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Children of the Night
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Plot Summary of Children of the Night
"CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT is a novel Dan Simmons published in 1992.

Kate is a well-known american specialist in haematology. After a professional stay in Romania, she decides to adopt a rumanian baby and brings him back in the U.S.A. The baby suffers from a very rare blood illness but seems to develop the ability to cure by himself when given blood transfusion. Kate, with his colleagues researchers, discover that this virus could be used to find a cure to AIDS and cancer.

But the baby has been chosen to become the new prince of the Strigoi, a romanian secret organization led by Vlad Tepes who ruled Transylvania in the XVth century. Tepes was the first to suffer from the baby's disease and survived through the centuries by drinking blood.

A mixing of medical thriller and vampire story. "

Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Children of the Night
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30%




Tone of story - scarey (primal ax-wielding fear)
Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999
Medical Thriller Yes
Medical Plotlets: - cure/disease
Horror Story? Yes
Horror plotlets - the vampire chased me!

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - doctor
Age: - 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use? - just the right amount
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - long-lived adults
Profession/status: - wealthy
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist - power
The antagonists are: - cults
Monster of some sort? Yes
Kind of monster: - vampire
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - physically sick

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - West
Europe Yes
European country: - Eastern Europe
Forest? Yes
Misc setting - scientific labs

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey references to deaths/dead bodies and torture
How many deaths? - 8 or more
Sex Yes
What kind of sex: - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - actual description of sex - descript. of breasts - descript. of male nudity - rape (yeech!)
A lot of techno jargon? Yes
Kind of jargon? - biology/medical
Unusual forms of death - dropped from large heights - flamed - impaled - decapitated - perforation--bullets - perforation--swords/knives
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Children of the Night
Reign of the Rat by Gil Smolin
Mutant by Peter Clement
Long After Midnight by Iris Johansen
Mengele's Legacy by David J. Weinberg
Deep Sleep by Charles Wilson


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