Sneaky, Subtle and Deceptive

Duma Key
by Stephen King
Scribner (2008),
Hardcover, 592 pages
Rated 5 stars of 5 possible

Edgar Freemantle, a construction contractor in Minneapolis, suffers major injuries in a freak accident. By the time he recovers from the majority of his injuries, and most of the resulting confusion has passed, his wife has left him. Shortly after his release from the hospital, Edgar decides to start his life over again. Since his injuries have resulted in the inability to resume his former career, Edgar decides to re-establish his connection to the artist within. He moves to Florida, and an island called Duma Key.

In a frenzy of creation, Edgar paints enough pictures to put on a one artist exhibit in a near-by town. Edgar's pencil sketches and paintings seem benign, but are they? Duma Key isn't just any horror novel. It's sneaky, subtle, and deceptive... The horror creeps up on you like a thief in the night; it reaches out and grabs you before you even realize it's there. Duma Key is a page-turner; once it grabs you it does not let go.

A must read for Stephen King's fans, Duma Key would also be ideal for the horror enthusiast who has never read a Stephen King book. In fact, Duma Key is probably Mr. King's most brilliant and horrifying novel to date*.  I recommend that everyone read this with the lights on... no, not just your reading lamp... you need every light in the house turned on for this one.  Even then, Duma Key will keep you up all night.

This uncompensated review has been published on LibraryThing, Amazon.com and Dragon Views.

*Note: This review was written in 2008, shortly after I read this book, which I purchased "hot off the press".  Subsequent books by this author have been published, but are not considered here, as they did not exist - except possibly in the author's mind - when this review was originally written.

Steampunk Worth Reading

The Burning Sky
By Joseph Robert Lewis
Joseph Robert Lewis (2011),
Kindle Edition
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

The Burning Sky is a gripping, thrilling story, full of action and adventure, as well as interesting and well-developed characters. The characters' actions are consistently realistic within the rules of their world, which is not the same as ours. Thus, actions that make sense in their world would not necessarily make sense in ours... yet the envelope of suspension of disbelief isn't broken. In fact, it's not even stretched much.  As part 1 of a trilogy, The Burning Sky involves the reader in the lives of the characters and embeds their world into the reader's soul so that, laying aside the book when it's finished leaves the reader feeling as if he/she is missing out on something.

For adult readers of fantasy who like stories with substance to them, The Halcyon series books are good candidates to bring on to your Kindle or other e-reader. for now, the books are not available in printed formats, which is my only regret.  The time reading the series was well-spent and has provided excellent entertainment.

Recommended to all adult readers of steampunk who don't shy away from the inevitable violence of a frontier world.  This review, for which I have not received any financial compensation, has been posted on Dragon Views, Amazon.com and LibraryThing.

Award-winning Debut

The Windup Girl
Paolo Bacigalupi
Night Shade Books (2009)
Hardcover, 368 pages
Rated 4 Stars of 5 Possible

The Windup Girl depicts a world in which cloning is not only permitted, but has become common place. The clones are genetically altered so that their movement is not smooth or graceful and this betrays their artificial status. The author has touched upon sensitive issues, such as racial abuse, from our own world in this high-tech science fiction novel.

The novel starts slow, and builds suspense from the beginning, yet remains interesting enough that it's hard to put down... and it gets better as the reader turns the pages. Many of the characters are only superficially developed, and these would have been more interesting if they had been developed more in-depth. The Windup Girl is not a "fluffy" read and requires concentration from the reader to fully understand what's happening. In fact, one almost needs to take notes at a few points because a lot happens in the story.

In the end, I felt I needed to deduct one star for the sometimes lengthy and apparently unnecessary descriptive passages in which little is happening to further the ends of this otherwise interesting tale.

This review, for which I have not received any financial compensation, has been posted on Dragon Views, Amazon.com and LibraryThing.

Blend of Satire and Romance

Pride and Prejudice: The Illustrated Edition
Jane Austen
Sourcebooks Landmark (2010)
Kindle Edition
Rated 3 stars of 5 possible


First published in 1813, Pride and Prejudice was initially popular, going into a second edition before the first year concluded. However, when her novels went out of print in 1820, Pride and Prejudice remained unavailable for 12 years, as did the other novels written by Miss Austen. In 1832-33, the entire works of Jane Austen came back into print and have remained continuously available in various editions since then.

In the Fall of 2010, the publisher detailed above gave away ebook editions of Jane Austen's works in honor of her birthday.  Having neglected to read any of her work for - well, lets just say a few decades - I decided to see what all the excitement was about, and chose Pride and Prejudice at random and because it is said to have been her most popular novel during her lifetime.

Print length varies by publisher, but is usually between 300 and 450 pages, depending on format (hardcover, trade paperback, mass market, etc.)  Reading through the ebook edition seemed to take forever, appearing to be more like 700 pages. Now, when I'm enjoying myself, I don't mind novels being long... However this story could have used some major editing, as some parts are far too long for what they mean to accomplish. That said, the novel has its good points, too, though they seem to be far between.

The title was well chosen and very apt for this book. The astute reader will have no problems seeing how the title applies to this novel's content. Pride and Prejudice is a study of human nature, as well as being a satire. The interaction between characters was well-done and seemed realistic, if a bit idealistic in some cases. Some readers may be put off by the nineteenth century language used... but one must remember, the English language is a living language. It has changed quite a bit in the 200 years since this book was written.

I found I had to be in the mood for Miss Austen's prose, or I couldn't have gotten through the book.  Pride and Prejudice is one of those books I class as being worth reading - once.  I probably won't read it again.  Recommended to Jane Austen fans and those who like satire, as well as those who like romances. This review has been posed on Dragon Views, Amazon.com, LibraryThing and wherever else this reviewer finds appropriate.

 

An Epic Conclusion

Oracle's Legacy: Dawn of Illumination
R. B. Holbrook
Lulu.com (2010),
Paperback, 458 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible


Oracle's Legacy: Dawn of Illumination is the thrilling conclusion to the author's debut series, which began with Oracle's Legacy: Children of Sun. Since the Oracle's Legacy series is one massive story broken up into three books, the best way to read the series is to begin with Oracle's Legacy: Children of Sun and read the books in order. In this way, the reader does not miss character background or important story issues by starting in the middle or at the end.

As with Shadows of Fate, this third volume builds on the story thus far, beginning where the previous volume ended. Whether you borrow or buy these books, try to get them all at once, so you can rapidly move from one to the next without much delay. When you do this, you will get the most seamless transition from one book to the next, and the story will have a greater impact. 

Taken as one long epic, Oracle's Legacy is a fascinating story... however, if you like short stories or even average-length novels, you probably won't like this, because the three books are one large story, of which the three parts should be read in sequence, and for best effect should be read together, as opposed to reading one book and then something else before continuing with the saga.

Recommended to adults who love epic fantasy and science fiction. Oracle's Legacy: Dawn of Illumination was provided to me free by the author in exchange for this review. This review will be posted on LibraryThing, Dragon Views, Amazon.com and wherever else deemed appropriate by this reviewer.

Oracle's Legacy:
Book 1: Children of Sun
Book 2: Shadows of Fate

A Front for Terrorist Operations?

Electricland
By Ginger Mayerson
The Wapshott Press (2010)
Paperback, 222 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

The novel, Electricland, is a mystery tale. The story features satirical content, a terrorist organization run by three middle-aged women, an online game called Electricland, and gay romance.  But is Electricland just a game, or is it a front for terrorist operations?

The author's attention to detail and sense of fun becomes very apparent in this slim novel.  The three female terrorists were often interesting and sometimes even humorous. The Electricland game proved to be interesting too, but I was disappointed to see that very little of this game figured into the actual story. I would have liked to have seen more of the game. While I have to say that gay romance is definitely not my thing, I found that I could easily skim/skip those portions of the story and not lose much in the bargain. Over all, Electricland proved to be a novel that I am glad I have read.

Electricland was provided to me free by the author/publisher in exchange for this review, for which I have not received any financial compensation. This review will appear on Dragon Views, LibraryThing, Amazon.com and other sites deemed appropriate by this reviewer.

Sensitive Topics, Skillfully Woven Story

The Map of True Places
By Brunonia Barry
William Morrow (2010),
Trade Paperback, 416 pages
Rated 5 stars of 5 possible

The Map of True Places deals with sensitive subjects such as mental illness, suicide, and abuse, among others. The tale is well-written and skillfully woven. The reader is captivated from the first page and wrapped up in the story so thorougly that he or she feels like one of the characters.

Speaking of the characters from The Map of True Places, I must say that they are developed to the point of realism and believability. They are humanly flawed, each having personal quirks and characteristics that make him or her so real the reader feels as if he/she can reach out and shake hands with, or, perhaps, slap some sense into the character.

While The Map of True Places is only the second book this author has written, it is as well-formed as if she had decades of experience and dozens of novels to her credit.  I, for one, will be on the lookout for new works from this talented author.

This review, for which no compensation - financial or otherwise - has been received by the reviewer, appears on Dragon Views, LibraryThing, Amazon.com and other sites deemed appropriate by the reviewer.

Confusing but still worthy

A Breath of Snow and Ashes
Diana Gabaldon
Dell Publishing Company (2008)
Mass Market Paperback, 1456 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon is book six of the Outlander series. Like the earlier volumes in the series, A Breath of Snow and Ashes takes up the story of Jamie and Claire where the previous novel ended. Also like most novels, this one has it's high points and some not so high points. While clearly not the best of the series, this book is still much better than book 5, and a worthy segment of the epic. The characters are very realistic and interestingly flawed, yet some of the situations were downright confusing.

Potential spoiler follows for those who have not read this novel, however the spoiler is necessary to explain the confusion.

At one point, Brianna is at the home of Jamie's aunt, and then, suddenly she is a captive on board a ship belonging to one of one of the villains of the epic. This part of the tale makes little sense, as does her rescue which comes later. While a captive, Brianna bribes a prostitute to carry a message to Jamie, which is eventually delivered as promised... but, before that message is delivered, Jamie clearly knows what has happened already. How does he know? This, too, is unexplained...

Recommended for the author's fans, as well as to readers who like their historical fiction with a little romance, a little science fiction, and and lots of details... However, to get the most from this book, you really should read those that were published prior to this volume.

Book 1: Outlander
Book 2: Dragonfly in Amber
Book 3: Voyager
Book 4: Drums of Autumn
Book 5: The Fiery Cross

This review is being simultaneously posted on Dragon Views, LibraryThing, Amazon.com and any other site on which the revewer decides is appropriate.  Note also that no compensation, financial or otherwise, was received for posting this review.

Tightly Plotted; Complex But Enjoyable

Helix
JL Bryan
www.jlbryanbooks.com (2009),
Kindle Edition
Print Length: 456 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

Every now and then, a book comes along that I enjoy reading (or perhaps not) but can't point out any reason why I like or dislike the book. Helix, is one of those "I like this book" types, but unfortunately, pointing my finger at definitive reasons why is beyond me at this time.  The tightly plotted, complex story had me curious as to the motivations of the well-developed characters, which became more clear as the story progressed. The protagonist and his adversaries are believable, realistic characters. Even those characters not completely human kept me interested; so naturally, I kept turning the pages.

One thing that doesn't bother me, but may discourage other readers: there's a lot of violence and death involved in parts of Helix. For that reason, I cannot recommend this novel to all, but, for those like me, who tend to overlook such things... you might want to pick this up the next time you're looking for something new and different to read. Helix is available in many different ebook formats from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords etc. and in paperback from your favorite book seller.

This copy of Helix was provided to me free by the author in exchange for this review. This review has simultaneously been published at Dragon Views, LibraryThing, Amazon.com and other appropriate locations on the internet.

Arguably Improved

Storylandia 2: The Wapshott Journal of Fiction
Wapshott Press
CreateSpace (2010), Paperback, 94 pages
Rated 3 stars of 5 possible.

As you can tell by the title, Storylandia 2 is the second issue of The Wapshott Journal of Fiction. This issue contains 4 very short stories and one longer piece which is almost equal in length to the other four stories. Each story has literary merits of its own, but the quality of the writing varies greatly. As with the first issue of Storylandia, the authors whose work is featured in this issue are all new to me.

I said of the first issue of Storylandia that the cover might be the best part of the issue... well, that's certainly not true of this issue. While the cover of Storylandia 2 is wonderful and does match the "flavor" of these stories, I see some improvement in this issue over the previous one, however, that might be a bit subjective on my part. I'm keeping my rating of this issue at three stars because I don't do fractional ratings and because there's not yet enough improvement to warrant a 4 star rating. Others will have a different opinion, I'm sure. A list of titles and authors follows, but I'll confess I skipped the synopsis of each story out of laziness. Or maybe it was because of the vague subject matter of some of these stories...

"Poetry and Red Phosphorus" by Kellie R. England
"Assassin" by Adam Bourke
"Escaping the Apoidians Hivault" by Christopher Husmann
"Kiva" by Cinsearae S.
"Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" By Mylochka

While "Poetry and Red Phosphorus" had some interesting moments, it was too disconnected to ever catch my interest for more than a paragraph or two.  "Escaping the Apoidians Hivault" was equally confusing.  The biggest asset of these two stories is that they are short.  In the case of both of these stories, some explanation and development may help. "Escaping the Apoidians Hivault" has some rather hidden potential, that premise could be developed into an excellent story, but it definitely needs more work.

"Kiva" is very surreal, but again, could be enhanced by some additional explanation... additionally, this story has some great literary potential, but the reader needs some basis of understanding the story for the potential to be exploited properly.  More development could definitely be an improvement.

My two favorites of this issue are "Assassin" by Adam Bourke and "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" By Mylochka.  I would love to see more work from both of these authors.  While neither "Assassin" nor "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" are without their faults, these authors managed to do something the other three could not do. These two authors hooked me into their worlds and held my attention in every paragraph, sentence and word until the stories ended.  Kudos to Adam Bourke and Mylochka.

Now, on to the final observations.  "Assassin" could definitely stand some explanation on a point or two, especially involving the reasons for certain things. If I were a bit more clear on what I'm talking about here, I might spoil the story for others, something I'd rather not do if it can be helped. I hope I am suitably vague enough to avoid the spoiler but also specific enough that the author will understand. The other point I wanted to bring up in relation to "Assassin" is the character development. The main character is well developed, but the secondary characters in this story are mostly no better developed than a photograph on the wall... more work here could be an improvement. I think this premise might even be good enough that it could be developed into a novella of roughly 100 to 150 pages.

There are two main things that bugged me about "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?". The first of these two things is the title. I never quite figured out how rain connects with the story... The other point I want to mention is the ending that seemed to come out of nowhere and blindside the reader; it seemed as if this conclusion wasn't foreshadowed at all... or that, if it was, I missed out on some of the detail in the story. More connection of the title to the story and of the ending to the rest of the story would improve this story immeasurably. Additionally, some attention to characterization of the story's main character, Del, would be an improvement. There seems to be a bit of inconsistency in the way he speaks.

This review is based on a free copy of Storylandia 2 provided to me by the publisher for review purposes. This review has been simultaneously posted on Dragon Views, LibraryThing and Amazon.com.

Fun, Chilling Tale

The Haunted E-book
J. L. Bryan
Smashwords (2011), Mobi format,
Print length, 246 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

The Haunted E-book is a ghost story and a horror story... and, well, it's just plain spooky. Dee escapes her librarian job and her unfaithful boyfriend by reading romance and fantasy on her Kindle. One day, while looking for something new to read, she discovers The Haunted E-book and downloads a copy to her Kindle.

The author uses a "book within a book" technique to tell the story of Jonah, a 19th century tramp printer, who traveled the rails, taking on printing jobs wherever he went... His ghost awakens every time someone reads a book he created. During our reading of the book, we get to peek inside Dee's book and see just what's going on; and then, Dee discovers that the stories she has been reading are true...

There are a couple of things I really, really liked about this book.  First that Mr. Bryan brought the story into the 21st century by having at least two characters own and interact with a Kindle ereader... and another character has a netbook computer but one character also has an original vellum and leather-bound copy of Jonah's book, with it's eerily spooky origins that are revealed only later in the story. So, technology has it's place in this story, which we don't see often enough these days.

The second thing I really like is that some lesser known bits of real history are brought into the story (the bits about the tramp printer and the books bound in human skin have their basis in fact) which only adds to the fun, creepy feeling of this book; and that makes it a delight for those like me who adore the chilling tales; especially late at night. This also helps with the suspension of disbelief.

And that, of course leads to the one chapter that almost blew this story away for me, and the reason I dropped one star off the rating.  I won't go into too much detail here because I've already got one major spoiler in this review, and I don't like using lots of spoilers, so just let me say... that one chapter - the one that takes place aboard the airplane - not the bit near the end, but earlier in the book, before Dee meets Madison... was just too far off the path of believability.

In all, J. L. Bryan has a talent for sucking the reader deep into his books; and he doesn't let go.  The story is well told and, for the most part, well written, though I did see an error or two as I read through on my Kindle, but I was too wrapped up in the story to stop and make a note of just where the errors are located. They're small things anyway and if you're as wrapped up in the story as I was, the typos likely won't matter.

My standard warning on books like this: Contains some graphic scenes not recommended for younger readers or for people sensitive to the blood and gore that accompanies many horror/thriller type stories. If these kinds of scenes don't bother you, then yes, I highly recommend this book.  The author provided a free mobi format copy of this book upon which I based this review. This review is being simultaneously published on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Dragonviews, LibraryThing and wherever else I can manage to find space for it.

Captivating Historical Narrative

Galveston
P.G. Nagle
Evennight Books (2010)
Kindle Edition
Print Length: 384 pages
Rated 5 stars of 5 possible

Galveston is the third of P.G. Nagle's Far Western Civil War series, and takes place mainly in Texas. I have not yet read the prior two volumes in this series.  While enough reference is made to earlier events to make the reader curious, Galveston can be read as a stand-alone novel despite being part of a larger story. It is connected to the other novels in the series mainly by the characters involved. Events depicted in this novel do not heavily depend on what came before, yet the context in which these events occurred may be better understood by reading the previous novels in this series.

For the most part, I found Galveston to be well-written and captivating. I had trouble putting it down... but there was a small language issue - or I thought so at first. The dialogue seemed a bit stilted and unnatural to me, so I stopped and gave some further thought to the dialoge and the historical setting. The American Civil War took place about 150 years ago. Given that the English language is growing and evolving, it seems to me that the differences in the characters' speech and the way English is spoken today can be attributed to the evolution of our language in that interval of time. I have no doubt the English language as spoken in the mid-19th century was quite different than the English langage as spoken in this 21st century. Once allowing for the changes that occur to a living langage over time, I gave no further thought to some of the sentence structure of the dialoge being odd to the ear... By then, I was too involved in the story to care about any oddness overly much anyway.

I loved the historical background around and within which the charaters interacted with each other, and I will most definitely seek out the remainder of this series to read them in order.  Recommended to historical fiction lovers and civil war buffs as well as those who love a good story. Based on the Mobi format of the novel given to me by the publisher in exchange for this review. This review has been simlutaneously posted at Amazon.com, Dragon Views and LibraryThing as well as being posted at other appropriate locations on the world wide web.

Not To Be Missed!

Schindler's Ark    
by Thomas Keneally
and Tim Liang, illustrator
Folio Society, 2009
Hardcover, illustrated, 363 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

Schindler's Ark is partly the biography of Oskar Schindler, partly a story of war and atrocity, and still partly a story of humanity. In the latter part of the book, there are some very graphic scenes, making this book not for everyone. While Oskar Schindler achieved fame during World War II for his humane treatment of Jewish prisoners who worked in his munitions factory, the early part of the story makes clear that Herr Schindler was not the respectable type person you might expect... Outside the UK, this book was published as Schindler's List and also filmed under that alternate title.

As one reads through the story, one encouters some rough spots that indicate the author is not very skilled, or perhaps not too knowledgable about his subject.  Those incidents are accounted for in the introduction of this Folio Society edition where Thomas Keneally says he was not best qualified to write this story because, although he is of northern European ancestry, he was raised far away from the sights and sounds of Hitler's regime. While I am on the topic of this Folio Society edition, I must also add that it has been beautifully produced, cloth bound and the cover blocked in gold with an illustration created by the same artist who has done a wonderful job on the frontispiece and eight other interior illustrations. The publisher has chosen to use black and white illustrations inside the book. I feel this adds to the drama and helps indicate that the events depicted in the story happened long ago. The endpaper maps included in this edition help the reader unfamiliar with the locality gain some understanding of the geographical area.

The Folio Society edition follows the text of the first edition, which was published by another firm with only minor emendations, so I can't lay much blame on the Folio Society for this book being a little over-long. Still, I am deducting one star because the author or the editor employed by the original publisher could have reduced some of the less interesting parts of the story to condense it to around 250 or 275 pages; it would, at that length, have made a much better story and flowed more smoothly... Still, Poldek Pfefferberg (one of the many Jewish people whose name was on Schindler's infamous list) was right. This story needed to be told. Thomas Keneally has done a credible job, and Hollywood has actually improved the story with their strategic cutting. The film is better than the book. That's something I don't often say, yet in this case, it's so true.

Recommended, with some reservations. If you prefer a text presentation, possibly including some illustrations, to an audio/video presentation and if you're not overly sensitive to violence but interested in historical accounts, then this book could be for you. On the other hand, if you prefer visuals, the film is a must see item. Either way, Schindler's Ark, aka Schindler's List is not a story you should miss.

This review has been simultaneously published on Dragonviews and LibraryThing.

No Clear Nemesis, Neutral Characters

Elephant Milk
By Diane Sherry Case
Miraculous Books (2010),
Paperback, 164 pages
Rated 3 stars of 5 possible

Elephant Milk is a surreal, coming of age story that takes place in 1969, mostly in Mexico. Amid her experiments with sex, drugs and finding herself, 17-year-old Sean also has to deal with her dysfunctional family and her mother's obsession with being a famous movie star.  After finding some black clothes beside the road that are wet with blood, Sean makes the decision that the best way to deal with her problems is to run away to Mexico, after her boyfriend.  Once in Mexico, Sean needs a way to get around, so she joins a traveling Circus... and that's where the real fun begins.

I should preface my remarks about this book by saying I'm not the intended audience for this book. Still, I appreciated some of the events in the story and the characterization. Diane Sherry Case has created some interesting characters, and has caught the flavor of the time depicted.  So, with that said, why did I rate the book only 3 stars?  Admittedly, this story even had 4 star potential, but the good characters just weren't likable enough... in fact, with the exception of Sean and her circus master/boss, and his wife, Ana, I found all the characters to be fairly neutral. There also is not any clear nemesis in the story, which could have made the book more interesting, if a bit longer. I had such high hopes for that too, when Sean found the bloody black clothing.

There are points in the story that would make for good discussion group material and the intended audience may appreciate Sean and her confused time of self-enlightenment more than I could. Oh, and the cover art - absolutely wonderful. That's what drew me to this book in the first place.

This book was received free from the author in exchange for this review. This review has been simultaneously posted at Dragon Views, LibraryThing, and Amazon.com

 

Role Reversal

My Sparkling Misfortune
Laura Lond
Dream Books LLC (2010)
Print length: 164 pages
Rated 5 stars of 5 possible


My Sparkling Misfortune is a novella-length story aimed at middle school kids who love fantasy, yet also appeals to any age reader. The well-crafted story is told from the point of view of a very unusal protagonist - a villain, who is quick to let us know he is a villain by trade, and that we shouldn't expect him to be going around doing good deeds.

In general, one isn't supposed to like a villain, but the protagonist of this novel starts collecting a fan club almost from the first page and through no fault of his own. The hero-villain role reversal that occurs in this novella makes for good discussion material as well as bringing a new point of interest into the story.  Kudos to the author for bringing a most entertaining and unusual story to readers of all ages. My Sparkling Misfortune is the first of a new series, which, if the following books are anything like this first one, should be a big hit with readers young and old alike.

I have to recommend this often humorous, always entertaining novella to those readers looking for a quick, fun read and laughs on almost every page. The PDF document format of My Sparkling Misfortune was received free from the author in exchange for this review.   

This review has been simultaneously posted on Dragonviews and LibraryThing.

 

Flawed, Yet Still Interesting

The Kitchen House
By Kathleen Grissom
Touchstone (2010)
Hardcover, 384 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

The Kitchen House is about a young Irish girl, Lavinia, whose parents die on board the ship bringing the family to America. Lavinia finds herself an indentured servant... one step up from slavery, but one step below freedom. I found the premise of the story intriguing and couldn't wait to read this novel, but when I'd gotten fairly started, I discovered a lot of problems with the story... beginning with the prologue. The dramatic prologue of The Kitchen House serves to draw the reader into the story rather quickly, so it's not all bad. however, I must say that I've never been a fan of this method of storytelling. By reading this prologue, the reader is peeking ahead to a scene much later in the book, which, to me, feels like cheating. I also felt the prologue was better written than the ending of the story, or rather, that part of the ending which used the same information.

From the prologue on through the first half of the novel, I kept having a sense of deja-vu, otherwise known as "where have I read this before?"  I have yet to figure out why this novel seems so familiar.

And then we have the story being told from two viewpoints; an adult black slave - Belle - who also happens to be the master's daughter; and the young white indentured servant girl from Ireland - Lavinia. Stories told from multiple viewpoints must be delicately handled to be related smoothly; and sorry to say, the author didn't do so well with this. The transitions between Belle's chapters and Lavinia's chapters were sometimes confusing and often as rough as the storm-tossed sea. Mostly this seemed to be the case with Belle's part of the story.

The other main problems I have with this novel is that the characters, aside from Belle and Lavinia are rather under-developed, so that the reader has a hard time caring about those characters. I would liked to have seen the characters of Marshall and his parents better developed at the very least.

Additionally, everyone in this story seems to have his or her own secret that must be closely guarded; never shared. Beginning with the master, and including everyone down to the lowliest slave. As the reader will see, these secrets lend an air of tragedy to the story, and still it seems that too many secrets tend to make the story a bit unbelievable.  The plot develops too slowly, not enough detail about some of the incidents. The ending feels abrupt and unresolved to me; which, in most cases, I do not consider an asset, hence taking off the full star.

The novel's strong points (as I see them) are the evenly paced storyline, spreading out the suspense and the happy parts of the story without cramming all the good parts together and leaving part of the story boring. The novel was - to me - consistently, if not highly interesting. Character motivations play a large part in the plot of this novel and should be studied.

Handled correctly, this great premise could have been a 5 star novel; yet sadly, there are too many flaws for that high rating. Despite the many flaws, I enjoyed reading this 4 star novel. Recommended to readers who do not demand flawless storytelling, and who like a bit of study with their reading pleasure. Those looking for a "light and fluffy" novel should pass this by.  This review has been simultaneously posted on Amazon.com, Dragonviews and LibraryThing.

Engrossing Tale

Watermark: A Novel of the Middle Ages
By Vanitha Sankaran
Avon A (2010), Paperback, 368 pages
Rated 5 stars of 5 possible.

Watermark is the story of a young woman, Auda, who is different than others because she is albino and mute, and her struggle to survive in the middle ages. Ignorance and superstition are common place in Auda's time; she must combat these enemies, along with the Inquisition and society's senseless fear of anything that's different. I found the map of France, included in the front of the book, to be quite helpful.

I love the way this story unfolds, starting with the drama attendant upon Auda's birth and then, what seemingly passes for a normal life, until Auda has become a young adult. The true details of history and paper making included in the story as well as the carefully developed characters and their actions make this novel a page turner. There are both kinds of characters in this story; those you love and those you love to hate... still, I wasn't entirely prepared for the shocking ending... and, no, I'm not gonna tell... well, okay I'll just say this: it wasn't completely unexpected, but I did wish someone else had turned out to be Auda's betrayer.

In some books, the supporting addenda are almost as interesting as the main story.  This is especially true of Watermark. In addition to the great story, and the aforementioned map, my copy of Watermark contains:

• An author's note that I recommend to readers finishing the book,
• A glossary of words originating in five other languages which were used in the book and which may be unfamiliar to many readers,
• A chronology of important events in the middle ages, and
• A selected bibliography for readers who may wish to read more about the historical events and influences behind the novel...

and that's not all, but I'll leave the rest for you to discover on your own.

I highly recommend this intriguing novel to lovers of historical fiction, and to those looking for something different to read.  This review has been simultaneously published on Amazon.com, Dragon Views and LibraryThing.

A Picture of Nineteenth Century Life

Original Sins: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom
Peg Kingman
W. W. Norton & Company (2010)
Hardcover, 432 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

Original Sins is a novel of slavery and freedom, friendship and trust. Anibaddh is a runaway slave who has built a fortune in the East Indies as a silk merchant... but she feels that something is missing from her life. The maternal bond is enough to compel Anibaddh to risk her freedom, and that of her two sons by returning to Virginia to discover the fate of the child she left behind eighteen years previously.

A picture of nineteenth century life in America is beautifully evoked, giving the reader a sense of the prejudice and injustice and the basic unfairness and discrimination women of that time faced. For example, when a woman got married, all that was hers became the property of her husband, unless these possessions and monies were set aside in her name before marriage (the equivalent of today's pre-nuptual agreement.) Anibaddh's friend, Grace discovers this when she tries to emancipate an old slave that her uncle "purchased" with money set aside by Grace's mother in trust for Grace while she was a child.

The novel is steadily paced and consistently kept my interest from beginning to end. Much information about the Daguerroype process has been incorportated into the story, adding to the interest of the tale in a believable way. A few characters in the book are based on real-life individuals and the actions of these characters is fairly consistent with what is known about them. The story makes progress from beginning to end in a stately way, not too fast, but perhaps a little on the slow side, yet because the tale is so compelling, I didn't mind. The slower pace is sometimes better than a page-turning, breathless frenzy, because it gives the reader a chance to relax and enjoy the show.

Recommended for readers of historical fiction, and for those who are looking for a change of pace.  I rate this novel a high 4 stars, but it's just a little short of me being able to give it the full five-star rating.

This advance reading copy was sent to me free by the publisher in exchange for this review. This review has simultaneously been posted on Dragon Views, and LibraryThing.

Investigation of Human Nature

The Pearl
By John Steinbeck
Penguin Books (2002)
Trade Paperback, 96 pages
Rated 5 Stars of 5 possible

The Pearl is John Steinbeck's re-telling of an old Mexican folk tale about greed and hope, suspicion and dreams... but mostly hope. It is a simple, tragic tale that illustrates the fall from innocence of people who believe that wealth can erase all their problems.

This tightly packed little tale is illuminated by the fine craftsmanship Steinbeck brings to all his writing. Despite its brevity, The Pearl is not a tale to read lightly. There is a lot of food for thought buried in these pages. The Pearl picks up the thread of investigation where the allegorical tale, Of Mice and Men left off... for this book as well as the other, is a study of human nature.

For those interested in deeper study or discussion of The Pearl, a combined discussion guide has been written by The Great Books Foundation. Steinbeck's other two novels covered by the same discussion guide are Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

Recommended for readers age 16 and up who are interested in reading material that gives your brain something to work on.

Historical, but Obscure

Flesh and Grass
Libby Cone
Available In various e-book formats,
Published by the author
Rated 3 stars of 5 possible.

Flesh and Grass is loosely based on an ill-fated Dutch colony in late 17th century Deleware. The tale is told from the perspective of a young blind man. I like this perspective and I like that the story is told as if it had been written in a journal. The old-fashioned spelling and sentence structure give an authentic feel to the story as well. Despite the good premise and unusual subject matter, this story has a few problems... thus my three star rating of a potentially five star subject.

The capitalization in unexpected places makes for awkward reading. Even if this inconsistent capitalization would have been authentic late 17th century style, the capitalization of the words should be consistent with today's English.

The mostly unexplained useage of Dutch words makes the story a bit difficult to comprehend in places for someone who only speaks and reads English - or for that matter, any language other than Dutch. Footnotes or, even better, a dedicated glossary at the end would add value to the book and provide the needed explanations without interruption of the story.

The blind protagonist gives the author a tricky plot device. Since the young man telling the story can't see, the author cannot use visual data in most of the story... but many blind persons have their other senses compensate by becoming more intense. The author uses smells to provide some of the detail, but taste, touch and hearing could be used to help bring more detail into the story.

One other thing that I didn't quite notice until the end... I was so wrapped up in the story that most of the dates went by without me taking notice, but at the end, the final chapter is dated about six years before the previous chapter.  I'm not certain why the dates aren't all chronological. For me, reading the events in chronological order makes more sense.

In all, the story is intriguing and I was rather hoping for a longer tale... perhaps 200 pages. I'll recommend this as a good story, but only to those who don't mind dealing with the problems. This review has been simultaneously posted on Amazon.com, Dragon Views and LibraryThing. I received a 96 page PDF format document free from the author in exchange for this review.