Yarbro's Saint-Germain series falls easily into the category of historical romance, with the added interest of a vampire hero, or in the case of this subtrilogy, heroine. These books are unique among vampire novels in that the author uses the longevity of the central characters to take advantage of every historical setting that appeals to her. Her intent is to recreate the period and its particular brand of oppression in order that her protagonists may war against the establishment of that day and either help illustrate the brutality of men or to combat it. The vampirism becomes less important with each novel, and the ironic contrast between the view of vampires as terrifying and dangerous and the reality of how humans can massacre enormous numbers in short periods of time, becomes less significant.

A reviewer commented that A Flame in Byzantium is not a horror novel because "any...