I was a sucker for a King Arthur story when I was a young teen. I’ve read more versions of it that you can imagine. In this one, Kat is transported back to Camelot. It takes her awhile to find out it wasn’t an accident – the Lady of the Lake and Merlin thought that Kat could prevent Lancelot and Guenevere from falling in love, thus being the downfall of Camelot.
It was a fun story, an easy read and entertaining. Even though you more or less know what’s going to happen – at least if you’re read ANY King Arthur stories – it was still a compelling story. The ending was an unexpected twist, so don’t read ahead!
The odd thing is, I found myself wishing I could go back to Camelot –era to meet the Lady of the Lake. I think I could share her mission of trying to stop the Christians from taking over – and destroying – most of the world.
I got an advanced reading copy of this book from Bookbrowse.com.
This story had such promise. From the back cover: “Bejamin Nab appears one day at the orphanage where Ren has spent the 11 years of his young life. Convincing the monks he is Ren’s long-lost brother, Benjamin sweeps the boy away into a vibrant world of adventures, filled with outrageous scam artists, grave robbers, and petty thieves. But is Benjamin Nab really who he claims to be? As Ren begins to find clues to his hidden parentage, he comes to suspect that Benjamin holds the key not only to his future but to his past as well.”
Sounds like a great story right? Except it isn’t. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t as good as the promise from that paragraph.. The world isn’t vibrant, it’s dark and scary. The scam artists aren’t all that outrageous, just scam artists and not terribly clever ones at that. That people were fooled by them is clearly the work of a writer. There are characters who seem to have no real value to the story other than to add “color” but it doesn’t come off well.
The characters were not well-developed and most were “one note.” You could tell what Benjamin was going to do because the characters would tell you “Well, that’s how Benjamin is.” I wouldn’t go so far as to say the story was predictable, other than in its final outcome. Every child loves an Orphan Who Conquers All. This is a grown up version of that.
This was another first book and overall not a bad beginning. I think there were some bad copyedits, but other than that, it’s fine. I doubt I’ll read the rest of them but this book was okay.
I read 115 books in 2007. Down from 143 in 2006, but that is probably a good thing.
Go check out my “To Be Read” page … thanks to PaperBackSwap.com and a trip to a local bookstore, I have TONS to read!!! And there are at least two more on the way to me.
Even still, I keep re-reading the Anita Blake books. I make no sense! T
My book buying has gotten out of control. I buy books even when I have a stack of books at home I haven’t read, a stack of library books I haven’t read and an entire basket full of magazines that I haven’t read. I’m a junkie.
I was reading *one* of my magazines (Can’t remember which though!) and I found an article about PaperBackSwap.com.. I signed up and I’m sending out my first books tomorrow. Here’s how it works: you sign up and list at least 10 books that you’re willing to swap. Members request your books and when you send them, then you get points (1 point per book) that you can use to request other books (which “cost” one point each.) So far, seems like a great deal. They make it as easy as possible, too. (Clearly they know that I am not likely to get to the post office!) For each book you’re sending, you print out a wrapper that they give you which has the recipients name and addresses, a return address of PBS and a note where the postage goes telling you how much it will cost to ship it. It takes two pages to wrap the book (both you print), you wrap, add postage and drop in the mailbox. You can make it really easy if you don’t have an entire roll of 37 cent stamps to use up and use your credit card to “add” money to your account, which you can then use to buy postage. If you do that, they print the postage out with the wrapper and away you go! 
So, if you go sign up, PLEASE say I referred you. My user ID is GourmetReader and for everyone who joins, I get a credit for a book!
I read 6 months of Martha Stewart Living last night, a Family Fun and looked at some catalogs. I haven’t felt like reading because it requires too much concentration. I think I’m going to re-read the Anita Blake books since I don’t seem to be interested in any of the other things I have to read.
