Author: Derek Armstrong

Publisher: Kunati
 
ISBN: 9781601640017
 Price: $24.95
 

RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ

 Reviewed by Karen Moyers
 
Premise and Originality: 10 out of 10
 Characterization:   10 out of 10
 Dialogue:   9 out of 10
 Storyline:   9 out of 10

The Last Troubadour is one of those unique gems. The epic historical has generated substantial buzz, but not for all the normal reasons. Yes, you pick it up expecting  excitement, adventure, romance and epic scope, and it delivers. Yet, here’s a new twist. More than just a twist, but an elaborate new story treatment idea.

Armstrong takes the tragic events of the Cathar Crusade — events which reshaped Europe, the Church and the history of the fledgling monastic Inquisition, all subjects just oozing with horror, anticipation and grim expectation — and delivers them with an ironic, satirical twist. Real historical characters, from notorious Pope Innocent to Sainted King Louis to the last of the living troubadours are imagined as Tarot archetypes. You don’t have to be a fan of the tarot — although there are, according to his website millions — to enjoy this fanciful take on history. Remaking Pope Innocent in the image of the Hierophant Tarot trump is sheer brilliance, but it also allows a romantic and light-hearted spin on an otherwise dark period in our history. Imagining the last living troubadour, on the run from the Inquisition, as the Tarot Fool allows us to smile and laugh along with this main character. Armstrong even builds a clever “tarot card inventor” sub plot which will have tarot deck fanatics begging for more. In fact, there willl be more. Although this story can stand alone as an elaborate quest to recue a woman from the flames of the Inquisition — the Priestess card in the tarot, if you’re wondering — a hope of an entire people, it promises more to come in Books 2 and 3 as the Diableteur, Death card in the Tarot, pursues the escapees across Europe.

What Armstrong has managed to do is take dark and horrible events and shine them up with zesty humor and clever imagery.  It’s a must read, a sizzling blend of satire, adventure, historical romance and comedy. This is as unique as novels come, and it seems Armstrong has found a remarkably distinctive style that crosses genres, a prose signature that is at once unique and approachable. The tarot-based characters are inspired. This is definitely an author to watch.

Addendum — Other Reviewers:

Library Journal:

“Tales about the Inquisition are not supposed to be amusing and entertaining, but Armstrong (The Game) manages to make them just that while keeping historical integrity mostly intact… recommended for all.”

RECOMMENDATION: GOOD READ

Recommendation: Excellent Read

 
Reviewed by Theodore Feit
Premise and Originality: 9 out of 10
Characterization:   9 out of 10
Dialogue:   9 out of 10
Storyline:   9 out of 10

Arkady Renko, senior Moscow investigator, who first made an appearance in Gorky Park, is confronted by a multitude of sub-plots in this novel.  First, there is a flash of Stalin’s supposed ghost seen in a Moscow subway station that served as his war room during World War II.  Then, Renko observes two detectives, reputed war heroes while they served in Chechnya, who he suspects of murders.  Moreover, Renko discovers evidence belying their Chechnya heroism.  Renko’s girlfriend leaves him for one of the detectives, who is campaigning for a Senate seat from a town a couple of hundred miles from Moscow.  And finally, there is the problem of his sometime ward, a young chess prodigy, who comes and goes like the enigma he is.
 
Complicated?  After all, this is a Russian novel.  It is full of present-day corruption, mafia-run casinos?and snow.  And, of course, the past, especially Arkady’s father, the WWII general, one of Stalin’s favorites.  It all comes to an overwhelming conclusion at Tver, the site of a last-ditch stand by the Russians against the invading Nazis.
 
An exciting read.
 
 

Recommendation: Must Read

MUST READ

RECOMMENDATION: GOOD READ

RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ

RECOMMENDATION: EXCELLENT READ

Author: Stephen King

Publisher: Scribner

ISBN: 0743289412

Price: $28.00

REVIEW RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ

The master of all things horrific and gory has once again accomplished a tour de force in his latest novel, Lisey’s Story. Crossing the barrier of conventional suspense and horror―King’s regal trademark―this work shows a much deeper, more emotional and powerfully personal side of the author.

Lisey’s Story is one of supreme tragedy and destined fate, a character study of grief. Two years after the death of her husband Scott, an esteemed author and Pulitzer Prize winner, Lisey Landon discovers a plethora of clues that lead her deeper into her husband’s life and into the chaos of his past. The emotions that the author wrings from his main character provide a heartrending read, one filled with the inherent discovery of truth and the anguish over the loss of a loved one.

Flashback sequences take the reader on a journey of Lisey’s marriage, Scott’s near murder and ultimately his death. But along the road, we learn he hoarded secrets and a life of mental illness. Here is where King’s propensity for supernatural suspense takes over, moving the story along at rapid pace, with heart-stopping moments of sheer terror.

As strangers approach Lisey, desperate for Scott’s unpublished work, her life is endangered and she comes face to face with pure evil. Her journey takes her to Boo’ya Moon, where she finally witnesses what her husband had to face. And thrown into the mix, is Lisey’s own struggle with her sister’s mental illness and deterioration. It is her relationship with her family that pulls at the reader even more, drawing us into Lisey’s world.

Stephen King has demonstrated that his natural talent as a writer far surpasses creating works of horror or suspense, such as Carrie, The Shining or Christine. He is a prolific writer with a seemingly inexhaustible source of ideas that appear to take root almost effortlessly. His novels have noticeably evolved over the years, becoming profoundly more emotional and multifaceted, stockpiling layer upon layer of character development and story elements. Lisey’s Story is indeed a rich tapestry, woven with the finest threads.

A Must, MUST READ!

Reviewer Jack Anthony is a freelance writer, film and book critic, currently residing in Bermuda with his lovely wife, three spoiled children and a Siamese cat with attitude.

RECOMMENDATION: EXCELLENT READ