Review of Children of the Night by Dan Simmons

In a strange case of life imitating art, Dracula has emerged from the imagination of Bram Stoker to occupy our reality. Go to Romania and you find the black hood and sharp fangs on merchandise everywhere, with many people (mostly tourists) believing the legend is somehow based in history. And indeed in Romania you find the gray history of Vlad Tepes. A brutal leader famous for impaling his enemies on stakes, he also had a role to play in pushing back the Ottoman empire and preventing its incursion deep into Europe. Dan Simmons mixes these elements (with a strong helping of 90s communism) to create in the action adventure novel of Children of the Night (1992).

Children of the Night starts in Romania in the time immediately following the Ceauescu regime and its concurrent fall with the iron curtain. An American blood scientist named Kate Newman is visiting the country's orphanages for research. But her work soon turns to motherhood as one of the infant children strikes her heart and she decides to adopt the boy, naming him Joshua. In a parallel storyline, Dracula, now a rich aristocrat, is aging. Making the decision to end his reign, he foregoes feeding, thus beginning the process of becoming mortal, and names an heir. And still further uncanny machinations are afoot deep in the ancient mountains and castles of Romania, leading to a clash that will decide the fates of all.

For potential readers curious exactly what kind of vampire story Children of the Night is, I would say it's one in which Simmons actively avoids any cliches. Vampires have little time under the spotlight, their work is mostly done in the background. Simmons instead foregrounds Kate's story in 80s' movie style. As a sub-layer to plot, there is a strong but not burdensome amount of history, from Vlad Tepes to the Ceauescu regime. Throw in a splash of romance and action and combined you have a commercial story worthy of the silver screen—at least that of the time of publishing.

If anything, Children of the Night is a specimen of good, clean prose your high school English teacher would approve. The story lacks underlying substance (save perhaps the bits of real world history), but Simmons' style makes it a breeze of a read.

There is not much to add about Children of the Night. As stated, it feels like an 80s movie, nothing to really dig into in a review beyond plot, which for a beach read like this, is better left discovered by the reader. If Dracula is your thing, or the convolutions of Eastern European leaders and legends, then the novel, like Song of Kali and other Simmons' novels stories rooted in horror, place, and history may be to your liking.