I got this from CWIL (the Cambridge Writers of Imaginative Literature writer’s group). Ever at a loss for how to generate the plot of a world best seller? This should help:
The Illuminati have kept the secret of Mary Magdalene for nearly a millennium. A troubled scientist has stumbled upon their trail. The Illuminati will stop at nothing to keep their secret, but can The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn stop *them* first?!
http://tobyinkster.co.uk/Software/dan_brown/
December 1st,2007
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Lord John’s mother is getting re-married, and the change threatens to stir up more than one thing which should remain hidden. For a start John is in danger of falling very much in love with his new step-brother to be, Percy, a love which is distinctly reciprocated. But in a more sinister turn of events, the fact that John’s mother now has a protector to whom she can speak of the past alarms the murderer of John’s father. Attempts are made on John’s life, his brother and mother are warned off with pages of a missing diary, and a conspiracy and scandal which has hung over the Grey family name for years threatens to burst back into life.
In the middle of all this, John and Hal’s regiment are posted to the Rhineland, to take part in several battles of the Seven Years War which seem like something of a relief after the tension at home. But tragedy follows John onto the battlefield, and when everything falls apart for him he must turn to Jamie Fraser, the Jacobite prisoner with whom he has a poisonous love/hate relationship, not only to provide him with the final clue as to the murderer of his father, but also to tell him how… whether to save Percy’s life.
I think I said in my review of ‘Lord John and the Private Matter’ that I liked that book because it was not as overwrought as the Outlander series, and because it didn’t have Jamie Fraser in it. This book, alas, was as overwrought as the Outlander series, and did have Jamie Fraser in it, with all his (to me) graceless, unattractive, overbearing, arrogant macho bullshit. Consequently I didn’t enjoy it half as much as ‘Lord John and the Private Matter.’ I like a happy ending, and this book did not have it – in fact, when I put the book down at the end I felt severely depressed. My respect for Lord John himself decreases with every instance of his inability to get over the fact that Jamie Fraser is a homophobic git who will never love him, and if I never read another book in which the tedium of troop maneuvers on the Prussian front is so excruciatingly well drawn (yes ‘Temeraire: Black Powder War’ I’m looking at you too) I will be very happy.
However, having said all of that, all the reasons why I loved the first Lord John book still apply – the gorgeous, fully immersive experience of living in the 18th Century in London, from the effervescent Irish squalor of St. Giles to the high class literary salons and coffee shops. I’d have paid the price of the book entirely to make the acquaintance of the O’Higgins brothers and not felt short changed. The love affair between John and Percy is so tender and delightful and frustrating and just gorgeously sexy that it too is worth the admission on its own. The mystery is intriguing and kept me turning pages. I’m more in love with John’s family than ever. And as much as I don’t like Jamie Fraser, I’m well aware that there are many more people who do like him than don’t. I can’t deny that there is an intensity in the parts of the book where he appears which grips you by the throat. I personally don’t like that experience, but I know that a lot of fans of the Outlander series will find this book much more to their taste than the last. It is more… full blooded, in a way. (To a point that at times felt likely to give me a nosebleed.) If you like to be put through the emotional wringer by a book, this one is definitely for you!
Author: Joey W. Hill
Book Title: Rough Canvas, Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Author Website: http://www.storywitch.com/
Genre: Contemporary
Thomas is a true artist – an immensely talented painter of erotic art – who has given up both his painting and his relationship with his muse and Master, Marcus, to run the family business after his father’s death. His sense of duty towards his mother, sister and crippled brother, and his attempt to disown everything that makes him himself are threatening to get him killed through apathy, accidents and ulcers. That’s when Marcus walks back into his life.
A hard-boiled, hardcore BSDM master, and an urban sophisticate, Marcus seems like bad news to everyone who meets him, but he knows that he is fighting not only for his own happiness but for Thomas’ very soul. Trouble is, the one who trusts him least and fights him hardest is Thomas himself.
I think that if I had to sum this book up in one word, that word would be ‘intense’. It is a wonderfully written book, but the writer’s clean, powerful style is in perfect harness with her insights into the artistic soul, human nature, the nature of love and obsession. What drives the book is a strong conviction in the power of and need for love and honesty not only between lovers but in each person’s own inner life. I suspect every person to whom their creative side is a driving force will be able to sympathize with Thomas’ dilemma of being torn between their art and their real life.
Characterization too is strong and unforgettable – both Marcus and Thomas are simultaneously likeable, admirable and annoyingly stubborn and self-destructive, and a host of supporting characters are beautifully drawn and fun to be around.
There is a lot of sex, but not once did I feel I was reading a cookie-cutter sex scene slapped in there at the expense of the plot. Each scene is simultaneously new and exciting, and reveals something about the heroes and their relationship with each other. And they are consistently scorching hot.
The story is complex and worth getting your teeth into, as well as being a real page turner. If I had one criticism it would be that I preferred Marcus without his tragic past. He was more interesting as a mystery than he is as a victim.
Also, if I read one more time that no woman can do a hand or blow-job like a man I’m going to set the feminist police on that author – after all, a fair proportion of the male population would be in disagreement with this common trope of m/m fiction. But those are just quibbles. This is a superbly written and gripping book, sometimes disturbing, always hot, and at times genuinely moving. It brought tears to my eyes three or four times. Highly recommended!
Heh, and after this I’ll never be able to claim I’m a prude again 😉
I don’t know why I didn’t post an entry about this book when I first read it, because I was impressed enough at the time to make an icon 🙂 But today I’ve ordered the sequel; ‘Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade’, so it seemed appropriate to catch up with a review of the first one. I think this is definitely one for you!
When Lord John Grey accidentally discovers that his young cousin’s fiancé has the pox he must discover a way to break off the engagement without causing a scandal. This task is made more difficult because the fiancé is a very powerful man. As if this was not enough, he must also solve the mystery of the murder of Sergeant Timothy O’Connell – a member of his own regiment – who looks increasingly as though he might have been a spy. The deeper he looks into the murky underworld of Georgian London, the more the two problems become entangled – and the more he risks exposing his own criminal secret; he is a gay man in a society where this can get him hanged.
I freely admit that I am not a fan of Diane Gabaldon’s ‘Outlander’ novels. Gabaldon is a very good writer – her prose is strong and elegant and reads like a joy. But I find the characters and plots of the Outlander series overwrought, and it irritates me that everyone; male and female, good and bad alike, instantly falls in love with the hero, for no discernable reason other than his lovely hair. So I was not expecting a great deal from this.
How wrong I was! I loved it instantly and re-read it often. Lord John himself is my favorite sort of hero – quietly witty, intelligent, cultured but not squeamish, well dressed and gay. He is lower key than the characters of the Outlander series, and is thus, to me, more likeable. Similarly, all the other characters are beautifully drawn, complex and intriguing; believable as real people but never boring. Lord John’s mother in particular is delightful, but then so is his valet!
The setting is impeccable; from the snuff boxes to the Molly Houses everything is almost tangible, and it was a complete treat to be taken on such an intricate tour of parts of Georgian London no other book has dared touch. If you ever wondered about the homosexual subculture of the 18th Century, this book is for you. John’s time in Lavender House in particular is a gorgeous, slow, constant escalation of sexual tension that ends with a fade to black more sensual than many sex scenes I’ve read.
The plot is easily involving enough for me, though it is the weak point of the book. I guessed the identity of the lady in the green dress long before John did, and I tutted in exasperation when John employed the time honored Bond method of solving the crime. Namely, getting captured and having the villain explain everything, before staging an implausible escape.
But to be honest I wasn’t reading it for the plot. It was a total immersion in a time more elegant than our own, and with people who I really enjoyed being around. I love Lord John, and I can’t wait for the sequel!
Welcome to my new wordpress blog! I don’t suppose it’s going to look like this for long. As soon as I can get it to match my site I will!
I had been blogging on LiveJournal, but they instituted one restrictive policy too many, so I have come over here for a fresh start.
If you knew me over on LJ, please get in contact so that I can add you to my blogroll, and feel free to add me to yours. And if you didn’t know me on LJ but still fancy a link exchange, feel free 🙂
You can also find me on my website:
Welcome
and my myspace page
http://profile.myspace.com/alex_beecroft
Sorry for the boring first post, but the next will be better!
