CBR3 Book 77: "The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton

Publisher: Pan Books
Page count: 645 pages
Date begun: September 17th, 2011
Date finished: September 24th, 2011

In 1913, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship from England to Australia. All she has with her is a little suitcase and a beautifully illustrated book of fairy tales, and she remembers that a pretty lady called the Authoress told her to hide on the ship, but otherwise she has no recollection of who she is. In 1975, the little girl has a daughter and a grandmother of her own, but travels to Cornwall to discover the truth about her identity. In 2005, Nell's granddaughter Cassandra is devastated by the death of Nell, and surprised to discover that among the effects left to her in Nell's will is the deed to  a small cottage in England. She too travels to England to figure out why the cottage is significant.

The Forgotten Garden is the story of three generations and four women - Nell, her granddaughter Cassandra, and Eliza Makepeace, the mysterious Authoress and her beautiful cousin Rose Mountrachet. The points of view alter between Eliza, Nell and Cassandra, whilst the reader gets to know Rose through her letters, diary entries and through Eliza's eyes. Who is Nell really? Why was she abandoned on the ship to Australia? What was the significance of the book of fairy tales? What did Nell discover in England in 1975? Why did she leave the cottage in Cornwall to Cassandra?

Like in The House at Riverton, Morton deftly describes the lives of women spanning nearly a century and lives plagued with mysteries and secrets and melodramatic events. I still think this is the better book, though, and the alternating points of view as well as the interconnected time lines, interspersed with Eliza's fairy tales (I would give a lot to get a hold of a copy of the whole fairy tale collection, it's clearly marvellous), letters, diary entries and the like, really add to the story and kept me gripped. Had not my massive work load kept me from reading constantly, I suspect I would have finished the book in about two days. I'm very much looking forward to checking out Morton's next novel, The Distant Hours, when it's published in paperback.

CBR3 Book 76: "The Glass Demon" by Helen Grant

Publisher: Puffin
Page count: 416 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Date begun: September 15th, 2011
Date finished: September 25th, 2011

Lin Fox and her family are moving to Germany for a year. Her father is a history lecturer who dreams of a glamorous TV career, and is taking his family with him on a sabbatical year in Germany after he was passed over for a promotion. While driving to the village they're to live in for the next year, Lin and her family come across a dead body. An old man is lying in an orchard, with a head wound, surrounded by broken glass. Lin's father and stepmother are not interested in being questioned by the police, so bundles Lin and her sister into the car and drive off, letting someone else report the death.

Lin's father is in Germany to find a set of legendary and rumoured to be nearly priceless stained glass windows, made by an artist in the Middle Ages. However, the Allerheiligen glass is also rumoured to be haunted by a demon, and anyone connected to them dies horribly. If Doctor Fox can actually locate the glass in rural Germany, his reputation would be guaranteed, and his career secured. Most people seem to think the glass was destroyed centuries ago, though, and the German historian who contacted Lin's dad is dead, drowned in the bath shortly before they arrived in the village.

Most of the villagers are generally hostile towards the English family, and while Lin seems to have made an admirer, Michel, who offers to drive her to school, even he seems to think that Doctor Fox' quest for the glass is a wild goose chase. As more people turn up dead under mysterious circumstances, all surrounded by broken glass, Lin's sister seems to get more withdrawn and insecure, multiple attempts are made to scare the family away, Lin starts wondering if the stories about the demon's curse are actually true.

My enjoyment of heroine's name notwithstanding (as a history buff it amused me greatly, but I can see why she insists on going by simply Lin), I was about halfway into this novel before I realized that it was a mystery novel, and not a paranormal fantasy. Both the title of the novel, and the blurb of the book seemed to suggest that there were paranormal elements to the story. So when they didn't appear, I was puzzled and I suspect it's part of why I may not have been as taken with this story as I could have been. The publishers should possibly have marketed this book differently, as if you're expecting paranormal fantasy, straight forward mystery is not really the same thing, and seemed like a bit of a let down, really. Approaching this book with actual knowledge of the specific genre might add to the reader's enjoyment. The ending of the book was also a bit ambiguous, I'm unsure if the author is setting up for a sequel, or whether the story is complete the way it is written. Either way, I don't know if I'm eager to read anymore about these characters.

CBR3 Book 75: "Archangel's Blade" by Nalini Singh

Publisher: Berkley
Page count: 336 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Date begun: September 12th, 2011
Date finished: September 14th, 2011

This is the fourth novel in the Guild Hunter series, but can actually be read fairly independently from the other three. Still, for a more comprehensive understanding of the backstory of some of the characters, and a richer understanding of the world the story is set in, you may want to check out the three previous books, as well.

Dmitri is a vampire, and has been for nearly a thousand years. He's the archangel Raphael's right hand man, and controls the group of seven who guard and assist him. When the severed head of a newly turned vampire shows up with a mysterious, but distinctive tattoo, Dmitri knows that there is more to the case than just a simple scuffle. He needs help from the Guild of Vampire Hunters to decipher the symbols of the tattoo, however, and is intrigued at who they send to help him.

While a rogue archangel went crazy in New York, Honor St. Nicholas was kidnapped by a bunch of vampires and kept captive for months while they fed on her, tortured her and sexually assaulted her. She nearly died, but was saved by her colleagues in the Hunter's Guild, and has slowly been trying to build herself up again. Still scarred, both physically and mentally, she's not sure she's ready for an active assignment, but as one of the Guild's foremost experts on ancient texts and languages, she is the person Dmitri needs to identify the mysterious tattoo. Before her accident, Honor had a strange obsession with the powerful vampire, trying to find out as much as she could about him. Now she has to work closely with him, while trying to get over her fear of vampires.

Romances where the heroine is getting over a trauma are difficult. It's clear that at some point, the heroine needs to heal and get stronger, better and confident again, or there is no real chance of a Happy Ever After. Yet, hurry that recovery along too fast, and the story becomes unbelievable. Now, I'm not saying that I'm not willing to suspend my disbelief a bit when it comes to romance, far too many stories the couple fall madly and passionately in love and decide they want to spend the rest of their lives together in less time many would take to choose a room mate or select a new home, and because I'm entertained, and the story is well written, I'm willing to take that with a grain of salt. Here, however, quite a lot is made of the horrors that Honor experienced. She really did go through hell. She has trouble trusting anyone, even her closest friends. Yet a couple of meetings with Dmitri, and she's pretty much good as new, if not better than before. The main problem is that the story is set over too short a period of time. Had the story spanned several months, preferably longer, then yes, I might have been convinced that Dmitri could draw Honor out of her traumatized shell, and made her heal and realize that she was still strong and capable and that not all vampires and/or men were untrustworthy. This just went too fast.

There is also a subplot concerning Dmitri's long dead wife and family, and how remembering them is creating difficulties with regards to his attraction for Honor. I think the way Singh resolved this was a bit too "having your cake and eating it too", which felt like a bit of a cop out. I would have liked to see her be braver about the resolution of the romance, which would have made the ending feel stronger and more satisfying. All in all, this was an entertaining book, but clearly the weakest of the four Guild Hunter novels so far. I hope the next one is better.

CBR3 Book 74: "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs

Publisher: Quirk Books
Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Date begun: September 5th, 2011
Date finished: September 7th, 2011

Jacob is a teenage boy who as a child was enchanted by all his grandfather's tales of the strange island where he grew up, and the many peculiar children he used to play with. His grandfather had a box full of old photographs of odd looking individuals, and would happily tell Jacob about them for hours. As Jacob grew older, he started realizing how far fetched the stories sounded, and how fake and clearly manipulated the photos were. Yet when his grandfather dies under mysterious circumstances, and Jacob thinks he sees a hideous slavering monster near his dying body, it's suddenly not so clear what is truth and what is fiction. Jacob's parents, and his very well-meaning therapist work as hard as they can to convince him that his grandfather's stories and the thing he saw were nothing but tall tales and hallucinations, brought on by stress and fear, but there is still a kernel of doubt in Jacob.

Having found a letter to his grandfather from a Miss Peregrine, the proprietor of a children's home on an island outside Wales, Jacob convinces his dad that they should go there, and find out more about his grandfather's past. On the remote island, it is clear that there was once an orphanage, but it's now a complete ruin, and has been abandoned since the Second World War. Jacob explores the bedrooms and basements of the crumbling house, and finds more pictures and evidence of his grandfather's tales. He discovers that the children his grandfather talked about may have existed, and there are signs that some of them may still be on the island, as unlikely as that may seem.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a picture book, where the many photographs collected by Ransom Riggs, make up an integral part of the story. There are countless photographs that help illustrate the narrative, and I don't think the book would have been as enjoyable without it. The book lags a bit in places, but once Jacob arrives on the island and starts really investigating, it becomes an entertaining read, and I'm curious to see where the story progresses, as there is clearly a sequel or sequels coming.

CBR3 Books 71-73. "The Unwritten vol 1-3" by Mike Carey and Peter Gross

Publisher: Vertigo
Page count: 462 pages
Date begun: September 7th, 2011
Date finished: September 8th, 2011

Book 71 - Vol 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity - 4 stars
Book 72 - Vol 2: Inside Man - 4 stars
Book 73 - Vol 3: Dead Man's Knock - 4 stars


Tom Taylor is the inspiration behind his father, Wilson Taylor's hugely successful fantasy series about Tommy Taylor (very much in the vein of Harry Potter). His father disappeared at the height of his success, and Tom makes a living appearing at comic book and fantasy conventions. He's bitter about the abandonment, and feels that the only thing his father ever gave him was a head full of useless trivia about literary geography. Tom's life takes a turn for the puzzling and strange, when at a convention, a young woman, Lizzie Hexam, claims Tom is not Wilson's real son, and that he is in fact an impostor.

When he goes to Switzerland, to the villa where his father wrote the Tommy Taylor novels, and where Wilson Taylor was last seen, he ends up being accused of murdering a group of mystery and horror writers, who had been attending a writer's convention at the house. Tom is sent to prison, not realizing that the brutal murders were committed by Pullman, a sinister man who can turn people or things into text by just touching them. In prison, he befriends Savoy, a reporter placed in the prison to write an insider's perspective on prison life and Tom. It is clear that there is a lot more to his father's disappearance, and his own identity than Tom first suspected. He's convinced he saw the flying cat from the Tommy Taylor adventures sitting in a tree when he was arrested, and occasionally,  the magical sigil that protects Tommy in the books, appears as a tattoo on his hand. Lizzie Hexam also clearly knows more than she lets on, and appears to be in contact with the missing Wilson Taylor. Who is Lizzie? Who is Tom really? Why did his dad disappear? Who is the shady organization that framed him for murder, and wants to get to his dad?


I've been a fan of Mike Carey's for a long time. I like his Felix Castor novels, I think his run on Hellblazer was very enjoyable, and I think Lucifer is probably one of the best Vertigo graphic novel series ever, after Sandman and 100 Bullets. So when rave reviews started coming in about The Unwritten, I was eager to check it out. So far, it's great, and while the first three trade paperbacks are thin (collecting the first 18 issues of the comic), there is a lot of story development. I like the riffs on popular young adult fantasy, with elements not just from Harry Potter, but all sorts of clever things. There's obviously a huge amount of literary references in the comic, not just to fantasy, and Carey has interesting things to say about the nature of fame and celebrity and how we interact with books and other media in this day and age. The covers to the comics are all gorgeous, and the art by Peter Gross is very suited to the book. I'm eagerly awaiting volume 4: Leviathan, and can recommend this comic to pretty much anyone interested in clever, entertaining storytelling.

CBR3 Book 70: "The House at Riverton" by Kate Morton

Publisher: Pan Books
Page count: 599 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: August 29th, 2011
Date finished: September 4th, 2011

During a lavish party on the grounds of Riverton Manor, the famous poet Robbie Hunter commits suicide in 1924. The only witnesses to the event, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, never spoke to each other again, and both women died within a year of the poet. Only one other person, Hannah's maid Grace, knows the truth about what really happened that evening.

In 1999, a film is being made about the tragic events, and the director is wanting to speak to Grace, the only surviving person from that night, to find out the truth of what happened. Grace is 98 years old, and living in a home, but all to clearly remembers her life at Riverton, from when she came there as a chamber maid in 1914. Talking to the director stirs up her memories, and as she doesn't want to die before confessing her secrets, she records her memories on tapes for her grandson, Marcus, wanting him to know the truth about her life and the events that led to Robbie Hunter's death.

The story switches between Grace's life in the past, starting in 1914, when she is hired as a maid at the manor. Grace's mother had previously been a maid there, and several of the staff fondly remembers her. Grace is well aware of her place, but is very taken with the three Hartford children, the grandchildren of the current earl. She observes them from afar, and develops a close bond with Hannah, the eldest of the Hartford sisters. Later, when Hannah gets married, she becomes her ladies' maid.

The other half of the story recounts Grace's current life, and gives glimpses into the life she lived after she stopped being a maid, got an education, got married and had a child of her own. Grace was never too attached to her daughter, but clearly loves her grandson very much. She is worried about him, and determined that he know all her secrets, so he can get a complete picture of where he comes from.

The House at Riverton is the first novel I've read by Kate Morton, but I can see why she's so popular. The intercutting of present and past in the novel keeps the reader interested. There's a definite touch of melodrama in the novel, with scandals, unfaithfulness, sibling rivalries, the after effects of the First World War, and of course, deep dark secrets. Some are not really supposed to be secret to the reader, there were at least a couple that were very clearly hinted at in the narrative, and only the slowest glue sniffing kids at the back would be surprised at the reveal of some of them (for instance the identity of Grace's father), but it was incredibly entertaining, and I can see why her novels are so incredibly popular. I will certainly seek out more of them.

CBR3 Book 69: "The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts" by Louis de Bernieres

Publisher: Vintage
Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Date begun: August 17th, 2011
Date finished: August 27th, 2011

This is the first of de Bernieres' Latin American trilogy, set in a fictional South American country, heavily resembling Colombia (but with elements from many other Latin American countries as well). The plot follows multiple story lines and protagonists, including several villagers in the town of Chiriguaná, who are terrorized by corrupt militia, and the selfishness of the local landowners, and eventually decide to fight back. Other parts of the story show the terrible corruption of the military, with thousands of ordinary citizens of the country disappearing without a trace, being tortured and killed in the hunt for dissidents and communists.

The story mixes horribly graphic descriptions of violence, rape, torture and death with humour, colourful descriptions and magical realism. During the course of events, the village of Chiriguaná is suddenly overrun with huge amounts of black cats who grow to be the size of panthers. There's even occasions where donkeys and women give birth to black kittens. It's a wonderfully written book, but not exactly an easy read, and it took me longer to get through than I had expected, simply because the subject matter was both wonderful and horrible, and while fictionalized, clearly based on real events that have taken place in South and Latin America in the last half a century. I was planning on reading the trilogy in one go, but felt I had to space out my reading more after finishing this one. Can absolutely be recommended, but is not for the squeamish or faint of heart.