Rate this book

The Blackstone Key (2008)

by Rose Melikan(Favorite Author)

3.34 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1847441335 (ISBN13: 9781847441331)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Not Avail

series

Mary Finch

review 1: Just the fact that I have taken over a week to submit my review speaks volumes. This book was read mainly out of a sense of duty. It started as a ripping yarn, slowed to a watered down Pride and Prejudice and picked up towards the end. The central characters felt like those of a comfortable Sunday evening TV fare. The poor teacher who may or may not inherit a family mansion and the dashing captain felt tired clichés. Considering the academic background of the author, it felt a tired and lazy book, which I am being generous when I give it three stars.
review 2: This book is what happens when a professor of political history gets it into her head to write a historical novel and uses Nancy Drew as her guide. Now, I don’t mean that as a slam to Nancy Drew books,... more which I love, but their charm is dependent on two factors: first, you read them when you’re 9; second, they’re only 80 pages long. This book, in contrast, is over 400 pages but seems much longer. If the length were drawn out only by pert dialogue that bears no resemblance to actual 19th century speech, that would be one thing. But it’s also drawn out by discussions of the more boring aspects of 19th century law. Even worse, most of the characters end their encounters with our orphaned-but-spunky heroine by musing, “She certainly is a headstrong young woman!” or “My, that’s a young woman to be reckoned with!” or some such silliness. A decent editor could have cut out most of the legal-tidbits-as-plot and all of the anachronistic dialogue and just left a fun mystery set during the Napoleonic wars. After all, what’s not to like about smuggling and spying? Even the Nancy Drew elements would have been okay (She deciphers codes! She escapes through secret tunnels! She finds clues in abandoned houses!). As it is, the books reads like a rough draft by someone too emotionally involved to realize that sometimes less is more. Kind of a shame. less

Download links for: The Blackstone Key

Advertising