BLUE RIVER

TITLE: BLUE RIVER

AUTHOR: THEO FENRAVEN

Pages: 70

Date: 17/12/2013

Grade: 4+

Own/Kindle

The blurb:

Photography genius Ethan Mars is out and living the fast life in Los Angeles until a mysterious mist in Topanga Canyon sends him back in time. There he meets Quinn Parker, a farmer who has hidden his homosexuality from everyone, even Margaret, his fiancée. Falling in love is the last thing Ethan expects, and the last thing Quinn can allow—in 1863, being gay can get him killed. When Ethan is unexpectedly offered a way home, he faces an impossible decision: go back... or stay?

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I do like a good time-travel story, especially when the author keeps the story realistic. There is nothing more frustrating than a modern character travelling back to earlier times – like in this case 1863 – and seamlessly falling into the way of life they find there. Of course such a character would miss modern conveniences, and have huge issues fitting in and getting used to the morals and traditions.

This story adds an extra consideration to that dilemma. Not only does Ethan find himself in a time where personal hygiene is still frowned upon, where he doesn’t trust the water and finds himself having to use an outhouse that gives him the creeps, he is also facing a time and place where homosexuality is still considered a crime as well as a sin. While completely equal rights may still be a goal to aim towards in Ethan’s world, he is used to living in a time and place where he can be who he is without having to hide anything.

My heart broke for poor Quinn. After years of more or less successfully suppressing his desires he suddenly finds himself face to face with a man who openly admits he is attracted to him. Within minutes of meeting Ethan all Quinn’s certainties have been destroyed. The future Quinn knew he was destined for – marriage to a woman he’s known for years, followed by children – and was ready, although not happy, to face suddenly appears impossible. And the more he gives in to his attraction to Ethan the more impossible the idea of ignoring his needs seems. And yet, what is the alternative? Ethan has to return to his own time, to live his own life just as Quinn has to face his destiny.

There was one paragraph in this book that took my breath away; a statement that should be made into one of those Facebook photo-quotes by somebody who knows about these things.

“But if it was so bad, why then did he want it so? Why had God made him this way if it went against his will? God didn’t make mistakes. Quinn was not a mistake.” - Quinn

This was an interesting and charming story; a quick read I thoroughly enjoyed even if the ending left me feeling all sorts of worried for these two characters. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though. I love it when a story ends in such a way that my imagination can play with what might happen next. That imagination of mine will have a field day coming up with possible scenarios for these two characters.

THE SCOTTISH PRISONER

TITLE: THE SCOTTISH PRISONER

AUTHOR: DIANA GABALDON

Pages: 507

Date: 16/01/2013

Grade: 5

Details: A Lord John Novel

Library

The last time Lord John Grey and Jamie Fraser saw each other they parted after a heated fight during which things were said that can’t be easily forgiven or forgotten. Since then Jamie has been working as a groom on the Helwater estate. While he is no longer a prisoner, he’s not a free man either since he can’t go anywhere else or plan his own life. Jamie isn’t too unhappy about his lot though. While he still misses his wife, Claire, terribly, even after more than ten years, and aches for his home in the Scottish Highlands, living on Helwater gives him the opportunity to be close to the son he can’t acknowledge. His life is peaceful and predictable until Tobias Quinn arrives. The Irish man, who was part of the failed Rising, is involved in plans to resurrect the Jacobite rebellion and determined to get Jamie involved.

In London, Lord John Grey has in his possession papers which reveal corruption and murder committed by a British officer. Together with his brother Hal, John decides to bring the officer in question in front of a court martial. But with their suspect residing in Ireland they have to come up with a way of getting him back to England. And since the papers also hint at a more far reaching conspiracy, the brothers need Jamie to travel with and assist John.

Soon the two men are reluctantly thrown back together and travelling to Ireland. Here they will face danger, conspiracies, murder, false accusations and divided loyalties. But it is also a journey that will give them the opportunity to overcome their old hostilities and forge a new, if complicated, friendship.

Set in 1760, this is a wonderful book. It offers solid historical fiction, great characters and a thrilling story. Really, I couldn’t find anything wrong with this book if I wanted to.

For the uninitiated, a short background to the characters in this book. Jamie Fraser is one of the two main characters in the series of books that started with "Outlander" ("Cross Stitch" in the UK).  Lord John Grey occasionally makes guest, but not unimportant, appearances in those books but has been given his own stories in a separate offshoot of the Outlander books. This is the first book in which both characters play an equal role, and it makes for fascinating reading. Jamie, the proud Scottish Highlander, former rebel and now despised prisoner and John, the English aristocrat and officer couldn’t be further apart. And yet the two men have a lot in common. Both are honourable, intelligent and cultured and both have to live with an impossible love. Jamie will never get over the wife he had to let go so she could return to her own time in safety and John, as a homosexual, can never openly admit to his preferences. The fact that he is deeply attracted to Jamie only complicates matters further. The relationship between the two men is complicated and very interesting. Even after their big fight they find it hard to sustain their animosity when they’re forced to work together and depend upon each other. The way their feelings fluctuate, and their friendship develops, gives this book depth and adds greatly to the mysterious and thrilling story-line.

Diana Gabaldon writes her stories well. With every book I read her characters become more real for me and I’m deeply invested in their lives. The historical detail in the books is fascinating, and as far as I can tell, well researched and accurate. The fact that a big part of this story took place in Ireland was a very nice added bonus for me.

The Scottish Prisoner delivers everything you might be looking for in a good read: we have a mystery that has to be solved, danger that has to be faced and overcome, fascinating settings, realistic and multi-facetted characters with issues to overcome and dialogue that flows smoothly (and boy do I love that Scottish accent).

I’ve allowed myself to fall behind in my reading of the Outlander books. Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing because it means that even if I read “A Breath of Snow and Ashes” in the near future there will be a sequel already available in the shops as soon as I finish it. Life is good!

SHADOW OF NIGHT

TITLE: SHADOW OF NIGHT

AUTHOR: DEBORAH HARKNESS

Pages: 580

Date: 18/07/2012

Grade: 5

Details: no. 2 All Souls Trilogy

            Received from Headline Publishing

            Through Book Geeks.

Own

The story in this book picks up exactly where the first book, A Discovery of Witches, left off. Diana Bishop, witch and Matthew Clairmont, vampire, have timewalked to London in 1590 where they hope to find Ashmole 782, the book Diana accidently accessed in the present and which appears to hold the answers to the questions they need to answer in order to stay together and secure the future of witches, vampires and daemons alike.

But, what appeared to be a good and simple idea in theory turns out to be rather complicated in practice.

Returned to a previous incarnation of himself, Matthew finds himself surrounded by those who were his friends and associates at the time and at least one of them, Christopher Marlowe, is jealous of Matthew’s connection with Diana and because he’s a daemon and therefore unpredictable, this emotion is potentially dangerous.

But there are more problems.

While Diana as a historian, knows a lot about the time she has travelled to, she is an obvious outsider; her speech, her actions and even her appearance don’t really fit into the late 16^th century. Ashmole 782 turns out to be as elusive in the past as it is in the present and finding a witch who can teach Diana what she needs to know in order to travel back to where she belongs proofs very difficult as well.

And there is Matthew’s life as it was in 1590. Working as a spy for Queen Elizabeth as well as King James while also collecting information for his father, Philippe de Clermont means he is spreading himself very thin while constantly balancing his various interests and identities.

Their search will take Diana and Matthew from London to France, where Matthew faces a difficult and emotional reunion with his father and subsequently to Prague before returning to London again. On their travels the two meet both Queen Elizabeth and Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia as well as various other historical figures.

And in the midst of their adventures Diana and Matthew have to get to know each other better, determine how their relationship is going to work and overcome their individual fears and insecurities.

This is a wonderful and captivating book. Even though it had been about a year since I read “A Discovery of Witches” I found myself back in the story almost immediately after picking up this book.

Diana and Matthew may be other-than-human characters but they are completely recognisable when it comes to their emotions, insecurities and actions.

Very often a second book in a trilogy feels like filler material. This book didn’t suffer from that particular problem at all. This is a complete and fascinating story in and off itself, although I wouldn’t advice anybody to read this book without having read “A Discovery of Witches” first.

Historical detail, though at times slightly adjusted, is weaved seamlessly into the fabric of this story. In fact, the integration is so accomplished that at times I found myself wondering if maybe the details as described in this book were true to what had actually happened rather than that which we read in our history books. And while there is a lot of detail, it never takes the pace out of the story or takes the readers attention away from the fictional narrative. The fact that the reader gets to meet an almost endless procession of historical figures, most of whom they will have at least a passing knowledge of, adds enormous interest to the story. Because a lot of characters, both fictional and real, form part of this story even the historically very astute reader might find themselves scratching their head at times. Thankfully a glossary of characters is provided at the end of the book, making it easy for the reader to check who everybody actually is and whether or not they were real.

I was impressed with the way in which the author dealt with the paradox that is always present when dealing with time-travel. Not only did she mention the fears both Diana and Matthew have about the actions they undertake in the past changing events in the future, Harkness also had the characters from the first book, who stayed behind in the present, dealing with any anomalies surfacing in the present. In this way the paradox was dealt with but, more importantly, it also gave the reader short glimpses at the characters who had been important in book one, will without a doubt be important again in book three but had no real place in the events taking place in the 16^th century.

This is a book filled to overflowing with story, characters, locations and events and it is almost impossible to write a review that truly honours everything that happens and everybody who plays a role in this story. I’ve tried my best and still feel that I’ve not quite succeeded in conveying how very special this book is. All I can say is: read this book! Just make sure that you read “A Discovery of Witches” first. Anybody reading this book without knowing the prior story would deprive themselves of a lot of reading enjoyment. As for me, I will now be holding my breath until the third and final part of this trilogy will be available. I can’t wait to find out how this story is going to end.