“A great struggle for power and wealth goes on at all times over your head, and you are safer knowing nothing about it.”
This lovely, tautly written series for young adults blends Arthurian mythology with adventures in sixth-century Ethiopia and the Arabian peninsula, in kingdoms then known as Aksum and Himyar.
Wein’s books aren’t widely known, [...]
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“Captain Crozier comes up on deck to find his ship under attack by celestial ghosts. Above him–above Terror–shimmering folds of light lunge but then quickly withdraw like the colourful arms of aggressive but ultimately uncertain spectres. Ectoplasmic skeletal fingers extend toward the ship, open, prepare to grasp, and pull back.”
The Terror opens with this lovely, [...]
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The story of Troy, with all its sequels and prequels and spinoffs, is my favorite soap opera, from the songs of Homer to that dreadful movie with Brad Pitt. So I was glad to see this debut historical novel, which retells the story of the Aeneid from a woman’s point of view and with just [...]
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Here’s the premise: A company in the future has worked out both immortality and time travel. Its agents can’t change the past, but they can set things aside for the future: soon-to-be-extinct species, a few judicious investments, etc. These agents are immortal, having undergone a painful and expensive process of robotic enhancements and brain surgeries. [...]
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On this week’s Blogging for a Good Book, I’m posting about four authors who are coming to the Williamsburg Library Theatre on Monday, March 31. We’ll be having a relaxed conversation with Margaret Coel, David L. Robbins, and Jacqueline Winspear, led by Willetta L. Heising. The event starts at 7 pm in the Theatre at [...]
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On this week’s Blogging for a Good Book, I’m posting about four authors who are coming to the Williamsburg Library Theatre on Monday, March 31. We’ll be having a relaxed conversation with Margaret Coel, David L. Robbins, and Jacqueline Winspear, led by Willetta L. Heising. The event starts at 7 pm in the [...]
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Connie shares her review of The Tenderness of Wolves which takes place in Ontario, Canada, 1876:
Let me start by saying I am not much of a mystery reader, although I do enjoy character-driven stories in different settings and time periods. That is probably why this book appealed to me so much. There is a [...]
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Families have secrets, some are just more dangerous than others. Feuds can be deadly, or they can just make you wish you were dead. In The Prestige, Christopher Priest details the lives of dueling magicians Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier. Borden and Angier each tell their side of the story in the form of diaries [...]
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In Jody Shields’ first novel, a young woman, Dora, is found murdered in a Viennese park near the end of the summer in 1910. Only a few clues are found near her body, and the Inspector makes meticulous note of these in his notebooks. He has just been taught the psychological study of crime under [...]
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The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood, includes a novel-within-the-novel, “The Blind Assassin,” by Laura Chase. Laura’s novel is about two lovers who meet secretly. The male is a working-class writer and the female a privileged young woman who worries about getting caught much of the time. They meet at first so the writer can tell [...]
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