Aventuras do Vampiro de Palmares - Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro
- Samuel Freitas
- Jun 10
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 15
This book is very interesting because it follows the adventures of a vampire from the Andes and how he ends up in an alternative version of Recife, where the Dutch won the war against the Portuguese and permanently kept the territory that is now northeastern Brazil.
One of the highlights of this book is imagining an alternative history in which Quilombo dos Palmares became an independent nation and, from there, turned into the leading nation of Latin America. As someone from Pernambuco who grew up hearing the legends that Maurício de Nassau was the best mayor Recife ever had, I found it very intriguing how the author described the changes the city went through during that time.
But the real strength of the book is the development of the territory of Palmares and the entire afrofuturism setting surrounding it. At some points in the book, I was reminded of the vampires Anne Rice described in The Vampire Chronicles, who are my favorites, because of the touch of humanity the author brought to the main character, Dentes Compridos.
I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys alternative history, afrofuturism, and vampires.
Also, if you’re interested, you can read about the history of Quilombo dos Palmares at Wikipedia article.
Book synopsis:
The Adventures of the Vampire of Palmares is a novel of scientific vampirism by Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro, a veteran author of Brazilian speculative fiction. The children of the night are natural beings that evolved as a species of predators of human beings.
The story begins on the coast of Peru, two centuries before the arrival of the Spanish, and ends in Victorian London in 1888. This is also an alternate history novel, because the adventures of Dentes Compridos, the last child of the night, do not take place exactly in the world we know, but in another one—identical to ours in every way until 1647, the year Maurício de Nassau decides to return to northeastern Brazil to resume the government of New Holland.
Nassau then establishes an alliance with the Confederation of Palmares. Together, New Holland and Palmares manage to defeat the Portuguese Crown and, as a result, Palmares becomes the first independent nation in the Americas, about a century before the United States.
Because he considers the blood of Black people the finest of delicacies, Dentes Compridos ends up being captured by the brothers Zumbi and Andalaquituche during the reign of Ganga-Zumba. Instead of killing the child of the night, these two princes decide to train him, turning him into a mix of assassin and secret agent in the service of the nation.
Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro is a Brazilian science fiction and alternate history writer who has published several books on these subjects. The author shares his experiences on the blogs Crônicas da FC Brasileira and Cenários de História Alternativa, for those who want to explore these topics further. Note: the blogs are written in Portuguese.
Publisher: Draco
Publication date: January 1, 2014
Language: Portuguese
Page count: 300 pages
ISBN-10: 8582430515
ISBN-13: 978-8582430514
Available at: Amazon
I really liked your text. You made me very curious about the story, and the mix of Palmares, alternative history, and vampires sounds fascinating. Now I really want to read the book.