Blair Books

I enjoyed this book; the writing is excellent and the characters are very believable with all that irritating nonsense that happens in adolescence. One has certainly had crushes such as Clay had and one has certainly "blown it" again as Clay did. But this modern coming of age lacks a certain degree of passion; the jealousies are there and believable, the mix of straight and gay that one must tolerate in a primarily straight world and the mystery of adolescence to adults is very believable; the recklessness of undeclared love--or at least the love that dare not speak its name but is forever yelling in our ears; all of that and more is hereby captured with exquisite truth. And the end is spot on. I feel sorry for gay youth; the paranoia that you are the only person like this in the whole world and the sturm und drang of first loves. Thinking it over, maybe the passion is very much there afterall; maybe I am just too removed by age to have much tolerance for our unfortunate youthful dramas anymore. Read it and see what you think.

"Clay's Way" is a riveting gay coming-of-age novel set in Hawaii. The story of Sam and Clay is an unusual one. Sam is an unhappy skateboard punk rocker who knows he is gay and is quite unhappy with his life. Clay is a surfer dude battling inner demons, unsure of his sexuality. The two form an intense friendship that leads to interactions more destructive than romantic. Sam increasingly goes beyond the fringe, leading to numerous scenes that are true page-turners. Clay is a boy in need of help that's not there, and his story is a sad one. This book has been hailed by many, and I have to agree. This is a coming-of-age story off the beaten path, and it's a must read for fans of the genre.

Clay's Way puts me in a dream state. Reading it feels like living it. The novel has you looking through the eyes of the main character Sam, a confused wannabe skater kid trying to find himself (and to find him). Sit back and turn on your color TV brain as you hear his thoughts, taste his salty smiles, and feel his hormones drug your body. The atmosphere feels sort of like a Hawaiian Greg Araki movie projecting on your mind as you read each page. I sincerely hope this book is made into a movie, although maybe that would just ruin my own interpretations of the language. Either way this book is so very satisfying on a sensory and emotional level. It's a fine example of what a kid can go though who grows up feeling a bit outside the in-crowd.

When I first read a summary of this book, It sounded interesting. However, it didn't take long before I became frustrated with it. Part of that comes from thinking that the book would be more about the characters and less about the sexual acts they involve themselves in. Regardless of the amount of sexual tension which floods the pages however, my biggest complain was that the main character never evolves or grows throughout the story. He stays the same self centered character throughout and despite several places where it looks like he might learn something and grow up a bit, moments later such thoughts are dashed and he goes back to his neurotic self. Despite a half hearted attempt at the end to show some sort of change within him, I came away feeling like there was no progression and that despite all that he went through, he never learned anything from it.

A book that I had very high expectations for turned out to be a dud. The story starts off as interesting and engaging, but by part two it takes an annoying and painful turn for the worse. The story present a view not of reality but of hyper reality, the things the characters say and do are things people tend to think but would hardly, if ever, say or do out loud. Further more as you watch Clay's continued lack of acceptance of himself continuously escalates to a point where you can't help but to be angry at him, and Sam's bright eyed insistence on a happy ending in-spite of all evidence to the contrary is equally aggravating. The fact that the book ends in the matter that it does certainly doesn't help matters. All in all it starts off strong, but if you stop reading at the end of part one, you'll really be doing yourself a favor.

David Drake does it again with this superb alternate history. He is certainly the premier SF writer today!

A quality sequel to it's predecessors, and one of the rare occasions that a sequel beats the original in some aspects, although not all.

As with 1632, the characters while still somewhat cliche, have started to become more fleshed out. Several new or minor characters get much larger roles, and thankful these get started from the ground up without the piles of cliche. The dialog is still a bit forced at times, and people spend long period s of time explaining things to each other. There is also a lot of what I call trailer lines. That is, if this were a movie, those lines were written to be in the trailer. That's not terrible, but it should occur in every chapter, which it does in this book.

What really makes this book shine is the way the author deals with politics and foreign relations. In most books the main characters and their allies are the good guys, most everyone else is victims that have to be saved or black hats. The good guys save the day and control the world, but no specifics on what happens after. Flint takes the events from the previous book, and starts to show why American style democracy would have difficulty integrating into 1600 monarchy driven politics. There is even tension between allies as the Americans try to bring them into the democratic fold while at the same time allowing their monarchical ways.

The action, while very limited in this book, is also good. Because of all the political battling, the action is really saved for near the end, and feels a bit tacked on.

Overall this book continues the series and moves it forward in a way few sequels achieve.

Eric Flint is a genius and his world of th Ring of Fire is incredible.

1632 had serious problems, starting with the many long-winded characters and their inconsequential rambling conversations. While Weber's people in the Harrington books can talk too much, also, I had hoped that in 1633 he would have kept Flint a bit more to the point. Alas, not so. 1633 is one long wait for the very few things that actually happen, to happen. And once they happen, everyone and his foil have to yack that over, as well, and the problem is that much of their yacking doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Three stars only because these guys have a better mastery of language than Flint alone demonstrates, 2 stars missing for everything this story could have been. Highly recommended as a soporific.

I was substantially disappointed by this second installment of Flint's brilliant 1632. About two thirds of the way through this very viscous novel I began to ask myself when the payoff would happen. It never did. The material was dense, probably historically accurate, but BORING. Like it was written by a committee.

Most novels have some flat spots, but the author(s) usually reward your persistence and patience. Not so here IMHO.

And the afterward is a curious thing... Flint waxes enthusiastically about his committee approach to 1633 and further installments of his original 1632 novel. But its almost as if he's attempting to deflect criticism of this approach in advance.

To me, novels are mostly entertainment. 1633 reads like a history text. Instead of an afterward by the author, 1633 should have provided a bibliography.

"Through photography and the written word," Aurora del Valle says, "I try desperately to conquer the transitory nature of my existence, to trap moments before they evanesce, to untangle the confusion of my past. Every instant disappears in a breath and immediately becomes the past; reality is ephemeral and changing, pure longing."

Here is the story of Aurora del Valle, granddaughter of the powerful Paulina del Valle and of Eliza Sommers [the protagonist in Daughter of Fortune]. Allende weaves another web of tangled relationships, passion and heroism, using the voice of a young girl living first in San Francisco, and then in Chile at the end of the nineteenth century. She depicts love in its many forms from the passion of youth to the comfort and subtlety in old age, from that of the family to cruel exploitation and the consequences of all of them.

Margaret Sayers Penden is a fine translator. Luscious, delicious, savory. I look forward to the next one.

by Judith Helburn
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviews.org
reviewing books by, for, and about women

I didn't liked it, it's very boring and more of the same (from the first part daughter of fortune).

I really liked this book. It started off a little slow but I really enjoyed it. It's a wonderful story about a Chinese-Chilean beauty and her family. Well written, and It's worth a second read.

This memoir serves as a sort of biography for Allende's fictional main character. Your own emotions will run the gamut while you read this book.

The story told by Aurora del Valle in Isabel Allende's "Portrait in Sepia" is profoundly engrossing, captivating the reader in a net of unusual events among remarkable, original characters.

"Portrait in Sepia" reconstructs the past of Aurora, the protagonist of "The Daughter of Fortune", a very successful earlier novel by Allende, but it does not mean it is a mere sequel. This novel stands on its own and can be read separately as a whole. It is deeply rooted inn the South American tradition of convoluted, multigenerational family sagas. There are all the characteristic elements: the ancestral characters are eccentric, colorful and each of them has a life worth of a full novel, their labirynthine adventures form a network of separate, but intersecting stories; the circumstances of birth of the main protagonist, the narrator - Aurora, are dramatic and romantic at the same time ; the background historical events in the described period (the break of 19th and 20th centuries) are at least as full of suspense and revealing the human nature, as the personal adventures of the characters.

Aurora del Valle, at thirty, is finally able to reconstruct her past. The families involved on the maternal and paternal side could not be more different. Aurora's paternal grandparents, Paulina del Valle and Feliciano Rodriguez de Santa Cruz, are a wealthy couple from Chile, living in San Francisco, sophisticated and successful in business. Paulina is a typical matriarch, who rules the family, has a very strong personality, moods which affect everyone around her, and particular tastes and whims, one of which are the Chilean pastries, which lead her often to the small store in San Francisco's Chinatown. The owner of the store is Eliza Sommers, Aurora's maternal grandmother, who run in pursuit of an unfaithful lover from Chile to California, where she found real love in the arms of a Chinese doctor, Tao Chi'en. They are blessed with two children, Lucky and Lynn, but cursed by the absolute beauty and naivety of their daughter. Lynn gives them Aurora, and they take care of the child until Tao's death when Aurora is five; from then on she lives with Paulina and goes back to Chile, her life is changed and she almost forgets the tragedy from Chinatown, which appears only in her nightmares and she is able to consciously remember it only many years later.

The story is not limited to the grandparents; Aurora's uncle Severo and his wife, Nivea, are also richly described, strong characters who play important roles in her life. There are many secondary personas whose attributes are unusual, even if merely for the anegdotical purpose. Their fates are inseparably connected with the historical events occurring in their lifetime: the Chinese immigration and the American attitude towards them, their struggle and assimilation; the dictatorship and wars in Chile; finally, the feminist movement, or the souffrage, which is especially important in this novel, as it is discussed, and at the same time accepted and contested by showing the contrast between Nivea, a woman who argues the most for it, has the mind open wide, firm beliefs and goals which she achieves, but she is the one who leads the very traditional life in comparison to Paulina and Eliza, who, a generation older, fulfill their dreams as freely as the women of our times, but do not give a thought to feminism.
The story goes past Aurora's birth and childhood and in the last part of the book concentrates on Aurora herself, her passion for photography, her marriage and loves.

My favorite male characters are Severo and Tao Chi'en, probably because of their wisdom and good characters, which do not diminish their masculinity and charm, natural, although not actively pursued (as opposed to the pathetic Matias Rodriguez de Santa Cruz).

The main difference I see between Allende and other South American writers is that her prose is soaked with femininity, very sensual, its magic comes from the belief in intuition, supported by wisdom and strength. The women in "Portrait in Sepia" are equally colorful and varied characters as men, and all the characters are very human, with their vices and strong points, nobody is a total villain or saint. The importance of romance and love which can be destructive or move the mountains, which can be misplaced or very well chosen, is central to this novel, as well as the passion for things other than love, which is essential to the well-being and internal equilibrium and the only thing besides love which can bring happiness and sense of fulfillment.

I meant to tackle Allende's prose for a long time, and this is the first novel of hers, that I finally read - and definitely not the last one.

I read this book because of the great reviews it got at this site and because I have read her other books. Between them all, I like this book the best because of its faster pace and more active storyline. I am a big historical fiction fan, but reading a book actually written in a historical time period is different because it has the language and writing style of that time period. This book did not disappoint. Again, I am amazed by the storyline, given the era she wrote it in. It is a great book with memorable characters. Despite the title of the book, I did not expect the ending until the last few pages, and so it kept me "on the edge of my seat". I highly recommend it.

It begins on a dark and lonely island where the orphaned teenage heroine lives with her cold unfeeling grandfather. An older man, ominously named Tempest, visits. He and the supposed cabin boy of his yacht, dressed in Greek costume, provide a break in Rosamond's monotony. When her grandfather "releases" her, she willingly sails away with Mr. Tempest.

The heroine, like Jo March, is somewhat of a tomboy and in a daring eavesdrop learns an upsetting truth. Rosamond takes flight and so begins a female picaresque with cross country and oceanic travel, castles, a convent, an asylum and two appropriately chaste romances.

The Pulitzer winning Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father explains Louisa's motives in writing. While my memory has faded on the qualities of Little Women (circa 1869) it's hard to believe these came from the same pen.

The lead characters are interesting, but we cannot really know them. The virginal heroine is beautiful, honorable and strong. The villain, Tempest, in today's world would need considerably more development. While his love for Rosamond has some ennobling qualities, his bigamy, subsequent stalking and strange relationship with his son seem to be 19th century codes for unsavory qualities which we are much more open about today.

Supporting characters are interesting but also sketches. The priest has a heroic past and reads and rereads Martin Luther's renunciation of clerical celibacy. Mrs. Tempest is innocent, honorable and charitable and her son is devoted and immature.

Why was his book not published in its time? If not published as a volume, why not as a serial for which its chapters are perfectly arranged? Was it just a routine rejection for an unknown writer? Did the characters not reflect the ideals of their times? Was a war weary nation (in 1866) not perceived to be ready for a romantic thriller? Was it ahead of its time in the thriller genre as a Stephen King review of it suggests? Not sure of how to award stars for this, so I gave it 5 stars for my affection for Alcott.

I don't own this book. I have never read this book. But I know Ms Alcott is a wonderful writer.

A Long Fatal Love Chase has a true obsessed villian, a heroine on the run from him and a man she loves but can never have. For fans of Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, this book should be read and kept on your keeper shelf.
Rosamond our heroine wants adventure and to live life. She is bored nd borderlined depressed. She thinks her savior comes to her as an old friend of her grandfather's. Philip marries Rose and whisks her away. Things seem to be perfect in their marriage. Philip and Rose have an incredible love and life. Simply everything Rose ever wanted.
But then Philip's secrets come out. Rose runs away and hence the name of the book comes into play.
Where as Philip started out as the too good to be true hero of this piece, he turns into an obsessed madman. He needs Rose back to complete his life no matter the cost to her or those she encounters.
Philip is so oily and sneaky that even though he does harm the heroine, he can't see the right or wrong in the situation. He has no morals and wants to win. Rose comes across as the stereotypical nieve heroine (Hey, she did love the man afterall) but she learns fast and tries to outwit Philip anyway she can, but the results don't end the way we the readers think it will.
For suspense, drama and an adventure of wits between two passionate people, this book has everything.
This is defintely not Alcott's "Little Women". A very dark and brooding story.

Katiebabs

Yes, it was long, much too long - the reason it never got published back in 1868.

We're never told the year the story begins, but from a footnote about Nice being part of Sardinia before 1860, apparently it's set before 1860.

Rosamund is an 18 year old woman living with her disinterested grandfather in a house on an island (which we learn later must be off England somewhere). She's quite bored, and when a stranger appears, she becomes childishly enamored of his freedom and mysteriousness.

The book is written in a style which might have been attractive to some women in the 1860's, but it's definitely not now. For the first half of the book, Rosamond's beauty is extolled in almost every paragraph, lest we ever forget: She's beautiful! What's so beautiful about her? Well, we're not to know that, except sometimes she's fresh and rosy, and yet, oftentimes, beautifully pale and white! As for Tempest, the protaganist, he is merely "peculiar looking" and has "peculiar eyes."

Tempest flatly tells Rosamond (whom he sometimes calls Eve or Margaret) that he's a psychopath. She thinks love will conquer all, till she finds out some things that tend to bother her. She leaves him, and he hunts her down - not because he's a stalker - but because it's a game to him, like hunting an animal, and he has nothing else to do.

Well, this goes on for quite some time, with Rosamond getting help from everyone astounded by her beauty (except one nun - she's jealous), and two other guys falling madly in love with her, of course.

As for the relationship between Lito and Tempest and Tempest hiding it and treating him as a slave - why? Tempest character is never developed, and the end is pretty ridiculous, almost religious, but there's nothing there to back it up. I can see why it wasn't published and it still needs major editing. Each sentence was three times as long as it needed to be. Also, the editor forgot to clear up why Rosamond's grandfather "never forgave [her] Papa for marrying as he did" - when it was her mother who was his child and who married down by marrying her father.

Similar to the basic concept of this book (move in or fold) this reading might be love it or leave it but it provides a fresh approach to No Limit Hold'em. Having read "Kill Everyone" - the sequel to this book - prior to this one I must admit that the strategy seemed too simple and I was skeptical at first. However the book states that this strategy is for inexperienced players up against good or even professional players in live tournaments. It provides the ALL-IN move as the big gun to create confusion and frustration against pros who prefer to outplay you post-flop for your chips.

The authors make it very clear that the Kill Phil strategy is very vulnerable at the early stages of a tournament when blinds are insignificant compare to stack sizes and there are no antes. It is also stressed that players must have the courage to take risks to preserve and increase their chip count at all costs. This type of move is not for the faint hearted!

Initially your limited to a few groups of hands with which you will go All-In with. Post-flop play is discouraged to keep beginners out of trouble but they have to develop a lot of patience. It's difficult to sit at the table waiting for AA or KK to make your move - you only get those every 22 hands or so although there are better chances of that happening online. The strategy does evolve taking other factors into consideration (player style, position, stack size, pot odds). Then it goes into post-flop trapping, mixing up the hands you push vs. the hands you raise or check-raise to get value or trap. It even has an internet strategy modification due to the loose nature of online SNG play. I tried the strategy on several 1 table and multi table SNG and when I stuck to it I made the money almost every time.

By the end of the book you'll take away some key concepts that anyone should include into their game. Moving in preflop is a very powerful weapon which takes any skill advantage out of the equation, but it should be used only in certain situations and not base your whole game around it. Since this method will be vulnerable when the blinds are low you'll either need to learn how to play the post-flop with other readings or pick your spots and make your move.

It's a very good book for amauter players so they will start to learn how no limit texas holdem is been played. Also there are some advanced strategies later at the book. For advanced players I suggest Kill Everyone

I found the information contained in Kill Phil useful & productive.
It can provide another weapon in the arsenal of a serious poker player.
No system of play can substitute for hours of practice, lots of reading,
and constantly striving for improvement in your game. I experimented with Kill Phil in the recent WSOP Ladies circuit event in Tunica and went from placing 27th last year to placing 18th this year. Aside from the basic Kill Phil system, the book contains advice & a tournament overview
from two people who have been there. Of the many poker books I have read,
I found this one very worthwhile!

While reading this book, the reviews, online message boards, and playing constant online tourneys, it has occurred to me that there's a very important concept here. Namely, is there a mathematical basis for going all-in anytime you deside to play a hand?

I can see how these ideas were derived. For instance, suppose I have AK, and you have QJ, well since the status quo is for me to win, if neither of us improve, I'll win. On the other hand, IF you pair Q or J and I don't pair A or K, then you'll win. The same is true whether or not you hold 8 5. Also, obviously, if either of us draw to a straight or a flush we'll win, but if we both do, I'll win. And so on.

So, I can see how there might be some logic to going all-in with 8 5 as easy as one would go all-in with AJ. But here's where it comes back to reality. Even though it's true that if no one has a pair we both have the same odds of pairing something, that doesn't mean that the better hands won't win in the long run.

It just throws a giant monkey wrench into the picture in the short run.

So, what's the moral of my message? This book presents a legitimate point describing a way to try and win a tournament. Whether or not it works is debatable, so go ahead and try it if you like.

I think the better players will come out on top anyway, and shouldn't be so quick to condemn this method.

The first time I used the strategy in this book, I won a 180 player tournament. Hard to argue with those results!

This dual biography by Jane Dunn is an excellent and highly engaging work of history, and tells much of the Elizabethan age regarding not only politics but also society, religion relationships and gender.

Elizabeth refused to marry and reigned for 45 years as the solitary monarch of England, at the time a revolutionary decision.
A women of great strength, a wise ruler (although as the author points out, unlike Mary, she was blessed with dependable and skilled advisers) and as we see a great orator and poet.
Her rallying of the people of England against the Spanish Armada certainly was something of a reflection of Churchill's rallying of Britain against the Nazi menace 400 years later.
We need leaders in the West today who can stand up against the threat of Islamo-Fascism and terror.

Mary was a passionate and wilful adventurer. married twice for political gain, but took several lovers, and certainly was passionate at different times in her love for Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley(who she came to despise for good reason later) and for the Earl of Bothwell.

Mary was a vengeful ruler and the more ruthless of the two queens, she felt nothing plotting the overthrow and death of Elizabeth, while it was with great anguish that Elizabeth was forced to sign Mary's death warrant, after Mary's plotting (The Throckmorton and Babington plots) made her end inevitable.

Essentially the book is about a fatal and tragic clash of interests.
"A fatal complication ensued when Mary turned her sights on the greater crown of England. believing it her rightful inheritance and a claim worth pursuing. Elizabeth's fundamental insecurity in her own legitimacy, where the whole of Catholic Europe was ranged against her , 'the bastard child of a whore' increased the tension and emotional volatility of the issue. The complex rivalry, the feint and parrying of their personal relationship, sprang from the challenge Mary made for Elizabeth's throne, and the unassailable legitimacy of her claim. The powerful passions this relationship engendered in each was a result of their strikingly different natures. The fact that they never met allowed their rivalries to inflate in each Queen's imagination, their qualities elaborated upon by ambassadors and courtiers intent on their own ambition".
Elizabeth was a prisoner accused of treason and threatened with execution as a young girl, before gaining the throne, seen by the majority of England's people as a great deliverer from her older sister 'Bloody' Mary I's 's tyrannic religious repression of the Protestants.
As was written in John Fox's 'Foxes Book of Martyrs' where he records the names and circumstances of ordinary people put to death for their faith under Mary I "When these at Maidstone were put to death
We wished for our ELIZABETH."

At the time of her mother's execution Princess Elizabeth was two years and eight months old.
She was soon stripped of her title of princess and declared illegitimate.
Elizabeth who was an incredibly bright child, did not notice that her mother was gone but she did notice the change of her name. She apparently said to her governess. "how haps it governor, yesterday my Lady Princess, today but my Lady Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth must have grown up under great trauma , her mother executed when she was three years old, on her father's orders, all but rejected by her father and declared 'illegitimate.'


Mary of Scots became Queen in a blaze of glory before a series of intrigues and catastrophes led to her being cast off the throne in a civil war, before fleeing to England.
She was detained on Elizabeth's orders as she was a very real threat to Elizabeth's life and throne on which she had designs, but lived in great luxury and with a large degree of freedom.
Elizabeth did all she could to be merciful but Mary's plotting and attempts to take the throne sealed her own fate.
As Elizabeth wrote to Mary "You have in various manners attempted to take my life, and bring my kingdom to destruction by bloodshed. I have never proceeded harshly against you but have on the contrary protected and maintained you like myself. These treasons will be proved to you, and all made manifest' before asking Mary again to answer for her actions and admit her guilt, and Elizabeth would again be merciful.
Mary's actions played into the hands of Elizabeth's council who then forced elizabeth to give the signal for her execution.

This was an interesting book to read. The comapnion biographies gave me a fresh perpsective on the relationship between the two monarchs. My only criticism is that there is a lot of repetition. Dunn writes over and over again about the view of women during the 16th century and about the difficulties faced by a female sovereign. After a while I just kept thinking to myself, "OK! I GET IT!"
But at the same time it was interesting to read about their lives side by side. I never stopped to think about the fact that while Elizabeth was spending a difficult childhood being threatened with execution after being accused of treason, Mary was the star of the French court and already queen of Scotland in her own right. Elizabeth, as a result, learned very early to tread very carefully and never give away her true thoughts. Mary, on the other hand, never had to learn how to govern. She was priveleged, and was constantly the center of attention. Hardly surprising that she made some catastrophic decisions when she returned to Scotland.
So although this isn't what I would consider to be a great book, it did give a fresh perspective about how closely entwined the two queens were. If you are interested in the realationship between Elizabeth and Mary you may find this book to be worth your time.

I received prompt and reliable service.... my book arrived so quickly and in perfect condition! I'm grateful!

For anyone looking for a straight forward biography of these two fascinating queens, Jane Dunn's excellent book is not for you. This is an in-depth, sociological, and psychological study of the two rival queens and the events that shaped their lives. Critical reviewers have accused Dunn of unfair bias toward Elizabeth, but, given the extraordinary achievements of Elizabeth, how can one not be? Mary Stewart was a very romantic, tragic, almost mythical figure, but she played the traditional female role of a queen who needed a king to rule with her; surprising considering she was the daughter of the formidable Marie de Guise. And her appalling choices of husbands #2 and #3 caused her life to spin out of control. Her poor decisions regarding the treason plot against Elizabeth displayed emotion over reason, and ultimately brought about her downfall. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was magnificent. In an era when women were commonly accepted as inferior to men, she not only overcame huge sociological prejudices to become the most powerful ruler of her era, but ultimately did it well, bringing Elizabethan England to great prosperity. The contrast between the two women, Elizabeth, struggling to be equal to a king in a totally male dominated world and Mary, relying on her femininity to achieve her desires, could not be more marked. The issue of succession, with Elizabeth's choice to remain a "Virgin Queen," (in name only, I have to say, I disagree with Dunn's viewpoint that she and Dudley were "just friends") in order to maintain her control, and thus leaving England without an heir, is complex and warranted more discussion in the book. But really, after all the historical sturm und drang does anyone else see the great irony that Mary's son James became king of the British Isles anyway, ascending to both the English and Scottish throne?

For anyone looking for a straight forward biography of these two fascinating queens, Jane Dunn's excellent book is not for you. This is an in-depth, sociological, and psychological study of the two rival queens and the events that shaped their lives. Critical reviewers have accused Dunn of unfair bias toward Elizabeth, but, given the extraordinary achievements of Elizabeth, how can one not be? Mary Stewart was a very romantic, tragic, almost mythical figure, but she played the traditional female role of a queen who needed a king to rule with her; surprising considering she was the daughter of the formidable Marie de Guise. And her appalling choices of husbands #2 and #3 caused her life to spin out of control. Her poor decisions regarding the treason plot against Elizabeth displayed emotion over reason, and ultimately brought about her downfall. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was magnificent. In an era when women were commonly accepted as inferior to men, she not only overcame huge sociological prejudices to become the most powerful ruler of her era, but ultimately did it well, bringing Elizabethan England to great prosperity. The contrast between the two women, Elizabeth, struggling to be equal to a king in a totally male dominated world and Mary, relying on her femininity to achieve her desires, could not be more marked. The issue of succession, with Elizabeth's choice to remain a "Virgin Queen," (in name only, I have to say, I disagree with Dunn's viewpoint that she and Dudley were "just friends") in order to maintain her control, and thus leaving England without an heir, is complex and warranted more discussion in the book. But really, after all the historical sturm und drang does anyone else see the great irony that Mary's son James became king of the British Isles anyway, ascending to both the English and Scottish throne?

Unfortunately, this series take a little downturn after the debut. I guess Hearn's world, as well as her characters, are more fresh and new in the first book. There just wasn't enough here that inspired me. It was still good enough to warrant $10 and a few days of reading.

This is the second book in the Tales of the Otori series by Lian Hearn. This book picks up where the first left off. Takeo leaves Kaede for training under the mysterious Tribe; whose supernatural abilities Takeo has inherited from his father. As his training concludes, and he is asked to take out certain missions, he must ask himself if his loyalties will lie with the Tribe or with the Otori? Kaede meanwhile is left on her own to return home and see what state her family is in. Kaede struggles to consolidate her power and claim the inheritance she was left in a world that is run by men.

This was a fitting second book for this series. It moved along at the steady, descriptive pace of the second book. Although for some reason I found myself getting bored while reading this book. The lush descriptions, while detailed, didn't bring the book to life in the way I hoped they would. I had a little trouble understanding some of the stupid decisions made by Kaede and Takeo along the way. Despite these misgivings, if you liked the first book you must read the second book. It is very much in the same style of the first book and continues the story of Kaede and Takeo. This book definitely builds to a climax preparing you for the war and conflict of the third novel.

Excellent story. The reader presents it very well. Holds your interest. Look forward to more. I you like stories about feudal Japan, you will love it.

Reference to the Audio Book of this particular title:

Takeo's character flowed through this book with the same rich clarity and presence as Nightingale. The inner workings of Kaede were fleshed out more, and I found it easier to relate to her as an individual character, moreso than I did in the previous book.

This part of the trilogy did leave me wanting the resolve offered in Brilliance of the Moon for Takeo and Kaede - whatever they would be.

This is the second book in the Otori 'trilogy' (now in five parts), so before embarking on this book you need to have read 'Across the Nightingale Floor' (and preferably 'Heaven's net is wide' before that). It is set in a mythical, feudal (and fictional) Japanese society, centred around the story of Otori Takeo, the product of three conflicting cultures which all want to make him their own, to the exclusion of all else.

This book is heart rending, gripping, twisting and turning; full of beauty and horror, betrayal and love.
A little confusing to keep up with the names and geography, but most of them become familiar quite quickly. Many of the characters are well defined, some fitting neatly into the boundaries defined by their class, while others are notable for their struggle against the limits placed on them by their society.

The story is told in two different voices - one characters gives a first-person narrative, while the author describes the events happening to others. This takes a while to get used to, but I really enjoyed it and found it helped to place events and characters. I recommend this book (and the trilogy) to anyone with an interest in history, Japan, feudalism, fantasy, or just in search of a challenging, but rewarding, read.

I've read this book 3 times since it was first published in the 1980's. This one of my favorite novels of all time. Prepare yourself for a wonderful, spiritual, hypnotic journey into the previous lifetime of a journalist named Jo. Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, this novel will certainly arouse your suspicions. Strongly recommended, Enjoy!

The plot has been described by other reviewers. The one point I want to add is that the behavior of the medieval characters is extremely brutal. Although in that way, the story is much more true to the past than most historical novels, if you are sensitive (as I am) you may find the descriptions disturbing. In any event, not something to read while you are feeling blue.

I enjoyed this, but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had all been in Matilda's past and skipped the stuff in the present time. The idea of regression was interesting, but it got to be a bit much after a while. I mean, how many people do you know that are experienced hypnotists? And Jo was hypnotized by was it four or five different people? That did become a bit of a stretch towards the end of the book. ***Spoiler*** Also, unless I missed something, I don't think Sam's obsession with the whole Jo/Matilda thing was explained to my satisfaction. How did he become so evil -- to the point of harming his brother.

You should be advised that this is not your "true" historical fiction. Matilda, William De Braose, Richard, etc. were real people, but as the author notes at the end not all that happened in the book to Jo/Matilda actually happened to the real Matilda. I almost didn't read this book because of what really happened to Matilda -- yes she was held prisoner with her son and they starved to death but the story ended a bit more gruesome than that, if what I read in SKP's Welsh trilogy is true. I was relieved that Erskine left that part out. Otherwise an interesting read, I blew through it quickly. Four stars instead of five for the inconsistencies.

This was the first Barbara Erskine book I read, and remains one of her best. Even though I'm not a huge fan of really long books I found the characters engaging and the storyline thrilling. Bettered only by Midnight is a Lonely Place.

If you're looking for something similar whilst waiting for the new Barbara Erskine novel, you might like to try MASTER OF THE SCROLLS by Benjamin Ford. It's well worth a read!

It seems that the reviews for this book are all over the map. This is totally understandable to me, as I just finished the book and spent a while sorting my feelings about it out.

That said, I really like this book. I'll tell you why in a moment.

Jo Clifford is nineteen years old and volunteers to be a patient in a hypnosis experiment taking place at her college. While under hypnosis Jo becomes extremely agitated and then, her hands begin to bleed. The professor conducting the experiment is thrilled, he thinks Joanna is showing signs of stigmata, but his assistant Sam Franklyn, is scared. Then, Jo's hearts stops and she nearly dies. Sam manages to bring her back to life. This is the prolog.

Fast forward fifteen years. Jo has recently broken up with Nick, who is Sam's younger brother. She is a freelance journalist and is starting to write a series on nostalgia, one of the articles is about past lives and reincarnation. At this point she has no idea what happened to her all those years in the college experiment because the doctor conducting it gave her a post hypnotic suggestion so she wouldn't remember.

Nick does know, and try's to dissuade her from writing the article, but she is too mad at him for cheating on her to care. So she begins to write the article, and is hypnotized by a doctor she goes to interview.

Immediately Jo is flung back into the past. She is Matilda de Braose, women who is married to a twelve century marcher lord in Wales, but is love with the handsome Richard de Clare. And King (currently Prince) John of Robin Hood fame is in love with her.

As Jo continues her trips to the past via regression it becomes obvious that the three men in Matilda's life, her husband William, her lover Richard and her lord John are all involved in Jo's life as well. The men, Sam, Nick and Tim (a photographer Jo frequently works with) begin to act strangely.

This book was very exciting. The story line is going at a break neck speed until about page four hundred, when it slows down it bit. It does seem like some of it could be cut, but I couldn't tell you what parts.

My only gripes with this book are few. The scenes in the past can be a little boring, the evil man in Jo's life seemed to becomes very evil very fast, and I don't think you can really hypnotize someone over the phone. Also I was a little confused about the scenes where Jo thought she was Matilda talking to her husband but really she was being hypnotized, and something like the conversation she was having never really took place in Matilda's life. (You'll understand that if you read the book.)

Spolier alert!!

Also given everything that happened in the book the ending was a little un realistic. I mean, after having a man rape you in not one but two incarnations it seems like you'd have trouble trusting him again, much less loving him. But the destiny aspect of the book sort of makes it all seem ok (not that its ever acceptable to rape someone, it just sort of explains it) and hey, its fiction.

I give this book a very solid four point five stars and I would definitely try something else by this author.

A very good well-rounded book. Can't wait for the next 1, or 5 or 6.

Arrived on time and in excellent condition. Have not read the book yet, but have read many other "Alexandra Cooper" books by Linda Fairstein and have enjoyed them very much.

There's no substiute for first-hand knowledge of one's subject, and Linda Fairstein is no exception. Her Alexandra Cooper mysteries are among my favorite, due in no small part to her former work as the chief of the Sex Crimes Unit for the Manhattan DA's office. Bad Blood is the ninth in the series, and the author's doing an amazing job of keeping the character interesting, and the plots pleasingly twisted. The jumping-off point for this novel is the revelation of a key witness's affair with the defendant in a murder trial, which paints the prosecution's case into a corner. The plot then literally explodes, uncovering secrets that I won't spoil here. This reminded me of another author with firsthand knowledge: Patricia Gussin, an MD with a background in family medicine and medical research. Her new book, Twisted Justice, is on par with Fairstein's work. Enjoy both!

I have enjoyed the other stories by the author (Entombed in particular) but thought this one was really not very good. I wondered if the author was just trying to meet a deadline as opposed to writing a story she wanted to tell. :-(

This book was really not worth reading. I stuck with it because of the money I spent to own it. That happens to me a lot lately. Eight to ten, to twelve dollars a PAPERBACK and they turn out to be crap.

But hey, when you're out of new books, you might pick up any-ole-thing at the market. That's me, desperate for reading material. It's a forty mile round trip to town and a library. Woeisme.

A quick no nonsense story. Lsitened to audio CD and it made the time in the car go fast. Did not have to pay close attention as the story is pretty no frills.

I enjoyed this book immensly. Like all of Linda Fairstein's previous works, she manages to blend suspense and mundane daily info in the life of her characters. Keeps you guessing until the end. I really like that books about independent, strong women are being published! I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

This is the first book I've read by Linda Fairstein, and I must say that she didn't live up to the hype I've heard about her Alex Cooper mysteries. To be honest, I would have been more excited to read court transcripts from actual trials -- such was the tedium of this novel.

The complexity of the plot should make it more interesting, but instead I had a difficult time following who was speaking to whom. There were far too many secondary characters to carry the primary plot, resulting in a convoluted timeline that didn't entice.

Furthermore, and this is perhaps the most important thing I can say, I didn't care about what might happen to the characters. Alex Cooper didn't come across at all as sympathetic, and the lack of personal details about a character written in the first person was just shoddy craftsmanship. I'm thoroughly unimpressed.

To me, this is one of Linda Fairstein's best and I have enjoyed all her books about Alex Cooper. Plainly, I just could not put down this book! Read it, I think you will like it too.

Alexandra Cooper, Chief of the Sex Crimes Division in the Manhattan DA's Office, is gearing up for a rape trial that she knows will be won or lost by the victim's testimony. The Defendant has hired a sleazy high priced lawyer that will stop at nothing in his client's defense. But all is not what it seems when motives far greater than securing a not guilty verdict come into play and Alex's victim winds up dead. Once again, Alex, along with her detective friends Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, put their super sleuthing skills to work to get to the bottom of the mystery and figure out what the bad guys are after that is worth more than life itself.

Fairstein has developed a set of characters that interact well together and have, in the past, entertained as they unravel various mysteries. But this one just didn't work. Despite the fact that Alex Cooper is a prosecutor, these books are far more interesting when she is on the hunt with the guys as opposed to in the courtroom. The courtroom scenes are bland and do not keep the pages turning at all. Unfortunately, that is not only how this novel begins, but it stays with the doomed rape trial for just about the first half of the book. Then things shift to the investigation and for a while the pages are turning again and the story is fondly reminiscent of past episodes. But somewhere along the way it starts to drag and lose steam. By the end the reader just wants it to be over so they can move on to bigger and better.

I don't know how this bodes for successive Alex Cooper novels, but this one left me disappointed and bored. Interesting to note is that this novel is dedicated to Patricia Cornwell. While reading, I noticed a striking resemblance between the characters in this novel and the Kay Scarpetta/Marino duo in Cornwell's novels. I have found that Cornwell's novels reached a tipping point where they became unreadable and I am afraid that the Alex Cooper series has gone that way as well.