Molly Cochran (1)Reseñas

Arthur as 10 year old, Grail as extraterrestial artifact, Galahad as ex FBI man

I wish I remembered more of this story, but I definitely remember enjoying it. Sadly I was taking a lot of painkillers and reading during injury recovery.

I wish I remembered more of this story, but I definitely remember enjoying it. Sadly I was taking a lot of painkillers and reading during injury recovery.

I wish I remembered more of this story, but I definitely remember enjoying it. Sadly I was taking a lot of painkillers and reading during injury recovery.

I liked the first one quite a bit, but I had to give up on this one. It lacks the adventure of the first one, and the way it tells the backstory of the magical/mythological characters is not nearly as interesting as it was in the first book.

3.5

Wishes is a novella than can be a complete stand alone from the Legacy series. I haven’t read the previous books, and I really enjoyed this companion.

Katy thinks making wishes will fix everything for her. But sometimes it can be too much. I like that she was able to learn from the events that take place. After reading this, I want to star the rest of the series. It seems like Katy has a way of getting herself caught up in crazy things.

Hal was a fantastic FBI agent, but after a child died during one of his cases, he left the bureau and became an alcoholic mess. Arthur was just a bright but ordinary boy until he discovered a strange metallic cup. A serious of coincidences and the dastardly deeds of the immortal Saladin bring them to England, where they discover they are the reincarnations of Galahad and King Arthur. But their vague memories of their past lives will be little use against the clever and ruthless man who was once known as the Saracen knight.

I did like this book; it strips out a lot of the icky psychosexual undertones of modern Arthurian tales, and instead focuses on the knights' justice and loyalty. But I couldn't help but get creeped out that all of the non-white characters are evil, or that the only queer character is a twisted madman. I really resented how many chapters were told through the sociopathic and thoroughly unpleasant point of view of Saladin. And I have two quibbles with the last few chapters of this book: 1)I don't get why Emily Blessed has to stay in hiding, sure that her nephew is dead. There's no longer any danger from Saladin and the Grail is gone. Why not let her continue to raise her only family member, and pursue her relationship with Hal? Why do Hal and Arthur ride off into the sunset, leaving her on the run and in mourning? And 2)Arthur turns down keeping the Grail because he says immortality would make him like Saladin. But actually, the first person who had the Grail for thousands of years was a compassionate and kind man, and Saladin was clearly a sociopath long before he touched the Grail. So it's clear that the Grail or immortality doesn't determine morality or groundedness to the world, yet the authors present Arthur's choice as the right one.

I don't plan on reading the rest of this series, because no one seems to enjoy them very much. But I'm glad I read this one; even though Hal isn't given much of a character (he's a character type I usually love, but I felt nothing for him in this iteration) and the battle between evil Arabs vs honorable Anglos reads offensively to me, I still enjoyed the effort to bring King Arthur into the modern age. The moment when Arthur pulls the sword from the stone a second time, for instance--I nearly teared up.

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: A short novella that gave me a taste of the story and unfortunately, I have no interest in reading anything else from this series!

Opening Sentence: “Walpurgisnacht,” Mr. Kruger said, rocking back on his heels.

The Review:

Katy Ainsworth is a witch that attends a boarding school in Whitfield, Massachusetts. There is a special holiday approaching called Walpurgisnacht and legend says there are fairies that come out for the holiday. If you are lucky enough to catch one, it will grant you anything you wish. Katy and her group of friends decide to go hunting for a fairy even though they know the tales are superstitious.

It turns out fairies really do exist and Katy catches one. Katy decides to make a few wishes but they all turn out disastrous! To undo the spells Katy must fight the Fairy Queen and hope that none of her wishes will leave permanent damage.

First off, this is the first book I have read in this series. Sometimes I like to read novellas because you get a small taste of the story and gives you an idea on whether or not you want to continue reading. For the most part, I thought the author did a wonderful job introducing the world and I there were only a few times I felt confused by what was going on. I do think it would have been better if I had read other books first, but I felt like I got a pretty good grasp of the world and characters.

Katy is the protagonist in the story and I really struggled with her. One of my biggest pet peeves is when a character has a poor me attitude and Katy definitely had this kind of attitude. I felt like all she did was complain about everything in her life and it honestly drove me crazy. As the story progresses she gets a little better, but I already disliked her so much it didn’t really make a difference.

Peter is Katy’s boyfriend and honestly, I felt like he was kind of a jerk. He is continually brushing Katy off (which she complains about non-stop) and he just seemed like a really boring character. Once again he does get a little better by the end, but not enough to make me like him all that much.

As you can tell this was a really rough read for me. Maybe if I had read the previous books in the series I would have liked the characters better, but I kind of doubt it. I did like the idea for the setting. I have always been a sucker for books set in boarding schools. I also think that the magical aspect could be very interesting if I was to read more, but ultimately I don’t really have any interest in reading anything else from this series. I felt absolutely no connection with any of the characters and the writing style felt a little on the juvenile side. If you enjoyed the other books in this series, I imagine you will like this novella, but if you are like me and haven’t read the series yet, I would personally recommend skipping this one.

Notable Scene:

“Wait up,” I yelled, moving toward where I thought he was. “Whistle or something, Cheswick.”

There was no answer. “Cheswick?” Silence. “Hey! Anybody?”

Again, Silence. I tried a whistle and waited for a response, but there was none. No sound. Nothing except for the droning of insects and the creaking of the tree branches high up, sounding as if the forest itself were weeping.

I swallowed. The fog was getting thicker, covering my feet, I tried to whistle again, but my throat was so dry that nothing came out of my mouth except air.

FTC Advisory: Simon Teen provided me with a copy of Wishes. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

sorry, this just wasn't for me. DNF

One of those rare books about which I was enthused at first but then slowly fell out of love with as I went on. By the last sixty pages or so, I had to force myself to carry on to the end. The idea is that King Arthur has been reborn as a ten- year-old boy in contemporary times; Galahad is a washed-up FBI agent. Merlin is flitting about (I won't spoil plot points here), and a villain known to them all from the Middle Ages is plotting plots. The Holy Grail is involved. I was intrigued at first and really enjoying seeing how Cochran and Murphy were slotting things together. But by the time things started to come to a head, the intrigue had fallen out of the bottom of the thing. This is possibly partly due to the habit (common among thriller writers, I find, and that's fine) of the writers dwelling on and wallowing in the gruesome details of violence and death, especially of characters who have been made interesting to you just a paragraph before only in order to then be killed horribly. I despise this. /tangent about my idiosyncratic personal preferences in fiction. The more compelling reason I probably stopped caring about the story so much was that it stopped feeling relevant to a better, fuller, or more entertaining understanding of the Arthur legends. While the first half of the book felt invested in reinventing and retelling Arthuriana, by the end the bits felt a little tacked on. There also wasn't much in the way of exploring what it would mean to be King Arthur in the twentieth century, which is what I was most excited about seeing. Ah well.½

Mireillle grew up in the French countryside during the Nazi occupation. After her father passes, life becomes difficult and she lives a Cinderella-like existence with a jealous stepmother and her abusive boyfriend. Mireille narrowly escapes the cruelty of her home life to find solace with a childhood friend, Stefan. They become lovers and Mireille believes she has found happiness. Stefan dies as part of the Resistance and Mireille is left pregnant and poor. She finds herself penniless in Paris and difficult to find work with a new baby, Stephanie. Just as her luck has seemed to run out, Mireille meets a rich man who will pay her for an hour of her time and the use of her body. He refers Mireille to Madam Renee’s where she is transformed into l’Ange, the most sought after prostitute in Paris. Mireille’s new profession allows her to care for her daughter and send her to school in Switzerland. It also introduces her to several Hollywood movie producers which gives Mireille a chance to leave behind prostitution for acting. Her new life seems glamorous, but the choices Mireille has made affected her daughter and Mireille will have to choose her own path.

Mireille kept me entertained and enchanted throughout its almost 600 pages. Mireille’s journey is almost like a fairytale where she rises from an abused country girl to high class prostitute to movie-starlet, except we get to see that it is not all glamour and perfection. There are plenty of cliché’s throughout the story, but Mireille's character is intriguing and never boring. Her struggle, rise and fall and her determination to protect her daughter and remember Stephan are what kept me reading. You do have to be ok with a lot of sex, language, rape and drug abuse to be able to enjoy this book. Mireille also took me through a lot of history and around the world, from the end of World War II in France to high class prostitution in Paris to the making of Spaghetti Westerns in Rome and the Golden Age of Hollywood. My favorite part of the story was the very beginning where Mireille was with Stephan, I also think she was bravest after he died. It was interesting to see the parallels between Mireille’s life as a prostitute and her life as an actress. Overall, a sweeping story of survival, overcoming obstacles and remembering your purpose in life.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.½

Molly Cochran’s third Arthurian novel is both exciting and exasperating – exciting in the passages set in modern-day North America, exasperating when the action shifts to Dark Age or prehistoric Britain. In the descriptions of the young reincarnated Arthur living in the American Midwest, and the characters he encounters and the situations which develop, Cochran has that sure touch that comes from following the advice that all debutant writers are given: write about what you know. Within the thriller genre that she utilises, these episodes work well, with reasonably complex characterisation and hugely enjoyable edge of the seat action.

Cochran’s Dark Age Britain is not one that I even vaguely recognise, however. The characters have anachronistic late medieval names taken from Malory, Orkney [sic] seems to have become a land-locked forest kingdom instead of the island archipelago it is, knights speak like actors in early 20th-century British talkies (“I say,” is their usual preamble) and, most preposterously of all, Arthur’s people are referred to as the English, who then fight against the Anglo-Saxon invaders, the real-life ancestors of the English! This is such a clumsy mash-up from different literary sources. In addition, feminist fantasy takes on the Matter of Britain (which is what The Third Magic in part is) don't need to justify themselves but I feel Cochran’s mixing of genres in this novel -- thriller, historical fiction and feminist fantasy -- is both unsuccessful and mistaken.

Despite these strictures, this novel by the end repays persistence, and the final resolutions are unexpected and lyrical. Possibly worth a second look, The Third Magic is a book to borrow rather than to buy and keep; but on the basis of this exemplar I shan’t be in any hurry to explore the previous titles in this sequence (the first two co-written with Warren Murphy), however magical they may claim to be.

http://wp.me/s2oNj1-3rdmagic

Review originally posted on My Urban Fantasies

There were a few things I was worried about before reading Poison. Thankfully my fears were unfounded. The whole boarding school with magical students has become a little cliché. I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the book takes place outside the school. I was also worried about the Darkness coming back. I was afraid that there were going to be harbingers again and blah, blah, blah. That doesn't happen.

My biggest fear was the Arthurian influence. The story of King Arthur has been told so many times that I was worried it would overpower the story. What Molly Cochran wrote is simply amazing. This is not the same overused reference to King Arthur and the Round Table. Cochran approaches King Arthur's story from a completely different angle. The genius of her writing though is that she takes all that Arthurian influence and subtly layers it into the Legacy world. Cochran makes it fit beautifully and the Arthurian influence ends up enhancing Poison instead of taking away from it.

Poison takes place a couple of months after Legacy. Katy and Peter are still together. They do not get to spend as much time together as either one would like. This strains their relationship a little and does not bode well for Katy's abandonment issues. I was happy to see that Katy is now friends with Becca Fowler, especially after what happened in Legacy.

I've completely given up on Katy and her dad's relationship. I'm sure somewhere inside him he loves Katy, but his behavior in Poison was ridiculous. The man needs to grow a pair and be smacked upside the head. Seriously. What kind of man lets anyone convince him that a steak and a piece of ass is more important than helping his daughter? It's called priorities. Rescuing your daughter is always on top moron.

I did not like Hattie as much in Poison. The woman was all kinds of mean towards Katy. And, do not even get me started on Verity. I did not think it was possible to like her even less than I did before. Surprise. I was wrong, again. How Verity does not understand such a simple concept as loyalty is beyond me. I have no idea why Katy remains friends with her.

Katy is such a strong character is Poison. She goes through a multitude of trials. It must have been horrible to feel that completely alone. As a result of these trials Katy goes through an amazing transformation, and I'm not just talking about her powers. She starts out looking at the world through teenage goggles. It's about how everything affects her. As the book continues Katy's outlook slowly shifts. The goggles slowly come off and she sees the world from a completely different view. Example: At first she is upset with Peter because he is spending so much time with his uncle. From the goggle point of view the only thing Katy sees is the time Peter is spending with him, is time he could be spending with her. Over time she realizes that Peter needs the job with his uncle to get into Harvard. He needs a career where he can take care of Eric if something happens to Hattie. Katy realizes that just because they love each other, does not mean they need to spend every waking moment together. It was an amazing journey to watch.

My absolute favorite part of Poison is the end. For obvious reasons I cannot tell you why, but we're talking about crocodile tears here people. I am impatiently waiting for the next book in the series.

Review originally posted on My Urban Fantasies

Katy Jessevar no longer fits in her father's new life. Her proof? Katy is being sent to a boarding school, Ainsworth Preparatory School, 1,500 miles away from where her father and his girlfriend live. I don't know about you, but in my opinion that's a major clue. Katy also has trouble fitting into her new life. Finding out she's a witch and living in a town full of witches is the easy part. Katy has always been able to move objects with her mind, now she knows it's because she's a witch and it's one of her powers. Unfortunately dealing with her abandonment issues, having the entire school hate her and most of the town simply because Katy is an Ainsworth, on her mother's side, and facing mysterious dark forces is altogether a different matter.

I really enjoyed reading Legacy. I love YA books that show adults, especially parents, as real people with a multitude of sins. The world that was built feels very real, nothing was sugarcoated. Molly Cochran showed that the world, despite its many wonders, can be a cruel place. Parents are real people and perfection is beyond them just as it's beyond all of us. Perception also plays a very important part in Legacy. Nothing is as it seems especially when looking into Katy's past.

The witch aspect of Legacy is fantastic. It's historical, but with a slight twist and, of course, a splash of magic. The witches powers are not overdone. They do not need a piece of wood with a phoenix feather shoved in the middle to use their powers. While there are wands in Legacy, they can do nothing on their own. The only thing a wand can do is focus a witch's intention, which is what creates magic in the first place. Katy's wand is just a simple piece of rowan wood. It's made of rowan because Katy's birthday occurs in August, the Druidic month represented by the rowan tree.

While I thoroughly enjoyed reading Legacy I do have a couple of complaints. While there are some slow spots, my biggest complaint is that there are these moments in the story when it jumps to the most extreme outcome. There's no build up, it goes from a four to a ten in one sentence and you are left with a WTF moment. If it's later explained why a particular character's reaction was so extreme, it's done in an obtuse way.

All and all Legacy is a great book. Katy is an appealing character with an amazing sense of strength.

The book takes place in 1938 on a a Caribbean Cruise. This book was written by various mystery authors with each author writing for a detective. I found the book a little uneven. Even though Mary Higgins Clark's name is first she did not write a lot of it. It was OK but the ending was a little far-fetched.

Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick and Dirty: Legacy had surprising depth and character development that kept me interested until the end.

Opening Sentence: I was sixteen years old when I discovered exactly who—and what—I was.

The Review:

The novel starts with Katy arriving at her new boarding school after being uprooted from everything she knew after her dad gets married. If that isn’t troubling enough, she finds out that her mother’s family, who founded her new school, already has a reputation that she knows nothing about. Immediately I was interested in finding out just what happened to make the people of Whitfield so mistrusting of Katy. The reader finds out information about her family and past when Katy does, who grew up knowing almost nothing about her mother and existing family members. By revealing information to both the reader and the protagonist at the same time, the reader can then compare their own reaction with Katy’s, and have a deeper understanding of Katy, and the book itself.

The world of Whitfield is filled with strange rules that everyone except Katy seems to know. She notices a distinct group of students who stand out from the others because of their confidence and connection to each other. This is only the beginning of the secrets that Katy uncovers about the small Massachusetts town where everything is not always as it seems. Katy doesn’t feel any particular connection to anyone until she meets Peter Shaw. For a reason unknown to her, Peter hates her on sight. Katy can’t help but notice how attractive he is, and the author does well to not overdo his looks and creates a believable character. Katy doesn’t understand how he, and all the other students, could seem so likable to each other, but ignore her as if she has done something to deserve how she is treated. We get some foreshadowing that it may have to do with her long dead mother, but do not find out completely until later in the novel.

As the novel advances, Katy learns to accept the odd things that she encounters, and also learns more about herself. I think that is one of the things I really loved about this novel was how real the characters felt. Each one has depth that we may not readily see, and it enriches the story as the characters evolve and form relationships. I don’t want to give away too much because I think readers will benefit from finding out the secrets of Whitfield and the Ainsworth family on their own.

Time progresses, and Katy starts to feel more at home in Whitfield, but as any reader knows, tranquility does not lead to a great story. Dark forces, as ominous as that sounds, are at work, and Katy wants to find the source so she can help eradicate it. She uses her newly honed skills to look to the past to find answers that may help in the present. Katy is still considered an outsider, so she has to work hard to prove to her community that she can, and will, help them.

I have read some other reviews for Legacy, and the results are very mixed. I really did enjoy this novel, and not all of the claims that people are making about Legacy hold true with me. Some complain about the pacing, but I feel that we are living along side Katy. When something important happens, she describes it, but when time just passes in an ordinary fashion, there really is not much to say about it. Yes, Peter does go from hating Katy to liking her fairly quickly, but Katy says herself that Peter was a decent person to begin with, and I think he probably avoided her because he could not both hate her for what her mother did, and accept her for who she was until he realized that she really did not know about her mother’s past. She enters a fairly close knit community with no idea of what her mother has done, so there really is no reason for Peter to hate her unconditionally, especially after he gets to know her. This book does have realistic characters in a paranormal plot, so of course some things will be predictable. Life is fairly predictable, and it is normally the supernatural elements that are unexpected. Katy did not grow up in Whitfield or knowing about her abilities, so she has to come to terms fairly quickly or otherwise be isolated from the one place she might truly belong.

I could not find any information about subsequent novels following Katy’s story, but I believe that the ending leaves it open for the author to return to this world in the future, which I hope she does.

Notable Scene:

As a VP of public relations for Wonderland, Mim represented “the interests of Wonderland” up and down the East Coast. I’ll never know exactly how she met my father, but within days they were shacked up and some weeks later, Dad had I were on our way to New York to start our “new lives.” After years of teaching at a series of small Florida colleges, Dad had gotten an assistant professorship gig at Columbia. Major strings must have been pulled for that. And where there were major strings, there was Mim doing the pulling. It was during the plane ride up that Dad decided to let me in on his plans for my future.

“We . . . that is, I’ve found a school for you, Katherine.” Dad looked serious. Something in his voice made me shiver. He wouldn’t make eye contact. “Where is it?” I asked quietly, carefully.

He cleared his throat. “It’s a … it’s a boarding school, Katherine.”

“A boarding school?” I squeaked. “Where?’

“It’s a fine place, really—”

“But why do I have to live there? How far away is it from you? And her.”

A long moment passed. Too long. “It’s in Whitfield, Massachusetts,” he said finally. He looked out the window.

“I see,” I said.

“Let me explain.” He put his hand over mine. I yanked it away. “There are some things I never told you, Katherine. About your mother. And her family.”

FTC Advisory: Simon & Schuster provided me with a copy of Legacy. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

Full, non-spoiler review courtesy at Book & Movie Dimension a Blog

Legacy takes us into the life of Katy Ainsworth. Katy upon opening to the story mentions through certain key decisions made by her father shipping her off to boarding to school it is there she discovers who she truly is. Along with her heritage. Its a heritage that involves a deep ground battle against the Darkness. A Force that ultimately might have its hand in killing her mother. Katy teams up with Peter a local townie who may or may not be a witch. From first appearances he seems to despise her. Katy's curiosity about Peter an her new home is highly piqued.
In the novel readers are sure to encounter a fascinating story that has this nice tight-knit community of witches. The romance is worthwhile to read into which has such an intricacy to it. Legacy has nice detailed reading passages that can compell any reader to read far into the night. Also expect some mixture of occasional flashbacks and intense magic struggles. Legacy's ending was eerie but allows for hopefully a sequel. So let's hope there's more to come.
Overall: Amazing read!
Genre: Witches, Young Adult, Paranormal, Supernatural

In this book, Serenity Katherine Ainsworth, who goes by “Katy Jessevar,” is sent to Ainsworth Preparatory School in Whitfield, Massachusetts after her father moved to New York when he got a job there. When Katy starts the new school, she meets Peter Shaw at the library. He instantly knows that she is an Ainsworth and dislikes her. Every new student at Ainsworth School gets invited to have lunch at Hattie’s Kitchen, where she finds a book that belongs to Peter. Hattie asks Katy to return it to him, causing them to interact once again.

Katy eventually gets offered an afterschool job at Hattie’s Kitchen. After working there, she understands how Hattie can give people what they need without them even asking. She didn’t expect this job. She certainly didn’t expect Peter to be working there also. Katy meets Peter’s younger brother, Eric, and learns a little more about why Peter and Eric are with Hattie. She also learns of her lineage and that she is a witch. She also makes contact with her maternal grandmother and aunt, whom she has never met.

Not soon after Katy starts at Hattie’s Kitchen, Peter and she learn to work together and tolerate each other. This is essential because the Harbingers start showing up and Peter helps Katy understand them. The Harbingers are bad omens and they foretell the coming of the Darkness. According to the Great Book of Secrets, if the Darkness takes hold of anyone, they must be destroyed by fire. What happens when the Darkness takes over someone you love?

This book was an interesting read. I could never predict what was happening next. With the arrival of the new Wonderland store in Whitfield thrown into the story, I wasn’t sure what was going to take precedence. It was a book that was hard to put down.

I Like:

▪ Katy. Eventually, she understand what it means to be an Ainsworth and why when the Ainsworth women got married, the groom would take their name instead of what’s expected of society. She learns a lot throughout this book and at first is upset by being sent to Whitfield and feels like she was being thrown away.

▪Peter. He is a good person. Everything he does in the story is for the good of someone. As you get further into the book, you understand his motivations better. Even when Katy and Peter were not getting along, she said that he is a “decent person.” He always remembers what it is important.

▪Dingo. I like this dog and his singing. He accompanies Mr. Haversall.

▪Hattie Scott. She is the witch who took care of Eric and Peter after Peter’s mom and dad died. She is full of wisdom and is the High Priestess of Whitfield.

I Did Not Like:

▪Livia Fowler and her daughter Becca. I never have liked people who thought they were better than someone else.

▪The Darkness. Again…expected.

PLOT SUMMARY:
When Katy's widowed father dumps her in a boarding school in Whitfield, Massachusetts, she is hurt and confused. Nearly everyone in Whitfield is a witch, as is Katy herself, although she has struggled all her life to hide her unusual talents. Stuck at a boarding school where her fellow studens seem to despise her, Katy soon discovers that Whitfield is the place where her mother commited suicide under mysterious circumstances after trying to kill a young boy when Katy was just a small child. She finds herself increasingly drawn to Peter, a schoolmate who seems attracted to her as well and yet who tries to keep her at arm's length.During her stay in Whitfield Katy learns about the dark forces converging on Whitfield and also unravels her family’s many secrets.What follows is a ride through good and evil and overcoming history as Katy tries to find a way to save the boy she loves and the town itself from destruction.

Review:
Well...Quite frankly...I didn't enjoy the book...!!

Cliche:

First of all, this book is starting out really cliche. There's a girl with something different about her. She's dumped at a boarding school in Massachusetts (surprised, surprise). She enters class and on the first day and sees HIM and of course, he despises her for no apparent reason.

Choppy Transitions & Relationships :

Did I mention a loads and loads of missing pieces?? Well,
here goes....the book is full of missing information (readers are expected to be very imaginative...OR...really dumb and except is without question..!!)and the story just seems to be jumping from place to place

Here are a few examples...

Katy goes from knowing something is different about her but not knowing what exactly to suddenly performing spells with Hattie, without much of a transition between the two.

Relationship between Peter and Katy is a hot-cold relationship with no transition time..!! Peter hates Katy in the beginning and considers her a danger later when he hates her no longer, he keeps away from her because now all of a sudden he considers himself a danger to her...!! The revelations further on in the book really make me wonder why he hated her in the first place..??

Confusing:

Well..! As if the choppy transitions and missing information did not make it confusing enough...the story itself became all the more confusing..!

The author seemed rather undecided on Madame Mim's character..One moment she is the hateful girlfriend who takes up all the attention of Katy's father and also shares a part of the blame for Katy being dumped at the boarding school...next she is the ever so understanding person who wants to help reduce the distance between the father and daughter by making Katy see her father's point of view (atleast she tries talking to Katy about it..!)...then again she turns into an emotionless witch with little compassion for Katy's grandmother and aunt when their house is burnt down...and again she turns in someone understanding and tells Katy's dad off for grounding her for an extended period of time..! uh..! really can't decide on her..

Wrong word usage:

Manytimes, I felt that the author's use of words bugged me, like she was trying to find the right word to use and couldn't think of it.

There was a part where Peter and Katy were looking through some miniatures in the house, and Peter demonstrated one. The book says: "I wasn't impressed. 'Cute, but what's the point of it?' I sneered." Peter then admits it's pretty useless. I don't think sneered was the right word to use there. She wasn't trying to be condescending in a malicious way, and I don't think that comment was supposed to be said that way.

Also there was a part in there that a small party saw an island that belongs to Peter's family. Right after Peter says it's not anymore, the book says: “'Peter was disinherited,' Becca screeched. She leaned in close to me so that no one else would hear her in the wind. 'I guess you scholarship kids like to stick together.'” I'm sorry, but unless Becca was surprised and this was news to her, I don't picture her "screeching" this statement.

Many a times the author seemed to contradict herself...

Ola'ea says:"You will not remember this conversation or anything about your time here with me."
later...
when Peter asks her about her missing heart beat she says ,'I know'and thinks:No it wasn't a mistake,Ola'ea's ghost took me to the land of dead....
How come Katy still remembers it all...??

Despite of all the above mentioned flaws I was able to follow the basic story...BUT THEN...all of a sudden the story itself became confusing as hell....frankly what was written after the page 334 of my ARC was all muddled up and ended up making the story confusing.I actually had to drag my eyes to read it through. I guess I expected a grand ending but the book just didn't deliver.

The author ended up making what would have been a spectacular conclusion with love being the magic to overcome darkness into a rather plain and dragged one.

The story line was not fully developed.Those plots threads didn't quite come together and felt strained.

In short, the book didn't work for me!

I can't say I overly enjoyed this book, but it wasn't bad either. It was the mention of Saladin that peaked my interest in the beginning, and really it was this character that held my interest throughout the book. I did not really grow attached to any of the other characters, even though they were the supposed protagonists. In addition, as the book progressed, things became less and less explained or believable.I very much liked the idea and story of the cup, of Kaana, and of Saladin. However, when Merlin's story was introduced, complete with his fledgling telepathic abilities and the awesome power hidden deep within, that was a little much. There is certainly a place in fantasy for wizards and druids, but in this book it felt out of place, almost as if it was added in an afterthought.Perhaps that sensation comes from the difference in the explanation; while the cup and its powers, while definitely supernatural, were limited and well explained, powers of Merlin or even Nimue were wholly "strange" and no attempt was made to explain them. I could wholly believe that a cup like that could exist in our world. I suppose the distinction lies in that had the cup been the only supernatural element in the book, I wouldn't hesitate to classify the book as sci-fi, while the addition of Merlin and Arthur and all that mess created some mean mixture of sci-fi and fantasy that did not work for me.Things got even worse with the addition of Arthur and Galahad being reborn, Camelot appearing on the site of its ruins, knights riding out and delivering the "heroes" from certain demise, and the dubious result of the match between Hal and Saladin. There was no cohesion there at all, it was just a collection of random bits that did not in any way fit together.Had the authors contented themselves with the story of the cup and left all the familiar and worn-out Arthurian elements in peace, I feel the book would have been much better. It would give a different and fresh perspective on the Holy Grail, which would have been welcome. As it is, the latter part of the book is not worth the paper it's printed on.

Great story! Time Travel, Magic, the Gods of Greece. Enjoyable tale, and an easy read. Took me about two days. Good paced story.

I highly enjoyed this imaginative take on the Arthur legend. Arthur returns--as a young boy living in the modern day. He finds a mysterious cup (the Holy Grail), which puts the bad guys--led by the evil Saladin--on his tale. And Galahad, his loyal knight is also around, as is Merlin but in guises suited for the modern age. It's a rollicking good adventure story and I highly reccomend it for fans of adventure, especially if you enjoy Arthurian legends.

Once and Future - Arthus revisiting, 28. Dez. 2002
A beautiful, intelligent and promising retelling of Arthurian legend together with an interesting reinterpretation of Christ`s Cup/The Holy Grail.
I just finished reading the book for the sixth or seventh time and still like it very much.

Two men, born on opposite sides of the world on the same day, destined to oppose each other throughout their lives, driven by powerful forces – forces they can neither understand nor deny. As 10 year old chess prodigies they first meet – both lonely, both meaning to win, both wearing the symbol of the gold coiled serpent. They know the uses of pleasure, the secrets of pain, the impact of evil turned upon itself. They understand the deadly forces that grip the world in swift violence, sudden death. But only one man may be the Grandmaster. It is an extraordinary tale of spymasters and assassins, murder and intrigue played against a background of Far Eastern mysticism, from Moscow to Washington, from Havana to Tibet, until one man stands alone ...