Summary
1494 Barcelona. As Torquemada lights the fires of religious fervor throughout the cities of Spain, accused heretics are not the only victims. Thousands of books and manuscripts are lost to the flames as the Black Friars attempt to purge Europe of the ancient secrets of the gods and the bold new ideas that are ushering in the Renaissance.

Nadira lives a dreary life as servant to a wealthy spice merchant until the night a dying scholar is brought to the merchant’s stable, beaten by mercenaries who are on the hunt for The Hermetica of Elysium. To Nadira, words are her life: she lives them as her master’s scrivener and dreams them in her mother’s poetry. She is pursued as passionately as the fabled manuscript for her rare skill as a reader of Ancient Greek, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew that makes her valuable to men who pursue the book to exploit its magic.

Kidnapped by Baron Montrose, an adventurous nobleman, she is forced to read from the Hermetica. It is soon revealed to her that ideas and words are more powerful than steel or fire for within its pages are the words that incite the Dominicans to religious fervor, give the Templars their power and reveal the lost mysteries of Elysium.

As Nadira begins her transformation from servant to sorceress, will she escape the fires of the Inquisition, the clutches of the Borgia pope, Alexander VI and the French king, Charles VIII? And will Montrose’s growing fear of her powers cause her to lose her chance for love?

Review
I liked this book, although it did take me a few chapters to get into it. There were also a couple of continuity issues that had me flipping back and forth through the book trying to figure out what I’d missed. Neither really had any affect on the story. The first was that when Nadira first encountered Baron Montrose, the text reads that he had a large scar on his face. That scar is never mentioned again, but another soldier is repeatedly called, “the scarred man”. I looked back at the original scene three different times, but still couldn’t find any mention of another man with a scar or find another way to read the scene that might name another soldier as the one with the large facial scar.

There was also a scene in which the Baron and his soldiers entered a room and bolted the door. Then a few minutes later, when they needed privacy, although no one had left the room, he got up and bolted the door. Nothing that changes the story; it just interrupts the flow.

As for the actual story, it started a little slow for me, but picked up quickly. Nadira speaks and reads several languages in a time when most people can’t even read. As an educated person, she is thrust from an obscure life as a servant to a life full of danger and intrigue where she will soon come face-to-face with some of the most powerful men in the world. She is kidnapped more than once, and I could almost see her rolling her eyes at one point as she realizes she’s been stolen again.

I couldn’t really get a handle on Baron Montrose. I’m not entirely sure he’s strong enough to be the man that Nadira needs. I like most of the other main characters, though. Nadira picks up a motley crew on her adventures across the continent and I’m curious to see how everyone will work together in the next part of the story.

About the book
Title: The Hermetica of Elysium
Author: Annmarie Banks
Publisher: Knox Robinson Publishing
Release date: Dec 8, 2011
Pages: 396
Where I got the book: I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Rating: 4 stars

I’m in a bit of a whirlwind right now, and my day got away from me. It took a while to get Bennett to sleep, and I’m too tired now to mess with the computer. 
Tomorrow, I’ll post reviews for two historical fiction novels, and Friday I’m going to switch this blog over to WordPress. It usually takes about 48 hours for everything to get lined out, so if you get a message that the blog is unavailable, that’s why, and please check again in a day or so. I’ll also try to keep an eye on it and post to Facebook and Twitter when it’s back up.

Amazon summary
As the papal wars of the Western Schism rage across Europe, a young man takes his first step on the journey of a lifetime.

Geoffrey Hotspur dreams of knighthood. As an English orphan-squire bonded to the court of Sir John of Gaunt, uncle of the English King Richard II, his prospects are few.

An inveterate gambler already deep in debt, young Geoffrey accepts an invitation to participate in a raid on French lands. His plans go awry, however, after a deadly street brawl results in his banishment from court. As further punishment, he is ordered to join a royal commission bound for Florence.

Accompanied by Jean Lagoustine, a mysterious Frenchman whose intentions towards the young squire are not all they appear to be, the ship upon which they journey is waylaid by corsairs. Barely escaping with their lives, Geoffrey and Jean find themselves forming part of a company of Catalonian crossbowmen en route to enlist with the Roman papal army.

Intrigue and betrayal dominate the war between the two popes, and the young squire’s understanding of faith and fidelity are soon challenged. The need to do right inspires Geoffrey to take a personal stake in the outcome of the conflict. With little more than his wits and a sword, the young squire must find a way to fulfill his duty to his lord, to his faith and to himself. As the war culminates in the final battle for the throne of St. Peter, will Geoffrey find that a knighthood is worth the risk to his honor?

My review

Of Faith and Fidelity: Geoffrey Hotspur and the War for St. Peter’s Throne is the first book in English Free Company Series. It’s also very long. At 430 pages, it seems like an endless read, and I now know that when reading a long book on the Kindle, you don’t get the same satisfaction from the percentage marker at the bottom of the page that you do from seeing a bookmark in a book. It was, however, worth it.

Geoffrey is a young squire trying to find his way without a family name to open doors for him. With no family, he also has very little money. Neither of these setbacks keep him from gambling far more than is wise, or making any unwise decisions at all, really. Geoffrey is far more arrogant than someone in his precarious position should be.

I’m not sure I liked Geoffrey, but he certainly had gumption. He didn’t hesitate to ask for favors from leaders as high-placed as the Pope’s brother. I marvelled at how he drifted through the whole story without sustaining any more damage to his person than he did.

His companions were an interesting lot, as well. I was disappointed that some of them would obviously not be in Book Two of the series. Although I wasn’t really fond of Geoffrey, I kept hoping he would step up and become something great. I’m not really sure that happened in this book, but I can see a lot of potential for future books. Of course, I loved the history in the book. This was a period that I wasn’t familiar with, so I had to look up some things as I read. That just made it more interesting for me. I love learning history through fiction.

I’m looking forward to watching Geoffrey mature through the series and see how things play out with the secondary characters.

About the book

Amazon summary
It isn’t until the Civil War comes to her doorstep that Amanda Belle must choose between love and family.

It’s the spring of 1861 on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Amanda never thought she would marry because of a promise she made to her dying mother, but her attraction to Captain Kent Littlefield is undeniable.

When Texas secedes from the Union, her brother Daniel aligns with the Confederate States, while Kent remains with the Union troops.

Her heart is torn between the two men she is closest to and the two sides of the conflict. Amanda prays to God for direction and support, but hears only silence. Where is God in the atrocities of war-and whose side is He on?

Amanda senses her life is at a turning point. She must trust God to deliver her family through the chaos of war with her heart and her faith intact.
 
My review
Amanda Belle is living in Texas with her family when she meets Kent, an Army officer. With the start of the Civil War, Kent suddenly becomes “the enemy” as a Union soldier, and Amanda’s father forbids Kent and Amanda to even correspond.

The story follows Amanda and her family through the war as her brother fights with the Rebel army while Amanda tries to hold everything together at home. We also get Kent’s story, which includes occassional contact with the Belle family in one way or another.

Amanda’s father, then her brother, believe that Amanda should just forget Kent and that all Federal soldiers are evil and can’t be trusted. Kent’s family is also against a marriage to his Texas sweetheart.

Amanda has grown up hearing about God’s love and forgiveness, but when she needs guidance, she feels as if God has abandoned her and her family. Eventually, both families have to decide if they will choose to forgive or let past wrongs get in the way of Amanda’s and Kent’s happiness.

Amazon summary
Her genetic secret could change humanity forever.

Her DNA grants her the ultimate power.
But all she wants is to disappear.

Looming buildings rise into the sky of a near-future America, shadowing the desperate poverty of the soovie parks, death doctors, and fear bombs. In this world of walled cities, where status matters most, Caitlyn Brown is desperate to remain invisible, wrongly believing what she needs to hide is the deformity on her back. The powerful want her for so much more.

She’s forced to take flight again, relying on the help of Razor, a street-smart illusionist she can’t trust. Her only hope is to reach friends already tracked by government.

With a twisted bounty hunter in full pursuit, she and Razor begin to learn the unthinkable about her past and the unique gifts of her DNA. It leads Caitlyn to a choice between the two men who love her, and whether to keep her freedom or sacrifice herself to change human destiny.

In this lightning-fast chase through an all-too-plausible future, best-selling author Sigmund Brouwer is at his best. Flight of Shadows is a terrifying ride into the heart of compelling moral questions about science and society.
 
My review
Flight of Shadows is the fast-paced sequel to Broken Angel. (My review of Broken Angel is here.) So fast-paced, in fact, that the whole book only covers a few days. In Flight of Shadows, we learn more about the history that has brought society to this point. The Water Wars, the return to a near-feudal caste system, and why thousands of people are living in soovie parks – large communities of disabled SUVs that are now good for nothing except keeping the rain off.
 
Caitlyn has escaped to the Outside and safety and made contact with Billy and Theo, but when threatened, they all quickly flee to another city and live in poverty while trying to stay “under the radar”. They soon learn that that’s not possible.
 
When Caitlyn is forced to defend herself from a brutal attacker, she sets in motion a chain of events that leaves all of them running for their lives again. She is befriended by Razor, a young man who is a master of disguise and can be found hacking a computer system one moment and braving the horrifying subterrainian community the next.
 
One of the things that makes a good thriller for me is never being sure who is one which side. Who can the good guys trust? Flight of Shadows is definitely a good thriller. And it’s not just Caitlyn who has to watch her back. Most of the main characters in the book are betrayed at some point. Not a good way to live, but it makes for a great story.
 
I suppose you could read Flight of Shadows as a stand-alone book. The author does give a lot of background. I would recommend reading Broken Angel first, though.
 
You can read an excerpt of Flight of Shadows here.
 
About the book
Title: Flight of Shadows
Author: Sigmund Brouwer
Publisher: WaterBrook Press
Release date: May 8, 2010
Pages: 320
Where I got the book: I received this book free from the publisher as part of the Blogging for Books program
Rating: 5 stars

Rank this review for a chance to win your own copy of Flight of Shadows from the publisher.

Bennett: Knock, knock.
Jeffrey: Who’s there?
Bennett: You!

Bennett: What do you get when you cross a man with a truck?
Jeffrey: What?
Bennett: Run over!

I was planning on going through some boxes yesterday. I have several in the basement that are only half-full, and I thought I’d throw some stuff away and combine the boxes. After the first box, I gave up. It took too long. But it was like opening a time capsule. And I couldn’t believe the stuff that was still in there, considering that I had gone through that box in 2004 before we moved into this house. (I know I did because I had marked it with the date.) It was almost all stuff from my childhood, sentimental stuff that I wanted to keep. Which is fine, to an extent. But some non-sentimental junk had migrated into the box. I was so fascinated with what I found that I thought I’d share with you. This should be more enlightening than all of my Know Me Better posts combined. LOL

I found a “descriptive essay” I wrote in November, 1984, at the age of nine. I think my writing has improved. I hope. My handwriting isn’t much better, though. I also found a drawing, without a date, but likely from the same time-frame. Let me just say that, even then, my writing was much better than my drawing. (If I get enough requests, I might post both here, purely for your entertainment.)

I also found the paper on which my mom recorded my books for the summer reading program at our library in 1982. I was six that summer. I would have turned seven in August. Lest you ever doubt that I have always been crazy about books, check this out.



Oh, that’s not so many, right? (BTW, see how pretty my mom’s handwriting is? Mine doesn’t look anything like that.)



There are all the books. And we didn’t really live near the library, so a big thanks to my awesome mom (with the neat handwriting) for hauling me to the library every two weeks all summer, every summer.

I found a business card for my former roommate’s husband. I moved to Georgia shortly after she married, and I’ve been trying to remember her new last name for years. I have seen her once since I moved, but due to various circumstances, we lost touch and I’ve been trying to find her online for a long time, which isn’t easy when you can’t remember someone’s last name. Now that I have her last name, I should be able to find her! I know what town she’s in, or at least the general area.

I found my old hunting vest. Complete with shotgun shells in the pockets. I haven’t been hunting in about 25 years.

I found a coupon caddy thing. Full of coupons that had expired in 1999.

I found three unicorns. I used to collect unicorns, but I thought I had sold all of them years ago.

I found some My Little Pony clothes and accessories. No, I wasn’t saving those for sentimental reasons. I have no clue how they made it through the first check of that box.

I found an unopened bottle of Robert Rothschild Extra Virgin Olive Oil. With olives. I don’t know where it came from or how long it’s been in there. I figure it’s either really good or really bad by now.

I found the brush, comb, leash, and collar that belonged to one of my dogs. Not exactly sure which one. I also found the bell that was on my cat’s collar. I do know where that came from. I got a cat for my 6th birthday and had him until he died right after my 22nd birthday. I’m keeping the bell.

My baby. Notice he’s lying on MY BOOK.

I found my old jacket, one of the few things I never allowed my mom to hand-me-down to my cousins. I loved that jacket. I also found my t-shirt collection. I was going to wash them and put them in Bennett’s closet for play clothes (well, some of them anyway), but they all had water stains from when the box had gotten wet, so after washing them, I threw them away. (Please do not tell me that there was a way I could have gotten the stains out. The shirts are already gone.) I did save two. My Arkansas friends will recognize the shirts, and we can entertain all the non-southerners. I had kids’ shirts from Dogpatch (2), Toad Suck Daze, Booger Hollow, Arkansas Travs baseball, and the Vilona Eagles (2). I also had one from Loretta Lynn’s Ranch. (That’s for my TN friends.) And a MathCounts t-shirt. I vaguely remember being on a MathCounts team, but I can’t even remember which school that was. Yuma, maybe?



The jacket. Don’t worry, I was really young when I wore this. Probably 12 or 13. Just kidding. I was 5 or 6.

 And that wasn’t even everything in the box. I’m almost scared to open my other boxes.