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I must say—I am a Dickens fan—totally and completely. What I love most about Dickens is not the stories themselves—it is his characters and descriptions. I could spend—I have spent—hours just reading the amusing ways and manners of these quirky personalities and becoming lost in the places and things that Dickens so creatively and uniquely brought to life. So, it was a pleasure to read this “sequel” to Oliver Twist, a story about a side-character from that great work. In it, the author has managed to re-create Dickinsonian London in the author’s own style, adding nothing to and taking nothing from the great Dickens himself, since by the author’s own words, he did not intend to write in the style of Dickens.

Jack Dawkins returns to London to try to find a new life. While he struggles with trying to determine on which side of the law he will fall, the reader is quite confident from the outset that Dawkins will ultimately seek a life within the law—or at least mostly so. It is Dawkins attempts to help others—Lilly, the flower girl, Charlie, the kidnapped child, Reg, the street urchin who reminded Dawkins so much of himself in Jack’s earlier days, even those from the seedier side of life who had befriended Jack, like Tom and Graves—that lay this groundwork of expectation for the reader. Thus, the ending, while not a surprise, was the one the reader desired, and the journey along the way was a pleasant meandering through the streets and society of old London.

I do note that there were a fair number of events that occur by happenstance: the hat Dawkins steals happens to belong to the Italian pastry chef who happens to be employed by the Caufields so eventually, Jack happens to learn that he can now safely wear the same in public; Dawkins happens to run into Oliver notwithstanding the vast size of and number of people in the city; Jack happens to run into a man he knows at the train station when Jack is trying to leave town quickly to pawn goods stolen from that very same man; the one copper who will have a heart for a former street waif just happens to be the one that identifies Jack and, though the copper could turn Jack in, does not; and so forth. Notwithstanding, Jack Dawkins was a fun read.

Well done, Charlton Daines. Keep them coming!

For more information about Charlton Daines and JACK DAWKINS, see here.

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for my review through Goodreads' READ IT AND REAP program.  I thank the author for this opportunity.  

For me, this story was—odd.  I’m not sure exactly why that word summarizes it best for me, but when I try to think of descriptive words for the story, it is the word that comes to mind again and again.  I find I am confused by the world created between the covers of THE BOY WHO LIT UP THE SKY.  The people and social norms suggest that the world is ancient and pre-industrial, but the gadgets and technologies are anything but.  Thus, I pictured thirteenth century people in a twenty-first century world, and somehow, it did not work well for me.  Things from just the first few pages that suggested an old world included the orphan home and the way it was run, the power of the Father, the infants’ loss of their parents during the “winter freeze,” use of words such as “half-breed” and “milord,” the “one year olds’ room” where “twenty babies sat naked in chairs, eating, sleeping and pooping at will,” the reference to orphan girls who “unless they were rescued before age seven or eight, would be put to work earning their keep,” the fact that there were only jobs for “men who joined the guards and women who worked as maids in the Palace,” the loss of babies from “a fever going around,” the off-handed manner in which a child sexual predator was introduced, and so forth.  I could picture these things in a world very different from the world of today.  Even so, these same early pages occasionally noted things like a bottle warmer, the Father’s new “speeder,” old radiators that “spat and hissed,” and a note that no busses serviced a particular area.  I grant that a fantasy world can be anything.  I just found that for me this one was—not believable—it was—odd.  

The main character, Senya, also known later as Sehron, is I believe, intended to be a sympathetic character.  In fact, I found that I quite disliked him.  Perhaps this was because I couldn’t quite capture his spirit.  As an infant, he did magic and unexplainable things, then after escaping the orphanage, became a street waif that was always and forever found with a cigarette between his lips and with a chip on his shoulder.  He was a bully and a murderer.  In short, I found no redeeming value about his person.  Also, I must say that while his eyes shone silver from the outset, it was some time before I discovered that Senya was in fact blind, and that he only saw through the eyes of others.  Perhaps I had I missed something along the way. . . ?

Each chapter is told through the eyes of a different character.  Here is where the author excelled—that is, the author showed a keen ability to take on different personalities.  However, it may have been this approach that also worked against providing continuity to the story—continuity that may have helped me to identify more readily with Senya.

Perhaps my biggest issue with THE BOY WHO LIT UP THE SKY was the manner in which women were portrayed.  With the exception of Meri who summoned the courage to escape a violent and predatory environment, the women were all superficial and silly.  They complained about not trusting Senya with their children, but did not do what any mother I know would do—remove their children from the potential harm.  Of course, it may be that this was due to their subservient role in this medieval land but as noted above, this was not a medieval land—at least not technologically speaking.  Most keenly, I noted that the men spoke of their women solely as those who handled domestic chores.  Thus, the men referenced whether someone’s wife could cook or not (“Perhaps he just doesn’t like your wife’s cooking.  I’m not sure I do either.”), and made such comments to their own wives, as:  “Have you not enough tasks to keep you busy such as tending your baby and cleaning this house?” or “. . . this is my house.”  Without genuine or realistic women characters, the story fell flat for me.

I also note that there are some editing errors.  Some are merely grammatical and there is the use of both “smart” and “dumb” quotation marks at the same time.  There also are instances where the incorrect word was used, such as “wretched” for “retched.” 

All that said, THE BOY WHO LIT UP THE SKY does deliver a “new” fantasy world for those readers looking for the same.

For more information about this book and author, see here.

I attended the BEA show in NYC May 29 to June 1 of this year.  Passing through a crowd one day, I came upon a book giveaway and so, I got a copy.  Settling into my seat on my flight back a day later, I dug in to read.

I grew up during the Vietnam conflict.  Though very young at the time, I remember hearing the news and seeing the pictures flash across the television screen.  I remember especially, Malcolm Browne's photo of the burning monk.  When I went to college, I studied political science and philosophy, and I concentrated some of my studies around the history and people of what was then the Soviet Union.  Readings and discussions of the Vietnam conflict came up from time to time.  Even so, I knew little more than the average person about the origins of the conflict, the history of this land and its people, or the key figures leading up to the conflict in which the U.S. became engaged.  Finding the Dragon Lady helped to answer some of those questions.

I especially admire Demery's pursuing this legendary and controversial figure and because of her efforts, the opportunity I was granted to gain some insight into Madam Nhu and what motivated her.  In the end Madam Nhu does not seem a particularly sympathetic figure, but Demery was able to weave some of Madam Nhu's personal stories into this historical account that did lend a hand to my understanding this controversial figure somewhat better.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in the history and political intrigues of this era.

Find out more about the author, Monique Brinson Demery on Goodreads here. Finding the Dragon Lady is available on Amazon here and on Barnes and Noble here.  

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I was provided a copy of this book through Goodreads’ READ IT AND REAP program in exchange for my fair and honest review.  I thank the author for providing me with this opportunity.

SUMMONER tells of Raven’s quest to save her land and people from the evil lord N’atax.  It is presented as a story being told to some villagers, long years after the events took place.  In this way, SUMMONER differed from many fantasy stories and this made for an interesting approach.   Unfortunately, however, this approach also left me missing some things.  I suspect that if I could have seen the face of the narrator during his storytelling, if I could have heard his pauses, watched his mannerisms, noted his eyes as they welled with tears, or his grimace as he came upon something dark or evil, I may have had a better “feel” for the story.  What I found, however, was that I did not feel emotionally invested in the characters in a way that I wanted to be, given their quest to overcome evil.  Having said all of that, SUMMONER was classic epic fantasy that took its readers on a journey through lands with robust scenery and well-drawn villains. 

I noted several well-known classic references in a number of places.  I think Massey was successful here in bringing the beauty of those ancient words to a new setting and story.  

I also took a minute to check out the author’s website.  The page of pictures posted to show what the author saw as the scenery of the lands told of in his story was most interesting and very well done!  (What a great idea!)