A somewhat soapy but vigorous and engrossing view of a historical hero.
A legendary medieval warrior king fights, jousts, plots, wallows in kinky sex and has his heart broken in this entertaining book.
Debut author Manson insists that he’s edited and translated (from the Latin) these long-lost 12th-century diaries of Richard, King of England, Duke of Normandy, as dictated to Richard’s amanuensis, the monk Armande. If true, they will greatly revise humanity’s understanding of medieval intellectual history: Richard, for example, talks about being “paranoid”; divines the germ theory of disease—ascribing “influenza” to a “bug”—without benefit of microscopes; and uses the phrase “some ten minutes later” centuries before clocks with minute hands had been invented. Historians will also thank the good monk for having improbably recorded Richard’s many bedroom conquests in such lascivious detail (“She took her hand away, brought it to her mouth and licked all the way round the forefinger and middle finger before resuming the rubbing”). That said, these episodic diaries mainly tell a well-attested, engaging story of family dysfunction on an epic scale. Richard’s tyrannical father, Henry II, faces multiple revolts from his redoubtable wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and three headstrong sons, resulting in a decadeslong maelstrom of Oedipal tensions and sibling rivalry, acted out on the battlefield. Later, the story follows Richard’s crusade to the Holy Land, where the Saracens are a minor nuisance compared to his ally, King Phillip of France—the very embodiment of arrogance, treachery and cowardice. Along the way, Richard turns from a hard-bitten rake to a sappy swain over Princess Berengaria of Navarre, the last virgin in Christendom; their blissful marriage is replete with pagan couplings before it’s darkened by ghastly villainy. Manson’s depiction of this melodrama expertly conveys the mix of haughty manners, gross squalor, brute force and subtle scheming that modern readers love about the Middle Ages. Apart from the dialogue and the sex, the period details, particularly of warfare and court life, are rich and well-observed. Richard’s voice may sometimes sound anachronistic, but he relates his saga in energetic prose in a book with brisk pacing, vivid characters and nuanced psychology.
A somewhat soapy but vigorous and engrossing view of a historical hero.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 109
Publisher: Spiffing Covers
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A little too much going on, but still manages to be tight and sharp-witted.
Two private investigators take on a homicidal illusionist, but what the detectives don’t know about each other is just as dangerous as the magician’s man-eating tigers.
After solving one of the most complicated and high-profile murders in Hollywood history, ex-cops Maureen O’Brien and Blake Ervansky set out to turn good press into big money for their new detective agency. They are soon approached by Cerise Marginata, an aging pop star whose husband, Josef Lucasz, was just mauled by one of the Bengal tigers he performed with nightly in a Las Vegas magic show. Cerise believes the attack was orchestrated by the other half of Josef’s act, his “mentor,” Landon Wilke, who has more reasons than just professional jealousy to want his partner dead. But if trying to outwit a master of misdirection’s circuitous murder plot wasn’t hard enough, Maureen’s dubious past as a CIA assassin also rears its ugly head, threatening to leave Blake and the agency out in the cold. Kelly (Winged, 2011, etc.) and Lyons (Murder in One Take, 2012) return to their distinctive brand of mystery starring the LA-based duo who combine traditional investigation with the Hollywood perspective of Maureen’s TV-producer father. Darker than its predecessor, this installment doesn’t sacrifice the humor or turns of phrase that were the hallmarks of the first. Rather, those things appear here again, tighter and more polished, and the novel as a whole boasts a deftness with language that outpaces its rather pulpy story. Those unfamiliar with the first book can easily pick up this one, as the authors offer succinct recaps, and there’s plenty of insight into almost all of the characters, recurring and not, with point-of-view shifts utilized in effective though jarring ways. This entry in the series even feels too far removed at times, as much of the bonding between Blake and Maureen seems (at least initially) ignored. That aside, the characters fall easily into place with each other and the overly complex plot; the biggest criticism to be leveled is that the book tries to do too much. The revelations about Maureen’s CIA past, along with how her father ties in, could have easily been a novel unto itself, but instead, it shares an already crowded focus with an equally sensationalistic tale of killer stage tigers.
A little too much going on, but still manages to be tight and sharp-witted.Pub Date: April 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615645346
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flight Risk Books
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A darkly sweet paranormal fairy tale about rediscovering life after death.
A young girl adjusts to big life changes in Amie Borst and Bethanie Borst’s (Snow Fright, 2016, etc.) charming middle-grade novel with images by debut illustrator Hercka.
Middle school can be rough, but 12-year-old Cindy is having a particularly difficult time. Before her witch mother dies, she casts a spell on her daughter that causes her to transform into a skeleton every evening at sundown. Her father is horrified by his daughter’s nighttime appearance, and Cindy feels more alone than ever—until she discovers the perks of her nightly metamorphosis. With the help of a fairy godmother and a few other supernatural creatures, Cindy realizes she can journey into the Underworld and visit her mom while the surface world slumbers. Her nightly excursions give her solace, especially after her father brings home a new wife and her two unpleasant daughters. Soon, Cindy’s annoyance with her stepmother and her bizarre chore lists outweighs her grief. She also has a crush on Ethan McCallister, a boy at school who might be interested in her, as well. With the middle school dance coming up, Cindy finds herself torn between the land of the living and the world of the dead. The author’s supernatural twist on a classic fairy tale is unexpected and enjoyable. Hercka’s accompanying illustrations evoke filmmaker Tim Burton’s work, such as in The Nightmare Before Christmas. Cindy is a chatty and likable narrator who frequently provides narrative asides (under “Time Out!” captions) that will tickle young readers’ funny bones. Yet underneath the humor and the camp, the story has heart. It poignantly presents a family’s struggle to adjust to the passing of a loved one, and it offers subtle insights into parenting, presented from a middle school perspective: “How do parents always know where we are, even when we don’t want them to?”
A darkly sweet paranormal fairy tale about rediscovering life after death.Pub Date: May 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-948882-01-9
Page Count: 266
Publisher: Mystery Goose Press
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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