In the Shadow of the Oak King by Courtway Jones (May 2013)

This is a selection from my BOTM club, series edition.  This is the first in a trilogy about King Arthur.  

I LOVED this read and flew through it. It started in the introduction as Jones was talking about how much research he did, changing some of the facts from the original story to be more historically correct. Even going so far as to making up the 5th century romano-celtic calligraphy font the book is written in for a more authentic feel. It may not pass the muster of some, but to me it spike of how much Jones loved his story and his subject. The introduction I thought did a good job of explaining the tribes, but maybe that is because I took so many history classes in college about this era. 

I have read a ton of Arthurian legends, I love the ones from other points of view. Although I admit I have started Mists of Avalon three times and never been able to finish it. In fact, a previous post discusses the Arthurian series by Irene Radcliff. There were some similarities to her series that I noticed when reading this section I think this book came first, but I'm not sure. I made some notes that in both series Merlin head a wolfhound familiar and could mind speak. Irene had more magic, while Jones uses cleverness. 

All of the Arthurian books I have read always have Merlin as a mysterious figure, even when the book is from Merlin's point of view. This allows me to make my own assumptions and let my imagination fill in the back or side story, sometimes later on in a book I'm proved wrong but that is half the fun.

This book is told from the point of view of a companion that I had never heard of Pelleas.  The story starts out with how Pelleas meets Myrddin (Merlin) and how they come to raise Arthur on Ector’s Isle.  Myrddin is a master smith and teaches Pelleas the trade.  Myrddin is also raising Nithe, his neice who is the daughter of the Lady of Lake.

Some comments were made in my book club discussion that there were no strong women characters.  I disagree.  I think this has more strong women in it than just Nithe. In the beginning Jones talked about how Pelleas's mother owned the property. Thanks to my women history class I know this was the way because the only true parentage that could be confirmed at the time was the mother, can't deny a baby popping out as not yours. This all changed because then catholic church was so anti-women, but that is a whole nother lecture. Anyways back to my point, the women in the story are not helpless sops, they may not be picking up the swords themselves, but they are not spineless either. Pelleas's mother had a lot of power over her husband, not as much as we are used to being equals now-a-days, but she wasn't helpless.

I love wolves and I have since high school so the portion where Pelleas saved the wolf and they protected him later really grabbed me. 

Pelleas is Uther’s son and he is to be sacrificed to the Oak King so the Urther may continue his reign and Myrddin saves Pelleas.  As usual, Urther is a weak willed selfish bastard. Sacrificing his own children though takes him to a new low in this series. Also as usual, Myrddin is always stuck cleaning up Urther's mess and caring for his children. Although I did think that the King needing to sacrifice himself to the Oak King was a way toput a term limit on a monarch’s reign, and like all politicians Urther found the loop hole to stays in office longer.

The second section has a lot more action, the story really moves along at a nice pace too.  This is the part where the characters return from Ector’s Isle and Arthru becomes king by pulling the sword from the stone, which by the way is a very clever trick from Myrddin.  It seem Pelleas and Nithe may have a chance to get together if they would both just stop being so difficult. It takes Pelleas forever to figure out that Nithe is an option. I swear when he realized it I could picture the lightbulb over his head switching on, but the idiot never said a word to her, he expects her to do everything. Typical! Then he buys her for a year and walks away, thank goodness she had more brains than him.  Although, when he does make her an offer she is torn between him and Lancelot, and walks away like a foo.

I found it really interesting how popular Arthur is with the common people. The Bishop dismisses the common people, because they don't make kings. Yet when Arthur won the fight at the tournament, they are the ones that rushed in and insisted he become king. The Bishop was very wrong, then common people did elect him essentially. 

Pelleas fights for the King with his Wolfhound companions then is betrayed by Saxon’s and his relationship with Arthur breaks down.  Pelleas leaves on his own revenge mission and suceeds by becoming a King in his own right.  He finally gets Nithe in the final chapter and it was quite the sigh of relief on my part, for a while there I thought they were both going to be completely stupid and miss out on each other.

Now that I have read all three books in the series this is by far the best.  And if you only read this one and skip the others, it’s not really that much of a loss.

Oops - Long time no post.

So I know I haven't been posting much lately, that doesn't mean I haven't been reading.  I just haven't had time to write up my comments until now, be prepared for a slew of reviews.  :)

Unfaithful Wives by Orrie Hitt

This was a random selection from my free Nook ebooks.  I thought this was a weird crime fiction novel.  It is pure pulp fiction.  It is written and set in 1956.  The characters are very dated and classic.  There are lots of characters, whose lives all intertwine.  No one is faithful, not even to themselves.
A man, Fred Sharpe, has an affair/one night stand with Sandra Thomas.  He comes to regret this indiscretion, especially once Sandra turns up murdered.  Fred is married to Rita, who is having an affair with Norman Williams.  Norman is using Rita for cad, but is in love with Betty.  Rita then accuses Fred of killing Sandra, and a whole mess begins. The story it's all about trying to untangle the web that has been created, and no one gets a happy ending.  Very strange book.

The Seven Steps to Closure by Donna Joy Usher

So next in line on my kindle, is little read. I'm not sure what I thought this would be about, but I was totally impressed for how hooked I got. This is the story of a woman trying to recover from a divorce and how her friends push her down the path of recovery with 7 steps.  This turned out to be a romance novel that snuck up on me.  Now I have nothing against romances, but I find them a little too formulated.  Girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love, something separates girl and boy, some how girl and boy find each other again, and live happily ever after.  Now I'm not saying this book doesn't follow the formula, because it does.  But it was a fun read, it reminded me of the movie Eat Pray Love (sorry haven't read the book, only know the movie, and I'm sure they are very different).
The main character is likeable and has limited moments of sopiness. Surprising the object of her affection comes later in the story and of course is every girls dream boat.  Her friends are great and funny.  The story has some real growth and healing, and romance.  The landscape of the storyline is amazing, beauty and love on an unexpected place, but isn't that usually how it its?
I was surprised at show much I enjoyed d this book.  The storyline was very fast paved although it covers many months it doesn't drag on. There isn't a ton of literary critiquing for this book, it is just a nice quick read.

Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore by Robin Sloan

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is amazing! I flew through this book in a little under 24 hours and wanted to immediately read it again.  It combines elements of fantasy, mystery, and adventure and speaks to the bibliophile that lives in my soul.
Clay Jannon, an unemployed Web designer, takes a job working the graveyard shift at a 24-hour bookstore, owned by the strange Mr. Penumbra. The store has two kinds of customers — random passers and a strange group of people that borrow (never buy) from private collection of books, which Clay has been instructed not to read.  One night Clay succumbs to his friends pressure and discovers that the books are written in code. With the help of his roommate, a special effects artist; his best friend, a successful creator of “boob-simulation software”; and his romantic interest, Kat Potente, who works for Google in data visualization, Clay goes on a quest, in much the same fashion as in his favorite series The Dragon Song Chronicles. He solves puzzles and digs up secrets, that lead him to a place he never expected and a 500 year old secret society.  Sloan so seamlessly combines old technologies (books themselves) and new technologies ( computers and e-readers) that it gives the novel a sense of purpose and almost enlightenment.  And trust me I KNOW how cheesy and awful that sounds.  I myself resisted e-readers for a long time because I thought I would be losing something that only real books could give me.  Sometimes I still do. This book spoke of that struggle, and verbalized something that u didn't even realize needed verbalizing. And it was a fun read.  The characters are Uber likable and the storyline is paced just right, not too fast and not too slow Goldilocks.
If you are a bibliophile add this book to your reading list, you won't regret it.

Locked Up in La Mesa by Steve Peterson

So this is the next book in line from my free Kindle books.  This is the story of a white guy in the late 70’s that got caught smuggling pot from Mexico into the US.  His bad was luck was that he got caught on the Mexico side with no bribe money and was sent to La Mesa. Apparently this is a famous Mexican prison, but I had never heard of out before I read this book. 
It was an OK book, the writer has some wild stories, but it is not well written.  The chapters are short stories almost, but the writer has a tendency to go off on tangents.  The stories are believable, and not as crazy in this day and age as they might have been in the 70's.  I have pretty neutral feelings it was an easy filler book, but not something I would read again.

Halestorm by Becky Akers

This is a book I picked up from for free from Amazon, and I have decided instead of randomly reading these free books that I have no idea what they are about other than free to start at the A’s and work my way to the Z’s. 
This book was better than I expected, it is about the American revolution and the only American Revolutionist hung for spying Nathan Hale, he is famous for his final words "I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."  This is novel that is full of love and conflict, murder and betrayal.  From the beginning the reader knows Nathan dies, yet his character is still endeared to us and we find ourselves hoping fervently for a different ending.
WARNING: PROCEED PAST THIS POINT ONLY IF YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT SPOILERS.
The main character is of course Nathan Hale,  his “step sister” Alice Adams, and his rival Guy Daggett.  Of course both Guy and Nathan are in love with Alice, and it is this conflict and Alice’s stupidity that leads to Nathan’s capture and death.   
Guy is portrayed as a typical useless popinjay, and of course he is a nasty loyalist.  Guy embodies everything evil and dirty about men, he is greedy and lusty, he has no concern for anything but his own needs and wants, and if he doesn't;t get what he wants, well why it isn’t because he is lazy or selfish it is someone else's fault, and 9 times out of 10 that other guy is Nathan.
Alice, oh she is the most beautiful girl in the county yada yada yada, but man she has no political savvy or common sense in a way she is just as selfish and awful as Guy, the mean part of me had hoped that once Nathan had died she would find herself unhappily married to Guy.  Admittedly, Alice did not mean to blow Nathan’s cover and get him caught, but if she had thought about things for a day rather than rushing blindly into a situation that she knew nothing about and even said was against his nature she might not have gotten him killed.  But there is still a bitterness in me that this great character of Nathan was so easily screwed over by his “Love.”
The other person that is to blame is Nathan’s pious father Deacon Hale, who had a one night stand with his second wife years before his first wife died.  Not so pious and upstanding was he.  Well this affair led to Alice.  Which leads to a really different twist as to why Alice and Nathan can’t marry.  However, Deacon isn’t man enough to own up to his affair to his children and won’t explain his reasoning behind forbidding them to marry.  The kiddos are of course confused and angry, especially since Alice’s older sister Sarah married Nathan’s older brother Jonathan.  If the Deacon had been able to own up to his own mistakes Alice wouldn’t have pined for Nathan and chased him down and blew his cover.  It would have been quite a blow, but at least they would have understood and all of history could have been changed.
As I said earlier in the review, even though I knew the ending, I was hoping for a different outcome.  That speaks volumes to me of Akers writing skills, she was able to draw me in and keep me hooked through the whole book, in fact there were times that I couldn’t put it down.  Now I’m sure Akers did her research, but I have no idea if the fats actually line up the way she said they did, but that is the fun of historical fiction right…take a story we know some about and flesh it out.  This wasn’t so amazing that I am scouring for her other works, which I have no idea if she has any, but it was a good solid 3 star.  The price at the kindle store has gone up from $0 to $2.99 and I would say, hey if you have $3 this is a pretty good read.