3/06/2013

CAMILLA'S GULLA TRILOGY: THE VAMPIRE SAGA, PINOY-STYLE

 RATING GUIDE:
 
5 – A keeper!   
4 – Very good
3 –  Passable
2 –  I’d rather read a telephone book
1 – An absolute bomb.  Read at your own risk!

Anything that’s popular or successful is sure to attract a host of copycats, wanna-be’s or innovators, and this is definitely evident in the case of Stephenie Meyers’ humongously successful Twilight saga.  Ever since Meyers’ books (and film versions) began selling by the hundreds of millions, many authors have come up with their own take on vampires and werewolves.  Now, I’m not exactly a fan of vampire or werewolf stories, but just the same, I’ve picked up a few samples for review, including Anne Rice’s The Wolf Gift and Melissa Darnell’s Crave.  I’ll be blogging about these in the weeks to come.  For now, however, let’s talk about the Pinoy vampire (three of them, in fact), brought to us by Precious Pages author Camilla, in her Gulla trilogy.

The Gulla trilogy is the story of Bo, Cliff and Um, three Pinoy (well, Tisoy) vampires who also happen to be identical triplets.  Born as humans during the Spanish era, the three vampires are separated at birth and are only reunited in the 21st century.  As with their other foreign vampire counterparts, Bo, Cliff and Um are immortal and possess super-human strength.  They’re also gorgeous beyond words and filthy, FILTHY rich, with gazillions in gold and other treasures in offshore bank accounts AND hidden locations all throughout the Philippines  (Why, it almost makes the Yamashita treasure and a certain despot’s hidden wealth appear like insignificant barya).  Later on in the trilogy, Camilla also makes us know that her vampires (as shown by one of the triplets, at least) are super sex gods, capable of giving their partners hours and hours of pleasure.  And when I say  pleasure, I mean moaning --- no --- SCREAMING, MULTIPLE orgasms, in fact, that can be heard all throughout the house they’re staying in.  (Hindi man lang ipina-barangay?)  The kind of sex that would probably kill a normal human being, but would make an immortal scream in pleasure indefinitely.  Think of Camilla’s Pinoy vampire as the Energizer Bunnies of sex.  Wow.  If that’s not the ideal man, I don’t know what is!   And while we’re at it, I’d like one such man, thank you very much … pahiram naman ng isa
 
Bo, Cliff and Um are surprisingly reunited when an archaelogical digging is begun at an underground cave.  The digging yields the mummified remains of two individuals, and is soon followed by the appearance of strange creatures, namely vampires and zombies.  As the brothers, their families and their friends fight the evil vampires and zombies, Bo, Cliff and Um learn the truth about their own identities, their family’s history, and also find their true loves along the way. 

The first book, Pukaw (which also happens to be the thinnest of the three), has a very thin and predictable storyline.  It reads like a Twilight wannabe.  In contrast, the third book, Lagablab, is so thick and loaded with backstories and information about the characters’ origins and world that you just might need to have a pen and some paper handy so you can take down some notes.  While reading Lagablab, I actually wished the book had a glossary consisting of a timeline and a family tree so I wouldn’t get so confused.  Perhaps, it would have been a smoother and easier read if parts of Lagablab were added to Pukaw and Bugso, the second book. 

Of the three books in the trilogy, the second book, Bugso, appears to be the most balanced of all.  The story has a little more heft, given the backstories.  The ending seems rushed, though.  It makes me wonder if Camilla had more to say but was forced to adhere to the publishing house’s word count, or the editors had to cut certain portions.  For example, I didn’t get to see how the female lead, Chao, became best friends with Rumina (who only appeared close to the book’s ending).   Camilla also didn’t show what happened to her bading sidekicks.  The reader only gets to assume they would be okay.  I think it would have been more fun to read about their recovery.     

Personally, I don’t find anything that special about the trilogy’s heroes and heroines, who seem to possess the usual characteristics of heroes and heroines in countless other romances (the initial meeting between the third vampire, Um, and his future lady-love, Rumina, is a laugh, though).  The same goes for the support characters, with the exception of the surprisingly bading vampires and sidekicks.  It was more interesting to read about their older relatives, although I did find it jarring that they would sometimes slip out of Old World mode and start talking in English or “modern” ways.  Then again, who says old vampires can’t learn the ways of the New World, right?

Compared to the other vampire books I’ve read so far, the Gulla trilogy is probably among the most interesting in terms of concept.  Overall, Camilla’s vampire world is very, very intricate and interesting.  I really liked how she managed to integrate the birth of Pinoy (well, Tisoy) vampires with the arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines.  The Old World feel was really a very nice touch, I think.  One of my favorite scenes in the trilogy is when the vampires lure the humans to go on a sea voyage with them, and feast on the humans as the trip progresses.  Gory as hell, but vivid and definitely outstanding. 

 I also appreciate how Camilla gave her vampire trilogy a Pinoy touch when she integrated the concept of vampires with the Filipino concepts of aswang and mangkukulam.  It’s also pretty hilarious that in Camilla’s trilogy, vampires and aswang have different smells and characteristics (compared to their vampire counterparts, the aswangs are pretty uncivilized and, well, smelly).  She even includes bading vampires for a comedic touch, something I have yet to see in other vampire chronicles. 

It is interesting that Camilla added the gay support characters to the mix, although I would have appreciated it if she had given them more depth and complexity.  Gay people are all around us, and we know they have made many positive contributions to society.  However, I think there is a tendency among Filipinos to use gay characters for comic relief, which I believe is a disservice to the gay community.  We know a lot of gays are funny, but can’t they be more than just comic relief?  Can’t we go deeper and show them as people with depth and complexities, like their straight counterparts?  Camilla already touched on this in this trilogy, not just with her bading sidekicks, and also the complicated sexual relationship between two important characters, Roldan and Jacinto.  Still, it would be interesting to read about gay characters who aren’t just sidekicks or comic relief or sexual objects. 

Camilla’s writing style has a tendency to be less “show” and more “tell,” which isn’t exactly my cup of tea.  I prefer to read books that have equally vivid narratives AND dialogue.  The English portions are a little awkward.    Just the same, the Gulla trilogy is a good read.  It’s an epic saga that’s very easy to imagine as a telenovela or a series of films.  The plot is full of telenovela characters and twists.  Here we’ve got the siblings who are separated at birth, the lovers who are separated and reunited years (well, centuries) down the line, the characters who develop a looooong spell of amnesia, the feuding relatives, the social climbers, the pokpok bitches, the funny bading sidekicks, the virginal female protagonists, the characters who die but are resurrected later on … well, you get the idea.  There’s even a history lesson here and there, plus an excursion to European countries during the Renaissance.  To use Jimmy Santos’ famous (but grammatically erroneous) phrase, There’s one for every all!

RATING:  3 1/2

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