THE FIREBIRD by Susanna Kearsley

THE FIREBIRD

by

Susanna Kearsley

            The Winter Sea has been my longtime favorite book written by Susanna Kearsley. Each time I finish the book, however, I yearn for more. Kearsley has delivered more with The Firebird. Although the book stands alone – and stars one of her characters from a different book – we follow, or learn more about, many of the characters from The Winter Sea.

            In The Firebird, as in many of Kearsley’s novels, we learn of the history through a present day person. Nicola Marter, like her friend Rob McMorran (Robbie from one of Kearsley’s previous novels), has parapsychological abilities. Nicola works in a gallery, and is scheduled to travel to Russia for gallery business. When her boss declined to buy a wooden firebird from a seller, because there was no proof demonstrating that it had been given to the seller’s family by Empress Catherine, Nicola decided to try to find the provenance for the firebird during her upcoming trip.

             A firebird, Nicola explains to Rob, is “’a bird out of folklore, with bright glowing feathers, like flame. One feather would light a whole room, and it’s said that whenever a firebird’s feather falls, then a new art will spring up in that place.’” (p. 65). The firebird, according to Nicola, can be found in several old Russian fairy tales.

            Nicola and Rob trace the firebird’s history through Anna, one of Kearsley’s characters from The Winter Sea. By using their psychic abilities, they are able to follow the provenance for the firebird, while we learn more about the history of the Jacobites, as well as about characters from The Winter Sea and some new characters. Unsurprisingly, there are striking parallels between Anna’s history and Nicola and Rob’s modern day.

            I loved every minute of being reunited with the many friends from The Winter Sea who also appear in The Firebird. But now, I cannot determine which of Kearsley’s books is my favorite; for the moment, I believe it’s a dead heat between The Winter Sea and The Firebird.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THE LUMINARIES by Eleanor Catton

THE LUMINARIES

by

Eleanor Catton

            The Luminaries, winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize, is a superb novel. At 830 pages, it is a long novel; nonetheless, reading each of those 830 pages was a pleasurable experience.

            Walter Moody is a young Scotsman who traveled to New Zealand to make his fortune in gold. Although, at the beginning, I believed that the book to be about Moody, in fact, the focus of the novel is the meeting of the twelve into which Moody happens to stumble.

            Catton is a true master of character development. After a detailed description of the meeting, the novel launches into a study of these characters and their interrelationship. At this point, the novel appears to be simply a wonderful character study. But then the novel morphs into a mystery, with a touch of the mysterious.

            This detailed character analysis makes for a slow start to the novel. But, it is well worth wading through; as the book progresses, the speed of the read also increases. And, after page 830, I closed the book, still wanting more.

            For the most part, Catton’s writing is detailed and picturesque. There are a few phrases, however, that I found troublesome: for example, when Catton described the “seething deck” (p. 18) of the boat in the storm and the sky that was “the splendid yellow of a fresh yolk” (p. 523). More often than not, however, her writing paints beautiful pictures:

     The incomer wore a long gray coat with velvet-faced lapels and turned velvet cuffs; the coat was made of a tight weave of some shiny, sealskin-like variety that turned an oily color when he moved. His cravat was piled high at his throat, and the lapels of his shawl-collared waistcoat were turned up at the sides, lending an added bulk to his shoulders, and an added thickness to his neck. (p. 400)

But, perhaps these likes and dislikes simply reflect my petty preferences in writing styles.

            There is, however, one thing troubling me about The Luminaries. Astrology is woven throughout the book. I do not understand the Astrology, and I worry that this plays an important role in the novel that I am totally missing.

            I greatly enjoyed The Luminaries. Reading this novel was a wonderful experience, and uncovering Catton’s notion of a luminary was enlightening.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

STORM FRONT by John Sandford

STORM FRONT

By

John Sandford

One star? Two stars? I can't decide. If I were to use a star system, I would need a 1/2 star option for this one. I did not like the book, but I like Virgil Flowers, in general, as a character.

I became disenchanted with John Sandford when he killed off one of his characters, portraying her as single and wanting a child, while in the previous book, the character already had a child. I can be unforgiving for glaring errors such as this. I read Storm Front nonetheless, as I am a fan of Sandford's character, Virgil Flowers.

And, I honestly did not like Storm Front, despite the presence of Flowers. Mossad, Hezbollah, assassins, and the like all searching for a stolen Israeli relic in Mankato, Minnesota? The plot is as confusing as it is unbelievable. Flowers' process in solving the mystery is also not credible. I found it difficult to keep the characters straight, and the ones I could get a grasp on are shells of characters, with little development at all. Even Virgil Flowers, with his interesting, well-developed back story, is portrayed without much development or depth; he does not appear as the same good looking, intelligent, un-police-officer-like police officer whom I have grown to love.

Parts of the book appear to have no purpose. For example, at one point, Flowers goes to the garage to detail the interior of his boat. For those of us who have known Virgil, it comes as no surprise that his boat would be spotless - why would he need to detail it? Those who do not know Virgil might wonder why he would need to detail his boat. There does not appear to be any relevance to the plot. Also, the snippets of conversation between Flowers and Davenport appear to be superfluous and meaningless to the story.

            Furthermore, I found the writing itself is wanting. The first line of Chapter 2 begins: "It was one of the great Minnesota summers of all time...." Elsewhere, Sandford describes the Holiday Inn, “an older building downtown, left over from the sixties or seventies, slowly failing in place….” And later in the book, we are told that Virgil, while driving, "threw them off Highway 14 and onto 390^th Street to West Elysian Lake Road...."

The book was not a total disappointment. When we are told that "Virgil changed into combat gear - jeans and a T-shirt....," we catch a glimpse of the Virgil Flowers we know and love. Nonetheless, Storm Front leaves me with the impression that Sandford does not understand that his characters have developed a life of their own and that this book was put together in great haste. I remain disappointed.

NOT RECOMMENDED

SPLENDOUR FALLS by Susanna Kearsley

SPLENDOUR FALLS

by

Susanna Kearsley

            When I first began reading Splendour Falls, by Susanna Kearsley, I was initially disappointed, as I am wont to be, when I find that one of her books is not set in Scotland. But, there was King John and Queen Isabelle and siege and intrigue and hidden treasure. And, as with Kearsley’s other books that take place outside Scotland, I was wont to very quickly forget about Caledonia and became fully engrossed in the particular setting of this novel. With Splendour Falls, it was not long before I wanted to book travel to Chinon.

            Britisher Emily Braden, whose cousin, Harry, was a Plantagenet scholar, was persuaded by Harry to take a vacation and meet him in Chinon. However, Harry, true to form, was not very reliable.

            Despite his promise, King John did not come for Isabelle during the siege; despite his promise, Harry did not meet Emily’s train on her journey to Chinon. John, however, did send a knight to rescue Isabelle; Harry, on the other hand, simply neglected to show at the agreed upon time and place. Perhaps Emily was right: Prince Charmings no longer existed.

            But John’s young wife was not the only Isabelle of intrigue in Chinon’s history; another Isabelle, in another historical time, was also shrouded in mystery. Although Emily had known of King John and Queen Isabelle, she was unaware of all that was hidden in Chinon – hidden in its history or hidden in the many tunnels running underneath it. It did not take long, however, for her to become ensconced in the complexities and intrigues of its people and its history.

            As always, Kearsley’s characters are wonderfully developed, complex, and fascinating.  The interweaving of their lives – especially on the Chinon backdrop – is masterful. The story is very compelling; more often than not, I reached the end of a chapter and decided to read just one more – until, of course, I reached the end of that next chapter.

Chinon teems with history. And, along with that history, there is magic everywhere. Perhaps, Emily, there are Prince Charmings after all!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

GEORGE KNOWS by Mindy Mymudes

George Knows is a fabulous book about a Basset Hound (George) who works very hard to properly train his "Girlpup", a young witch-in-training.

Mymudes is a "dog person", and she definitely gets it right when writing about George!

Although this is a book written for children, it is also a great book for adults. I found it very enjoyable and look forward to reading the sequels!

Highly Recommended!

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE Neil Gaiman

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE

Neil Gaiman

The Ocean At the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman, is magical. The writing is magical; the story that it tells is magical; and, the ocean at the end of the lane is magical. We learn of a seven year old boy who sees the magical; he believes and accepts the magical. We learn of his magical adventure with Lettie, an eleven year old girl who lives nearby at the Hempstock farm (which, by the way, is also magical).

            The boy returns to the Hempstock farm as a divorced man with grown kids, and he has difficulty comprehending the magical. As he looks at the duck pond – “It was only a duck pond, out at the back of the farm” – he recalled that “Lettie had had a funny name for it. I remembered that. ‘She called it the sea. Something like that.’”

            The man did not remember. He did not even know why he had come there. “’Lettie wanted you to,’ said somebody.” He looked to Lettie’s mother to help him remember. Or, was that Lettie’s grandmother?

            The ocean – or, rather, the duck pond – demonstrates how children are amenable to the magical. Their magical insight, however, diminishes with age.

            Gaiman’s book does a great job of depicting these disparate ways of considering the magical. It is eye-opening. A wonderful read. It is, quite simply, magical!

Highly Recommended

THANK YOU!

Thank you to Idea-ist for nominating IMO Book Reviews for the Shine On Award!

http://getlostinlit.blogspot.com/2013/10/shine-on-award.html