Musings of a Bookish Kitty

When I first entered my name for a chance to read and review The Arthurian Omen through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program, I had certain expectations for this book. As the reviews began to trickle in, I did my best not to pay too close attention, but at the same time it was hard not to pick up on some of the criticism. I then took a closer look at the back of the book. “In the tradition of Mary Higgins Clark . . .” the back cover reads. Ah ha! I suddenly understood. It isn’t recommended that a reader believe author and book comparisons that may be mentioned in blurbs or elsewhere on the back of or inside a book. I learned my lesson in that regard awhile ago. It has been a long time since I picked up a novel by Mrs. Clark, but I do think of her books fondly. She was one of my favorite “comfort” authors for many years and while maybe not the best written, they certainly were quick and entertaining. Taking all that in when I finally settled in to read G.G. Vandagriff’s novel, I had a better grasp of what I was getting myself into, and I truly think I was better for it.

Maren and her sister Rachael have been estranged for a number of years, and so it came as quite a surprise when Rachael, a Celtic scholar, telephones Maren to ask Maren's assistance in locating a sacred fifth century manuscript relating to the history and legend of King Arthur. Maren is looking forward to reconnecting with her sister and desperately wants to get away from her failing marriage. The man she married on the rebound after the suspicious death of her first husband is not the man she thought he was.

Upon her arrival in Oxford, Maren learns that her sister, Rachael, has been murdered, and Maren is sure it must be over the Arthurian manuscript. What follows is a fast paced adventure from Oxford, England to Northern Wales as Maren, accompanied by Chief Inspector Llewellyn and Sergeant Cole of Scotland Yard, begins the search for the manuscript and a killer. She is not alone in wanting to get her hands on the manuscript, and those on the same trail prove to be much more unscrupulous and deadly.

Maren comes across as reckless at times, jumping into situations feet first. She seems to be a woman who attracts trouble while the men around her cannot help but adore her. G.G. Vandagriff does a good job of keeping the characters a little off center so as to keep the mystery at bay from her main character, even if not this reader. There are plenty of twists and turns as the many plot threads begin to come together.

If you are expecting a novel that is rich in Arthurian or Celtic history and of a more scholarly nature, The Arthurian Omen is probably not what you are looking for. The writing is simple, at times repetitious and stating the obvious, but it does make for a quick read. This really isn’t the type of book that can be taken too seriously. It’s purely for fun and entertainment. I had a good time racing through the pages alongside Maren and her traveling companions.

The Spanish Inquisition was a dark time in Spain’s history. Religious persecution for those who were not Catholic was common practice during that time and the monarchy and Church leadership were intolerant of any deviation from their strictures. Originally written in 1983 under the title, The Godforsaken, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s tale of the Lost Prince is completely fictional, however, there are threads of truth that run through the novel that are more horrific than the horror story she sets out to tell.

Don Rolon carries the burden of his father’s curse, a curse that was laid upon El Rey Alonzo, the king of Espana, by a woman burned at the stake for being a heretic. The king ostracized his son, fearing the curse and feeling repulsed by it. Don Rolon spent his life living in the shadow of his bastard half brother, Gil, who was highly favored by the king. It is no wonder then that Don Rolon has a sadness about him. He wants nothing more than to please his father and earn his love and approval, and yet his father wants little to do with him.

Realizing, however, that his son is the only rightful heir to the throne, El Rey arranges for Don Rolon’s marriage to a noble woman from Venezia. The marriage will create a welcome alliance and strengthen both countries’ positions in the world. It is with great reluctance that Don Rolon agrees to his fate, knowing he has little choice in the matter.

His reluctance to marry comes from the weight of the curse. He worries about fate of any children he might father as well as a certain madness that seems to befall him each time the moon is full. Although he does not fully understand what is happening to him at first, he does know that a change overcomes him on those nights, one that transforms him into a beast that wrecks destruction and creates fear in its wake.

Don Rolon is limited in who he can trust and so his friends are few. The friends he does have are devoted to him and will do what they can to protect and keep their prince safe from those who wish him harm. Those who are greedy and power hungry are the greatest external threat to Don Rolon and they will stop at nothing to bring him down.

Don Rolon is a sympathetic character; a lost soul who has taken many licks throughout his brief lifetime. There is a wary intelligence about him. He is resigned to his life and his fate, struggling to come to terms with what is going on around him. It is his friends who truly move the story forward as they do what they can to protect their friend and future king. The court jester, Lugantes, is one such friend, a dwarf who knows what it is like not to be taken seriously. He is both clever and tough.

The religious tenor in Spain at the time was oppressive and strict. The church leadership in the novel used their position to gain power, claiming righteousness where there really was only ambition and greed. The real horrors were in the actions of the Church and the abuse of that power. Lest it be thought that this book disparages the Catholic Church in general, that is not so. There were Catholic monks and priests in the novel who were not caught up in the power struggle and who did not abuse their power.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro is careful to keep most of the violence and destruction off of the page, while at the same time alluding to it in such a way that it cannot be overlooked. Perhaps though the greatest horrors in the novel are not what may happen when Don Rolon is no longer himself, but the ease in which accusations and condemnations of those in power are used against those without it and in what becomes of those accused.

It is a shame this book was so wrought with typographical errors and the like. The story itself is quite intriguing. The author is formal in her writing, but it serves the tone and setting of the book well. Lost Prince is a haunting and dark tale, one that kept me entranced even beyond the last page. Originally published at Front Street Reviews.

I spent time this morning polishing off my review of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Lost Prince, a book that I finished last night. The cover is not the most attractive, at least not to me, and probably not one that would attract my attention at first glance. The story between the covers, however, was one that definitely held my attention.

As a frequent reader of advanced reader editions, I occasionally do run into typesetting errors. Because the book is unfinished, it is easier to dismiss such mistakes and move past them without further thought. Sometimes these mistakes are corrected before the final product comes out, but not always. Or so I have heard. It is more difficult to ignore such mistakes when made in the final copy, the one sold to the public, especially when the errors are more than just a few. If the errors are minor and the story is good, I sometimes do not notice the mistakes at all in a marketed copy, but it is hard not to notice when they are so glaring and frequent, as they were in this book.

The story itself was interesting enough to get me past the errors in this instance, but they were sometimes glaring ones: names misspelled or misplaced, an entire section printed twice, "rn" turned into "m", an offense which made me giggle a couple of times in the beginning, but had me rolling my eyes as it continued throughout the rest of the book. Such mistakes can pull a reader out of the story, out of the action, and dampen one's enthusiasm for a book. I find it sad, really. This is a book I enjoyed reading and think others who like a bit of the old fashioned kind of horror novel might like too. However, some of those readers will be turned off immediately by the errors and may not bother with it at all.

I will be posting my review of this book in the near future, with only a minor mention of my complaint. Had the book been an ARE, I would have been less likely to say anything at all. I felt it best to focus more on the story itself and the writer's skill in this case. It really is a book worth reading for those who might find the subject matter to their liking.

What do you think? Do typographical errors and the like immediately turn you away from a book or do your persevere if the story is engrossing enough? For those who write reviews, how do you address this issue, if at all? I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Earlier in the week I posted a review for Jordan Dane's No One Heard Her Scream, a romantic suspense novel, which is both sexy and fun. I also reviewed The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson, a new-to-me mystery author who is going straight onto my favorites list.

As for today's reading, I am about to begin reading G.G. Vandagriff's The Arthurian Omen, a book I received through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer Program. The premise sounds fascinating, a lost fifth century manuscript, murder, a puzzle to solve, all promising suspense. I have yet to read the other reviews posted about this particular book, wanting to read the book myself first, however, I have caught snippets and seen ratings which have lowered my expectations a bit.

I will probably not delay too much longer in reading The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall, a novel a coworker loaned me earlier this week. She asked that I read it so that I can tell her whether she liked it or not.

Recently added to my TBR collection (if you have read any of these, please do share your thoughts--without spoilers, of course.):
Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender
American Woman by Susan Choi
Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese
20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
House-Keeping vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby
What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt
Admit One: A Journey into Film by Emmett James
Absolute Friends by John Le Carre
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
Killing Rommel by Steven Pressfield
The Rottweiler by Ruth Rendell
Devil's Cape by Rob Rogers
The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer

Now to start on my next book . . . Happy reading!

Questions courtesy of Julie this week; if you'd like to leave some for future use, I'd love it!

1. The Christmas cookies my family made every holiday season while I was growing up had an extra secret ingredient; it was, and still is, a well kept secret!
2. The baseball went right through my window.
3. Right now, I need something to eat. I haven't had anything to eat since a tiny bit of breakfast eaten while I was running out the door.
4. The Yard House is where I went Thursday night; it was not too crowded and the food was delicious.
5. Why does a paper cut hurt so much?
6. All I can think of is dinner tonight.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to punishing my cat with a lot of corporal cuddling, tomorrow my plans include whatever comes to mind that day and Sunday, I want to catch up on my reading!

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Appetizer

When someone smiles at you, do you smile back?

Yes, I do. I am naturally a friendly person, and if I catch someone's eye, I usually will smile.

Soup

Describe the flooring in your home. Do you have carpet, hardwood, vinyl, a mix?

I have beige carpeting throughout my house. Linoleum covers the floors in my kitchen and bathrooms.

Salad

Write a sentence with only 5 words, but all of the words have to start with the first letter of your first name.

We went without warm water.

Main Course

Do you know anyone whose life has been touched by adoption?

Oh yes! Quite a few people, both in my personal and professional lives. I suppose I could even say that my own life has been touched by adoption as a result.

Dessert

Name 2 blue things.

My tissue box and the flowers on a bell which are both sitting on my desk.

Writing guides, grammar books, punctuation how-tos . . . do you read them? Not read them? How many writing books, grammar books, dictionaries–if any–do you have in your library?

My father was the kind of person who often directed me to reference books when I had a question about the spelling or meaning of a word or wanted to know more information about a particular topic (do people still keep a set of up to date encyclopedias in their house?). I learned very early on how to use a dictionary. One of my best friends in high school was my trusty thesaurus. It was a most welcome gift from my parents that was well used, a sure sign of love. I used it quite religiously through college, along with a dictionary to ensure I was using my chosen words properly (Those who have read Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated know why this can be important). The Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Psychological Association (APA) writing guides proved to be necessary evils for many of my college courses. Footnotes, annotations and bibliographies had to be just so, depending on the class and the professor. Remembering which was which was the hard part.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss is the only grammar related book I have read since graduating from the university all those many years ago. The closest I come today is keeping up with Deb's Punctuality Rules! blog, which I not only enjoy but have also used during grammar emergencies. More often than not, when I have a question about the use of a certain word, spelling, or definition (and I frequently do), I am more likely to turn to the internet for answers as opposed to looking anything up in any of the reference books sitting on my shelf. It is faster and often more convenient.

I have quite a few reference books, some placed neatly on a shelf and others crammed into a corner in my closet (like the MLA and APA writing guides). On the shelf outside the kitchen door, I have a giant Webster's dictionary, a couple of English/Spanish dictionaries, an Italian/English dictionary, my trusty thesaurus, and several reference books full of quotations. Many sit on the shelf untouched these days, but it is nice to know they are there. You never know when the power will go out or the internet might go down.