The Immortal Conquistador

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—
I've been a fan of the Kitty Norville series since the debut in 2005, and one of the supporting characters that fans seem most enamored of—and are given the least information about—is Kitty's vampire ally, Rick (the Master of Denver).

For those (like me) who need a little brushing up on some of what went on toward the end of the series, Rick leaves Denver for a while in order to explore a different way to take on Dux Bellorum (the series' Big Bad).

This book gives the reader some insight into what Rick was up to during this time. The book stitches together four short stories about Rick's origin (some previously published, some not) while Rick introduces himself to the Order of Saint Lazarus.

I'd already read the first story, “Conquistador de la Noche,” in the collection Kitty's Greatest Hits—but it worked really well in this setting, too—this sets the stage for the rest of Rick's history and tells about him becoming a vampire. The next two stories show what happens when he first encounters the Vampire sub-culture and is first exposed to the rules (most) Vampires live by and how Rick skirts the edges of those rules and starts to make both a name for himself and build his different kind of power base.

The fourth story is my favorite detailing what happens when Rick meets a legendary Old West character. It was just a great story with an element of fun. It's also something the reader is told that Rick's never told anyone about before. It's precisely the kind of thing that Kitty would kill to hear, she's constantly asking vampires and other supernatural types for stories like this. That Rick would go out of his way to deprive her of this story (but we get to read it) was a little extra dash of fun.

I don't know that this gave me a much better picture of Rick—the novels had pretty much done that. We know his character, we may not understand his past and what he was—but we know who he is. But this book rounds out our understanding of the man and gives the reader a little hope for his future.

Once I cottoned on to what Vaughn was doing—stitching together short stories—I was a little skeptical of the format. But I came around pretty quickly and decided it worked really well. It's better than a simple short story collection, essentially giving us a bonus story. The stories (including the framing device) feel different from the Kitty series, but not so much that it doesn't feel like the same world.

A cool bonus of this—you can read it totally independent of the Kitty Norville series. It's not dependent at all on the events or people of the series (there are references to certain antagonists, but not in any way that makes familiarity with the series necessary for understanding).

I do have to wonder about the timing of this—the series ended almost five years ago, so I'm not sure I get why we're getting this material in this format now. But that's just me being curious, not complaining. Did I (or the series) need The Immortal Conquistador? No. But I'm very glad I got it.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Tachyon Publications via NetGalley in exchange for this post —thanks to both for the opportunity.