clad Books

It is the one time Frank Herbert let himself (or his editors let him) become truly literary in the series of books about Dune. It must be in the nicest sense of that term.

I remember being young, near to thirty, and reading the first time, comparing impressions with friends in the quiet, hands-on moments at our r&d work.

Perhaps we didn't feel the sweep of the original Dune, though in another way it is actually there -- behind, and in the spaces opened by many observations in the text. And it didn't seem to compare with the adventures of Leto and Ghanima and the D-wolves, though today for all that the Children of Dune book is important, it is lesser.

In Dune Messiah, the depth of individual story is drawn almost as with Asian brushes: swift, naturally spreading strokes, that you take a moment with to let the understanding come to you, how evocative. There is not summary, yet also there are summaries of whole thoughts, as in the sad ending not of Paul, but of Bijaz, whose power as a person and character just give glimpses of Frank Herbert's breadth of achievement.

I have never been able to understand the later books after Herbert died, though there can be a certain fascination in some of them, and now think that they are simply very different works, as if a very different historian had been read to us. Then there is credit where due.

Of Frank Herbert's deep and long creation, it's apparent also how he took different avenues himself, perhaps guided by editors, by 'results' for this Dune Messiah particularly. He had a life to support, and could no doubt find fun and satisfaction in putting forward what people most seemed to want to hear, all the way to Miles Teg, who was a great creation also.

Would that he could have pursued the tracks of Dune Messiah further in some places and ways, and perhaps he did -- the rest of the series I also have before me to read over. What he did here shows the soul there was behind it all, and it is a thanking matter indeed to meet him so.

Highly recommended, and as you see, for reading 'again'.

Dune Messiah is the second book from Frank Herbert in the Dune Series. Paul Atreides is now the Emperor/Duke of Arrakis with his Fremen wife Chani and his Imperial concubine, Irulan. In Dune Messiah, the reader starts to see the internal struggle that Paul battles throughout the book. A battle between trying to prevent the jihad from his fremen followers that he sees so much in his future vision and trying to be a husband to Chani and protecting Alia (his sister) at the same time. As with any Emperor with such a following, there are those out to make Paul's life miserable at every turn. I felt this was a much more personal book than Dune itself. It gives you a glimpse at how life is for an Emperor in such a position and the reader gets to see that Paul is infact a human being that struggles with being the possible messiah that his people and all those around him need.

Overall, an outstanding book in the Dune series and every bit as enjoyable as Dune.

This book is very brief, but I guess this is how its supposed to be since it seems Frank Herbert wanted it to be a link between Dune before Paul, and the Dune after Paul. The end of the book is the perfect way to take us to the next stage, the children of Muadib.

A little shorter than the massive Dune first installation, but Frank doesn't disappoint in the manner of the storytelling. Not as sweeping as it could have been, but a great gateway to The Children of Dune book.

Forgive the bad pun. But this book is a bit dark compared to the original. Dune was a sweeping epic. Dune Messiah is a singular story focusing on the darkness implied in Dune. Although Dune ended in a very triumphant fasion...there were unresolved tensions about the coming Jihad and what would happed when Paul Atreides became Emperor/Messiah. Those tensions are explored here. Yes...the writing style is different...and no this is nothing like the original...however I still enjoyed reading this book and had a hard time putting it down.

I love the way the book kicks off giving you the details of the conspiracy. Similar to how Dune laid out the Harkonnen plot within the first few chapters. I also really enjoyed the introduction to the Bene Tleilax. Scytale and Hayt were great characters. I wish Scytale had been fleshed out a bit more. While all the talk about prescience and Religion/Government went on a little too much, I still find it to be intriguing. I think Frank Herbert could have been a philosopher. Other than the ending I thought the coolest aspect was how when Paul loses his eyesight he can still see everything around him because it was part of his vision. The ending of course was the best part of all. Especially when little Leto makes contact with Paul and Paul has a true 'Kwisatz Haderach' moment when he sees all of the male perspectives in his line. Frank Herbert was an incredible writer and did not intend for this book to stack up to the first. I see it more as an exploration of 'The Other Side of the Coin' when it comes to seeing the future and well...being a Messiah.

Set in 1860, at the close of the Golden Age of Sail, The Fastest Ship is an exciting novel of rescue, adventure and lost treasure. When the daughter of the Governor of Jamaica is abducted by pirates, the man she is destined to marry, and who will build England's first iron-armored warship, the HMS Warrior. The Warrior's maiden voyage in search of a long-lost treasure and hidden memory, on the brink of a revolutionary transformation in nautical technology makes for a rousing fierce saga of the high seas. An exciting historical novel especially for nautical buffs.

The 1860s proved to be one of the most pivotal periods in the history of naval warfare. For the first time in over 3,000 years of combat on the high seas, ships began migrating from being made of wood to being made of iron. As everyone knows, the MONITOR and the MERRIMACK were the first ironclads to do battle in the American Civil War. However, other countries were catching on to the idea of constructing ships out of iron at the same time.

This is a fictional story of a historical vessel: the HMS WARRIOR. Ironically enough, this technological change caused navies to hire more people per ship rather than less. More sailors were needed per ship than the crews that mustered aboard sailing ships. Additional men were needed to shovel coal in the engine room as well as man the machinery aboard these ships.

The novel also covers the waning age of the infamous pirates of the Carribean. Arnold toys around with history a bit to combine these two historical epochs into an enjoyable maritime tale.

From time to time the dialogue in the book is a little bit wooden, but the story itself is compelling enough to overcome this. Also, the climactic scene in the book could have been handled in a little more dramatic fashion, but these criticisms are minor.

I would highly recommend the current book to anyone with a passing interest in naval history or pirates. For that matter, people who enjoy love stories will also get a lift out of this book. We will hope that Larita Arnold will offer us more tales of the high seas in the future.

One of the reasons I became an Amazon reviewer was to give back to others what I have gained by reading other reviewer's comments. When weighing the decision to invest in a book, a movie or anything else sold on Amazon, I have always relied heavily on the reviews of others before making the monetary plunge and when I have bought a book, movie or other item and have found it to be either an excellent value or an albatross, I have returned the favor by sharing my views on the item in question to either recommend the item or warn people against it.

Giving warnings against an item is easy when I have plunked down money for an item that fell short of expectations, but it is not easy to do so when an author has sent you a review copy, obviously expecting a positive review.

I finished reading Larita Arnold's book a few weeks ago, but have been loathe to write a review that would hurt the author's feelings. After seeing copious positive reviews, however, I felt it was important to add balance to those reviews by countering praise I feel is unmerited.

Admittedly, romance is not my genre of choice when looking for a fiction read, but I have read a number of books that have had romance vignettes peppered throughout that enhanced the story, so I am not unfamiliar with reading "sexed up" literature.

The book's cover "art" does not give the reader a good first impression and it pretty much goes downhill from there. The story opens in the home of the book's main characters and principal love interests, Admiral Jack Ashbury and his amnesia suffering wife, Angelica.

The timeline takes place in the 1850s Britain and the Caribbean. Despite the Victorian era's nearly Puritan attitudes toward sex, and penchant for having all unwed couples chaperoned, at all times, the "angelic" Angelica is a 21st century girl. Not quite a rebel or radical feminist, rather a randy girl that everyone seems to wink and nod at. Before her amnesia, when she was 16 year old Elena, she ends up bumping uglies with her fiancee and quickly catching pregnant. In reality, a peasant girl may have had the occasional tryst in the barn with a farm boy at this time, but proper British girls of the 1850s did not simply roll in the hay. They were properly courted and promptly married. A girl raised in this era may have had the same sex drive as Madonna, but knew that not waiting until marriage could result in being shipped off to a convent and/or disowned by one's family, destined to live a lonely, shamed existence raising a bastard child that would unfairly inherit this stigma. It's not pretty, but that was reality... and a proper British girl, as Angelica is portrayed, would have been chaperoned at all times her gentleman caller was present.

After numerous circumstances involving pirates, prisons and revenge, Captain Ashbury is nearing the end of a 2-year tour of duty in the Atlantic, fighting off the French, pirates and the loneliness of being stuck on a smelly boat with smelly sailors when he spies a young, buxom, red-headed girl laying unconscious on a piece of wood in the middle of the ocean. Not one of the 200+ sailors gives so much as a wolf whistle. They are all charmed by the little hottie and call her "sis." Yeah, right.

After she is given medical attention by the doctor, she is found to have amnesia, but otherwise in good health and is unchaperoned on the ship, helping the sailors polish bells. Apparently being in her "boy togs" makes her as cute as a 5 year old Shirley Temple and all the sailors adore her like a sister, despite her ample bosom.

After realizing she had not had her "woman's time" in some weeks, the doctor explains with astounding medical accuracy that her head injury may have resulted in damage to her pituitary gland, which would affect her periods. What makes this statement truly amazing, despite the fact that such topics were rarely discussed, even with doctors, was that the doctor cited the existence of the pituitary gland at all in the year 1859... when its function was unknown until 1912.

With the introduction of a dress, Angelica, as she is named by the Captain, morphs from Shirley Temple to Aphrodite and must be escorted at all times when not in her cabin. After weeks together, the captain proposes marriage to Angelica, and the now obviously knocked-up girl with no realistic hope of ever fitting into society otherwise, cheerfully accepts. While the captain may have enjoyed the company of comfort women during his various stops at ports of call, he is so smitten by her, he is ready to not only marry her, but call the child his own. Yep, that's very Victorian. During an island stop when everyone but Angelica leaves the ship to go swimming in a fresh water pond, the captain returns to the ship alone to knock boots with the young maiden. She could be pregnant, has accepted this man's proposal in marriage, and is in no way frightened that he will leave her, throw her off the ship, or dismiss her after they prematurely consummate their nuptials.

He writes home to his widowed mother telling her of his engagement, not mentioning that she's pregnant, suffering from amnesia or will be arriving dressed like a boy. There is no explanation as to how his letter makes it to his mother before he does, when he is traveling to England with his bride-to-be when he pens it, but that can be overlooked. When they do arrive at dear old mom's house, she is a bit taken by surprise, but utterly delighted that her only child, a proper British gentleman and officer in the British Navy is bringing an obviously pregnant girl into her home that he has not yet married, and unfazed by the fact that the child is not even his.

Rather than claiming that they were married on an island months before, they publicly announce that they will marry the very next day. Wedding invitations are obviously run off at the local Kinkos, as hundreds of invitations are produced in no time flat and over a thousand pack St. Paul's Cathedral to the apparent wedding of the century. A newly promoted Admiral and his knocked-up wife showing her belly in public. Yes, that's very 1859. The night before their public declaration of marriage, the Admiral's mother is also unfazed that her unmarried son will be taking his pregnant-by-another-man fiancee into his bedroom. With "Mum" right down the hall, they still cannot wait until their wedding night and have another go at it. Jack brings this up to his mother, saying he's surprised she allowed it, when she giggling admits that she was carrying him in her belly before she and his father were wed. Is that a normal discussion, revelation and attitude in any era, especially Victorian England? I think not.

While I know that proper British couples in the Victorian era still had sex, it was not a topic of open discussion. Even couples who had been married for years did not prance around in the buff wearing nothing but a pendant and a smile, and they most certainly did not discuss the act with each other. Not only do Angelica and Jack have frank, open discussions about how he "enjoys [her] sexually," they use terms that were not coined for decades to come. The term "sex" had the exclusive meaning of gender until 1925, but Jack even refers to his bride as a "sex kitten," an expression that would not be coined for nearly another 100 years. In a handful of "romantic" interludes between them, Jack takes his wife in various positions that leave little to the imagination of the reader, while both spout off idioms from the 20th century.

Putting aside the time-travelling language of the main characters, their conversations are unrealistic and awkward. Even today, when couples frankly and openly discuss their sexual antics, and even video tape them, people simply do not speak the way these characters do. The dialogue is simply forced and awkward. As an example, here is a snippet:

"Darling, to express my love for you in an infinite variety of ways, to fulfill and satisfy you sexually and emotionally, and to make you content, these are the deepest desires of my heart. To be erotic and exciting with you and for you is my right as your wife."

Who talks like this?

So many things stood out as peculiar when I was reading the book, I cannot remember them all, but I will cite a few:

Conveniently, upon his arrival to England with his bride-to-be, Jack finds that he has inherited a lavish estate and over a million British pounds in cash. The estate comes with a yacht and a complete staff of servants. Jack's Mum, Eleanor, quickly sells her home and she moves in w/ the newlyweds to the new house. The ground floor has an entry way, a kitchen and grand dining hall - and on the second floor are the bedrooms and a large ballroom. This just seems odd to me. A ballroom for party guests right next to the bedrooms on the second floor? Naturally, the home is not only fully furnished and filled with fine silver and oil paintings, but all the clothes in the closets are stylish and fit both Angelica and her mother-in-law. How convenient.

While every other British home made the use of wardrobes, every room in their newly acquired estate had its own closet and the master bedroom had a large walk-in closet that was apparently lighted (see page 140). Since the electric light bulb would not be invented for another 20 years, I'm not sure in what manner that the closet is lighted, but it is.

In an era where people can die at the drop of a hat from infection and disease (as the owners of their newly acquired estate conveniently did), Angelica has a very carefree attitude toward life bordering on sociopathic. Her former lover and father of her child blows his brains out on their property. The only other mention the poor heartbroken clod gets is the middle name of his love-child. She is way too concerned with her new husband and child to give it another mention. She finds that her parents have been murdered by a pirate that forced her into marriage and shortly thereafter witnesses the deserved, but highly disturbing strangulation-type executions of several men - only to be swept up into her husband's arms again, with no more mention of those pesky dead parents, the recovery of her lost memories or the mass executions. The only topic of discussion is the pleasure they get in each other's bodies and yet another financial windfall in Angelica's favor.

I applaud the author's research into ship building technology of the era, but the way it is integrated into the story is well, poorly integrated. The author would have faired much better if she had had a professional editor look at her manuscript before it was published. There are typos hither and yon and the lack of an introduction or preface is immediately noticed when you open the book flap and -wham- there is the story. The tawdry tale was a page turner, fairly easy to read, but the story would have had more potential if it had been worked over by a professional editor who could have better integrated the various elements and cleaned up the historical inaccuracies and dialogue. As I mentioned previously, I am not a purveyor of romance novels. For all I know, this work of fiction may be the finest romance novel ever penned, but compared to other works of fiction, the story is mediocre at best.

"The Fastest Ship" is a blend of romance, adventure, and history mixed with historical fiction. The main focus of the story is a romance between the first captain of the first British ironclad, HMS Warrior, and a young woman with amnesia and a past shrouded in mystery. Lurking in the background is a vengeful pirate, his dead girlfriend, and the man who was the first (pre-amnesia) love of the woman who ends up with Warrior's captain.

For those of you who are fans of romance novels, I think you will like this one, although I am not a good judge of that, as romance is far from my regular genres. For those of you who like history and historical fiction, especially about the sailing ships of the mid-nineteenth century, this should be a pretty good book for you. If your main aim is to find an adventure novel, this might not be your cup of tea, as the adventure component is not strong.

The writing is technically good, and the pace is fairly quick. There is a lot of detail about clothing, jewelry, houses, and furnishings, but very little about the geographical settings. The characters are likeable and interesting, albeit a bit two-dimensional, i.e., the hero and heroine are nearly flawless, and the villain is purely evil.

If you like this mix of adventure, sailing, pirates, romance, and the sea, Robin Hobb's "Liveship Traders" trilogy, with a strong element of fantasy in it, might be another good choice.

Fast reader that I am, I picked up this self-published paperback while visiting friends in the states. On top of a pile of books in the WC, I'd read about 20 pages for each visit to the loo. My fam has a well established geneaology going back over 15 generations in England and Scottland. My own dear granddad would tell me stories of the ironclads mentioned in this story and his father, who died 30 years before I was born, was an officer on of the first ironclads ever built. My grandad told many colourful tales I sadly did not pay enough attention to at the time and now that he is gone, I cannot ask him about this time in history anymore.

While sitting in the loo, I spied this novel and read the back cover and was delighted that perhaps the name of someone my granddad had mentioned would appear on its pages. I quickly found that this was a perposterous tale revolving around this young tart who would have been shuttled off to be a char woman in Hungary if she had behaved this way in that time period. My own granddad, who was born decades later than this lead character, never saw a completely nude woman until he and my grandmother had been married for nearly 20 years. He had often joked that he had to guess what she looked like only from about a pound's note worth of skin he'd get to see at a time and had to patch it together in his head. He once accidentally walked in on her as she was exiting the bath and they had trouble look at each other in the eye without blushing for over a week. They were very much in love and had 12 surviving children out of 18, but they were raised in a time in which proper gentlemen and ladies only had their hands and faces exposed. If my granddad had entered their bedroom to find my grandmum's bare arse up in the ether, he would have probably died right on the spot... and I know my granddad's modesty all too well - he would not have been walking around even in the privacy of their honeymoon bedroom with his naughty bits hanging out for his bride to see out in the open.

I must admit that I had a good laugh in several spots, but it was rather at the pomposity of the writing and not because any portion of the story was intended to give the reader a chuckle. The young tart and her captain basically have a go at each other at every possible moment, are constantly aroused, and are always giggling and mentally planning their next lovemaking event. This is mostly a silly woman's fantasy and basically rubbish.

God Emperor of Dune is my second favorite of the whole series after the first Dune. In retrospect, I could have skipped Dune Messiah, and skimmed Children.

I'll skip the plot recap as this is covered in a many of the other reviews and give my explanations of why I feel this book is not to be missed.

First, it returns to the grand a sweeping scale of narrative that Herbert used in the original Dune. We are placed at the exact cusp of history where a 3500 year plan is reaching its dramatic finish. Familiar forces, are plotting. Ixian's, Spacing Guild, Bene Gesserit, Tleilaxu.

Second, Herbert gives us some of the most finely drawn characters to date. I particularly liked Moneo and Hwi Noree. Hwi is the daughter of an Ixian spy who was one of Leto's favorite's. (You have to love an all powerfull, all seeing Emperor who can become fast friends with someone who makes no secret of their desire to cause his downfall.) and she was created as the ultimate trap for Leto, someone with whom he could not help but fall in love with. And Moneo is Leo's majordomo, the human face of the emperor, the loyal servant. He's an Atredies, how can be be anything but!?

I think here is the true appeal of Herbert. He takes us on a grand sweep of interstellar intrigue, dives deeply into the philosophy and dangers of being all seeing-all knowing, yet, at the very end, what truly makes the difference is the deepest and most ingrained human traits of love, loyalty and desire for freedom. We are presented Leto, the 3500 year old God Emperor who has turned himself into a sandworm. He is reviled through the known universe because he is a total despot. But layer by layer we are allowed to see exactly what Leto is doing. Simply saying - Leto see's a 'Golden Path', and he is leading humanity to brighter future - is nothing to letting us see the pain he feels as having lost all connection with humanity because of his transformation. Seeing the ultimate boredom of having perfect prescience, and being unable to be surprised by anything for millennium as we are given tiny glimpses of the catastrophe Leto has foreseen and the sacrifice required to avert it Eventually we realize the lesson Leto is trying to teach is that if HE was created, then something like him will be created again, and again and the end result of this will be the extinction of all humanity because if you can find and predict what every human will do, and where they will be and when, then you can destroy all of them, and if you can destroy all of them, eventually, it will happen.

Then there is Duncan Idaho. From the first Dune, we recall Duncan Idaho as an intensely loyal bodyguard to Paul Atredies. Duncan dies in the original Dune, but the Tleilaxu have preserved his cells and keep sending ghola's to Leto to serve him. Of course the Tleilaxu (the Dirty Tleilaxu!) have their own agenda but Herbert, who takes the long view of things, leaves that for another day (and novel). The idea of an unbroken line of Duncan Idaho's serving Leto for three thousand years is explored to excellent effect and Herbert only teases us with a some hints as to what Leto is up to. There is something he prizes in those ancient genes.

Through the whole novel we have had repeated references to Leto's Golden Path. The short explanation given is that this is the path that will guarantee the survival of humanity, but the down deeper its Leto's solution to the trap of the perfect Oracle. But at the end, we discover that it was never a path at all. It is a person, and that person being Siona, the daughter of Moneo Atredies. The ultimate creation of the breeding program he took away from the Bene Gesserit (Yes, they are still around and kicking, Leto clearly has plans for them.) She will save humanity because she is invisible to Leto and to prescience and she will spread those precious genes throughout the universe.

As for Siona. Although she is Moneo's daughter and an Atredies, she is presented as a rebel who works with factions that seek to destroy Leto. One of my favorite chapters is when Siona is sent out to the desert with Leto and made to take the spice essence and, being a true Atredies, it awakens her own dormant prescience. It is a delicious chapter showing how Leto uses this punishment to force Siona to see what he sees. Afterward, she hates him even more, because he has made her see the enormity of what is at stake.

Finally, my recommendation for reading order of the whole series and which books you can skip.

Dune
You can just read plot summaries of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune (Miles Teg, favorite Dune character ever!)
Chapterhouse Dune
Then read Machine Crusade and Butlerian Jihad
Then the final two Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune.

I will avoid further spoilers, but only say what then you get to the very end you will look back to God Emperor of Dune and say....Herbert, you son of a gun.

I generally reread the entire series every two years or so. The God King is one of my favorites. The personna of Leo is extremely interesting, an inexplicable transformation of the desert worm, with human attributes. Listening to the audio version is a treat that conjures even more intensed vivid images of the evolved Arakis, the politics, and social aspects of its' people.
God Emperor of Dune (Unabridged)

Leto II, the son of Paul Atreides, is now the God Emperor of Dune. Leto II is close to becoming a sandworm and is about 300 years away from going into the sand when the book starts. God Emperor of Dune, takes place some 3500 years after Children of Dune. Leto II has done what his father could not and turned himself into a sandworm, sacrificing his humanity in order to provide Leto's Golden Peace, which will ideally save humanity and keep them along The Golden Path in Leto's vision.

During his long reign, Leto II has enforced a state of peace throughout his empire spanning several galaxies with his strict monopoly of spice melange and through the military wherewithal of his Fish Speaker (an all-woman) army. The Old Imperium is essentially gone and the Houses of Landsraad have ceased to exist. Only a few Great Houses have survived at all in their previous power dominant power structures.

The old Imperium is basically non-existent; the Landsraad has ceased to exist and only a few remnants of the Great Houses survive. The Bene Gesserit and Spacing Guild have endured, although both have been forced to adapt to Leto's absolute control over melange and his powerful prescience, and CHOAM has been reduced to a shadow of its former self. His reign is considered by many to be depraved and despotic, but he is confident that his actions will ensure the survival of the human race.

The "Duncans" are still around thanks to the Tleilaxu cloning tanks and are loyal servants to the Atreides line, which along with Leto's faithful servant Moneo help Leto quite a great deal throughout the book. In the end, the question at the end of the book remains was Leto II's sacrifice end up causing humanity to destroy itself at the end of his reign or saving humanity with everyone thriving?

Herbert does the job once again of living up to one hell of a series so far. I definitely look forward to blazing through Heretics of Dune, the fifth book in this series!

-Travis

Leto II, the God Emperor of Dune, has lived for 3000 odd years and undergone monsterous changes into a sandworm for the sake of mankind. However, dispite the decendants of his twin Ghanima that surround him and the ghola Duncan Idahos that the Telexiu have created for him for millenia, no one has ever loved him.

But, at the end of the Tyrant's reign, all that is about to change. Plots and plans centuries laid are comming to conclusion. The great sandworms of Dune are about to return and the Atredies are at the fulcrum once again.

Well, this was worth picking up. It's a much different story from the previous 3 efforts, but I still loved it. Even a god can succumb to the power of the P, or is it the P? Another intriguing and thought-provoking adventure from the brilliant Frank Herbert. You won't believe how twisted Leto has become. If you loved Dune, this is awesome, although it takes place roughly 3500 years after the end of COD.

I saw the dreadful movie based on this book when I was MUCH younger & found it confusing and dull (one of those in which flipping of long hair is supposed to translate as good acting). After reading Rebecca about five hundred times, I decided to give this book a try. After all, how many movies are better than the book (ummmmmm, thinking hard, none!). This book turned out to be a fun, gothic novel. Problems: too fast paced, heroine does some pretty stupid things, ending is kind of unbelievable, bad guy is a little easy to spot. Good points: story keeps moving along & doesn't bog down, scenes and descriptions are wonderfully done, characters are three-dimensional, ending of the story is what you'd hope would happen, hero sounds like a major hottie. It made for a good read, especially when I made allowance for the period in which it was written. I especially liked how the author gave you a glimpse into the brains of the bad guys and you got a slight taste of what they might have been like if they hadn't been trapped in their situation. It would be especially good to read on a stormy night when you're alone in the house!

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier is an adventure an I suppose something of a Gothic romance, in that the adventure is about a woman who goes to live with very disturbing relatives, and a lot of nastiness goes in.

There is, of course, a bloke around who is not a nogoodnik for the heroine to lean on.

I definitely recommend this for anyone who loves the classics (like Wuthering Heights), and also for a mystery reader.

After recently reading Rebecca by Du Maurier, I decided to read another of her novels, and this was #2 in a collection I received from my local library. Though I did like Rebecca quite a bit, this one absolutely blew me away.

Jamaica Inn and Du Maurier kept me guessing til the bitter end. Furthermore, Du Maurier's characterizations and incredible use of metaphor have you living, breathing, and dreaming in the moors of the English hills, through the eyes of her often troubled female heroines.

You will be enraged, disgusted, enthralled, and wanting more throughout every page of the novel. Though I'm in the midst of a house move and have a very active toddler, I spent every free minute in the last couple days with my nose in this book!

In other reviews I'd read people mentioned they weren't thrilled with the ending; to that end, the very last two pages were a bit much, but the actual denoument of the book was fantastique!!!

FIVE STARS for another novel well written and much appreciated. Too bad there are not many authors like Du Maurier that find their way into print anymore (but if so, email me whom they are!)

Georgian England. Twenty-three-year-old Mary Yellan had a bad feeling in her gut during her coach ride to her new home. The coachman himself tried to warn her against the place, but Mary had promised her dying mother that she would go live with her aunt Patience and her uncle Joss Merlyn after her mother's death. And so, she will do it, no matter what the coachman or her own instincts tell her. But Mary had never imagined what her new life would be like at Jamaica Inn. Why on earth would her aunt and uncle buy such a place? Not long after moving there, Mary discovers that Uncle Joss, an abusive and brutish alcoholic, doesn't let in any guests other than the occasional drinker into the inn. Instead, he uses the place for smuggling alcohol and tobacco. However, other sinister things occur there as well, one of which is possibly murder. Mary is alone at Jamaica Inn. Her once beautiful and bubbly aunt is now frightened and of very little use. The only two people nearby who can possibly help are a mysterious albino clergyman and Rem Merlyn, Joss's younger brother -- a tall, dark and handsome horse thief with a callous character and a possible dark secret of his own.

Jamaica Inn had a creepy, gothic language from the very beginning, and I couldn't help getting sucked into the suspense and horror that is her uncle Joss and his dark dealings. Daphne du Maurier was a talented author of gothic novels. I had only read Rebecca, and thought I'd give her other books a whirl. Jamaica Inn, while not as good as Rebecca, is riveting and horrifying, but has the right touch of romance to give it a little bit extra. The vicar of Altarnun is a true enigma, a very creepy character, and I couldn't help feeling trepidation every time he appears in a scene. Rem Merlyn is also a dark and mysterious character, but I kind of hoped that he would indeed become Mary's love interest. Mary is a young woman before her time. She doesn't want to get married because she believes that marriage breaks a woman's spirit. One look at her aunt would confirm her prejudices. The ending is flooring, but not as flooring as the one in Rebecca. Still, Jamaica Inn is a wonderful gothic that you will want to read. It'll keep you turning the pages until the late hours of the night. Daphne du Maurier was a definite talent. I have The Scapegoat with me and I look forward to reading it.

My aunt gave me this book when I was in the hospital. Bless her heart, I loved it. Bone Breath is a dog. His owner Rosie and her friend Kayo's school is being tormented by vandels. I don't want to blow it for ya, but this is a great book for kids looking for a thrill.

This is an excellent book! This book isn't for the person who wants a short, general discription of the comon houseplant. This book has about 40 plant families. It give the history, growth habits, growing instructions that are far beyond the general information found in most houseplant books. Some of the plants are readily available, some are available in nurseries or greenhouse and a few may only be available by mail order. This is a good book for those who enjoy their houseplants and knowing as much as they can about them.

This is a very strong book fitting all the characteristics into one great story that fits the star wars mold beautifully. I only gave this book an 8 because I though it lacked some explanation of some important features in this book.

My 3 year old loves this book. He carries it around with him, spending at least 20 minutes a day looking at the pictures asking me to read it to him. The art work in this book really brings the characters to life. I highly recommend this book for children and Star Wars Collectors.

The final book in this special edition Golden Books series of the first STAR WARS trilogy. RETURN OF THE JEDI finishes the saga begun in A NEW HOPE and continued in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Like the other two books in the series, this book successfully condenses the plot of the movie into a small children's book. Contains some great pictures. Alas, there is no mention of the speeder-bike chase and there are no pictures of the Sarlacc. That's about the only negative aspect of this book. If you've read the first two, this one is a must.

This children's book is a great introduction to STAR WARS. The book successfully compacts most of the important plots of the movie. It also contains some great pictures to go along with the words. A few of the words are difficult for real-young, youngsters to understand, but other than that, that's the only drawback.

This children's book continues the story begun with STAR WARS. Like the previous title in the series, the book compacts most of the important plot elements of the movie in fairly easy to read language that children can understand. It also contains pictures from the movie to accompany the text. My only complaint about the book, it doesn't illustrate or discuss the scene with the asteroid monster. Good read for kids who like STAR WARS.

Well, I'm just writing here because nobody else seems to have come here. Mainly because everybody that's read any Star Wars books at all has seen the original trilogy on video, so why bother with reading the story? Well, the books are always so much better than movies because you can tell what people are thinking without those echo-sounding voices or a narrator. I think this is, of course, a VERY good book. I love the way Han and Leia fall in love. That part where Han gets frozen in carbonite will have sort of sensitive people balling. See, even before the Star Wars fad, the movies were popular in our home. So, I am not a new Star Wars fan. (In other words, I like SW, and I know what I'm talking about.) Very good book.