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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