her past including an abusive childhood and the betrayal from one human friend who turned on her and her family.She just happens to have a penchant for blood and sleeps during the day. 

Julian also develops a kinder more empathetic personality in his relationship with Violet and the vampire world. He meets Xavier, the vampire who transformed Violet and whom she calls "Dad," and various others in their clan. He develops a surrogate father-son relationship with Xavier as his love for Violet increases. He finds in them the family that had long eluded him. 

Because of this familial connection, Julian is able to confront his past. When vengeance seeking humans threaten the vampires in their club, Julian defends them then takes it upon himself to hide his new family in his aunt's house in Virginia. He is now in close proximity to members of his birth family, including his abusive grandfather and neglectful aunt and uncle. Strengthened by his new family's love and support, in one of the best passages, he confronts his relatives with all of the hurt that they caused him over the years. 

Many of Julian's experiences in seeing the world through the vampire's perspectives are some of the highlights. For example when they fly to New York from Las Vegas, it is a psychedelic experience as Julian feels his third eye open. He feels like they broke barriers in sound and his own self, his ego, is being melted away. It's clearly an exhilarating experience.

The transformation of becoming a vampire is described throughout the book. It begins with death, as though the old self were dying to make way for a newer higher plane of existence. Next is an intense thirst, a heightening of the senses, and an increased awareness of all that is around the newly made vampire. It's a beautiful description and shows that depth of the inner journey into the subconscious and the higher being that could emerge.

Frey excels at writing a psychological drama and exploration of the subconscious of an individual who sees a new higher perspective in the world around him. There are hints of a more action oriented tone if he continues this series. The vampire hating humans seem like many hate groups, formed because they fear what they don't understand. Also, the conflicts between various clans suggest that just because someone becomes a vampire doesn't mean that their problems are over. They will still be surrounded by hatred, prejudice, and some who would use these heightened gifts for revenge or to satisfy their sadistic pleasure.

For people like Julian however, vampirism allows him to explore deeper meaning, getting rid of the old frightened Julian to become a stronger person.

Psychonautic is a great book. That being said, I still find Gary Old man's Dracula, Buffy Summers, and Lestat intensely overrated.