strange and random happenstance

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Tales of Innocence
Starring: Sean Patrick Flanery, Jay Underwood, Veronica Logan, Pernilla August, Renato Scarpa, Anna Lelio, Selina Giles, Clare Higgins, Evan Richards, David Haig, and Roshan Seth
Release Date: July 14th, 1999
Rating: ★★★★
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Indy is stationed in Northern Italy. While his work has him arranging the dangerous defection of German troops to the allied forces, he spends all his time thinking of getting back to Guiletta. Guiletta, the girl of his dreams. Sure, her parents don't approve, but what does that have to do with love? All is well until he realizes he has a mysterious rival for the affections of Guiletta. He spills his guts out to a fellow American who drives an ambulance that night in the local cantena. Ernest Hemingway seems full of great ideas to one-up this upstart, that is until Indy realizes that Ernest is his rival! The two friends quickly become bitter enemies trying to win the heart of Guiletta while still doing their duty in the war. And war being war, anything could happen. Ernest and Indy are both injured in an air raid. While Indy is recuperating in Venice, his body and his heart start to heal. Though once healed he will be back in action, stealing hearts and saving the world. He only wishes his new assignment were more exciting. Trying to find out the culprits behind the transferring of arms in Morocco seems dull compared to fighting on the front lines. Yet his companion, the novelist Edith Wharton, turns what would be a boring mission into the journey of a lifetime.

Right before I started high school The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles premiered. Despite being such a short lived series it will forever hold a place in my heart. In fact, starting high school it was a good way to weed out prospective friends, if they watched the show and loved Sean Patrick Flanery as much as I did, well, friends for life. Literally. I fell hard for Young Indy and Sean Patrick Flanery, River Phoenix in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was long forgotten. I even have the premiere issue of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Magazine that I ordered through Scholastic signed by Sean Patrick Flanery, who was the nicest person you could hope to meet and I had so much fun talking about the show with him at Wizard World Chicago. Yes, I fully admit to fangirling all over this series and Sean but luckily not to his face. I was so caught up in the stories and the romance and the action, and let's not omit the Sean angle, that I didn't realize how sneaky George Lucas was being. George Lucas was making me learn history! Designed as an educational program for children and teenagers, historical figures and important events were showcased through these prequels to the films.

I learned much of my history through the life of Indiana Jones. While I was more into the romantic travails of Indy fending off a young Ernest Hemingway, the Easter Rebellion wormed it's way into my brain. Pancho Villa worked his way in while I was admiring Indy's horsemanship. Damn that boy can ride! George Lucas had secretly succeeded in teaching me where my teachers failed. To be fair though, in grade school, it was the fault of the teachers not of history. The film franchise with Harrison Ford was very much centered on the Nazis and World War II. Therefore, due to Indy's age, it only made sense for "Young" Indy to be involved in World War I. From enlisting in the Belgian Army because of his young age, to fighting at the Somme and Verdun, to transporting weaponry across German East Africa and the Congo, to escaping from a prisoner of war camp, to escorting Austrian Princes, to even being seduced by Mata Hari, Henry Jones Junior encapsulated all of the Great War in his escapades in a way that was memorable and entertaining. I can't help but think that if my high school English teacher had combined A Farewell to Arms with Indy's adventures in Northern Italy in June of 1918 I might not have taken such a strong dislike to Hemingway.

Watching the first half of this episode twenty-three years after it first aired I'm amazed that it still holds up. It's not just for the Sean Patrick Flanery devotees, there's a good solid plot, lots of zany and goofy humor, in particular one scene involving the mass consumption of pasta, as well as some nice jabs at Hemingway. And yes, I still don't like Hemingway all these years later, so I take great amusement in his suffering. But what really struck me this time around was the influence of E.M. Forster on the look and feel of the Italian storyline. Yes, there's probably a part of me nostalgic for all his books and movies I devoured just last fall, yet there's this lovely innocence to Indy and Hemingway vying for the love of Guiletta, even if they get a little debauched at the bar after wooing hours... this story does have Hemingway in it so it was inevitable. I also think the fact that Howard's End coming out a year before this episode aired isn't a coincidence, even though this story is more reminiscent of A Room with a View in my opinion. When Indy goes on a walk with Guiletta with Granny as guardian, the beauty of the countryside is almost overwhelming. The show might have ended because it cost so much to make, but just watching it again, they did it right, and isn't that what matters?

What I love though about this storyline is that it shows that the Great War wasn't just in trenches in France with Germany bombarding them. This was the smallest section of the "European Theater" yet the war effected quite literally the entire world. With Indy traveling around we see how the war was fought from North Africa to Russia. Here we get a glimpse of the work being done in Northern Italy, with German forces successfully defecting, as well as the importance of non-active troops, such as ambulance drivers, which is how Hemingway served during the war. We also see that not every second of every day was devoted to battle. They have down time to drink, to think of the future, to love. Just because there is a war doesn't mean that we stop being human. I think that is what comes across most with the adventures of Indy, these famous people were actually people. Sometimes we look on celebrities as a different breed, people apart. But in the end they're just like us. They have hopes and dreams, like Hemingway wanting to be a writer, even if Indy shuns his idea of a love letter, which is hilariously literal. Humanizing history is what this show does, and perhaps that's why I became a lover of historical fiction.

Though while the first half is forever one of my favorite sections, the second section with Edith Wharton, which was never aired, I think is the most eye opening. To me Edith Wharton is so of a different time that I have never really connected her to the fact that she was around during World War I. She seems somehow of the past yet unmoored from historical events. Yet she tirelessly helped the war effort in France throughout the conflict. All that she did is amazing if you read about it, heck she even wrote several books on it herself. She was even appointed to the Legion of Honour for her work! And while the continuity doesn't quite work with her actual travels in Morocco, it's interesting to see Indy, not just solving a mystery, but having a relationship with a woman that is more about conversation and mutual understanding than about infatuation or seduction. Indy is, after all, a ladies' man, but Wharton here has the power. In an obvious mirroring of Wharton's own work, I mean just look to the title of this episode, Indy is relegated to the weaker role, that of Newland Archer, where Wharton holds all the cards of a intelligent and irresistible Countess Olenska. It's great fun to see Indy wrong-footed, but also to appreciate a woman for something more than just her looks. Which is why I knew he always HAD to end up with Marion Ravenwood. Always.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Fall of Poppies, A Farewell to Arms, E.M. Forster, Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, George Lucas, Indiana Jones, Sean Patrick Flanery, The Age of Innocence, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, WWI

Sometime last year I realized that two of my most favorite authors, Mary Robinette Kowal and Lauren Willig, were coming out with books this year set during The Great War. This couldn't be a coincidence I could just dismiss. Oh no. Both these authors have been a part of theme months in the past, so it only made sense to fashion a new theme month out of this random happenstance! And thus A Fall of Poppies was born! Taken from the time of year and the title of the short story collection Lauren was a part of I had the seed of inspiration. But what else could I do? Because while I am fascinated by World War I, I feel that often World War II overshadows it and takes the bulk of the narratives. I felt it was my duty to not only shine the spotlight on an event that forever changed the shape of history, but that in doing so affected every form of medium, from books to films to television to photography to poetry to art. The Great War, in all it's horror, gave inspiration to so many. And I'm not talking about how it inspired the Germans to start another World War and try to get it right this time.

While the easy way out would be to take a traditional look at World War I and the literature of the time; literature being the great medium it is, World War I has had a myriad of influences on speculative and alternative histories as well as British Comedies. This decision to choose non-traditional books, shows, and movies wasn't taken lightly or solely because Mary's book is an alternative history and would otherwise feel out of place, but in order to show how many different people handle one idea. From the more traditional to the more Steampunk. From the more TV movie of the week to the more comic. I was inspired to seek out sources that would be different and that had helped inform my own knowledge. So expect some Blackadder, expect some Young Indiana Jones, expect some Benedict Cumberbatch, expect the unexpected, and join me in looking back at the war that so changed the world it was never dreamed there could be another.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Fall of Poppies, Benedict Cumberbatch, Blackadder, British Comedy, Fall of Poppies, Ghost Talkers, Indiana Jones, Lauren Willig, Mary Robinette Kowal, Steampunk, The Great War, Theme Month, WWI, WWII

The 13th Warrior
Based on the book Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Diane Venora, Vladimir Kulich, Dennis Storhøi, Omar Sharif, Clive Russell, Richard Bremmer, Tony Curran, Eric Avari, Sven Wollter, Asbjorn Riis, and Maria Bonnevie
Release Date: August 27th, 1999
Rating: ★
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Ahmad ibn Fadlan is a successful court poet in Baghdad. But his poetic sensibilities lead him to love unwisely and he is banished far to the north to act as an ambassador to those tribes of Barbarians. The arrival of Vikings save Ahmad ibn Fadlan and his party great distress from Turkic Raiders. The Northmen are celebrating the death of their chieftain and the ascension of their new leader, Buliwyf. A young emissary arrives to ask Buliwyf if he will come to his father's kingdom and save them from an evil which cannot be named. The Viking's wisewoman comes to throw the bones and tells Buliwfy that the thirteenth warrior must not be a Norseman, and so Ahmad, called Ibn by his new travelling companions, unwillingly heads out to do battle with an evil he doesn't know with warriors who don't even speak his language. When they arrive at King Hrothgar's village the warriors see that the situation is more dire then they feared. The town is almost indefensible, and the mist is coming, and with that, the danger of the Wendol.

It makes sense that the oddest book in Crichton's oeuvre would make the oddest film. But still, I question this adaptation's purpose because whatever the book's failings there was at least a glimmer of something interesting, a little Viking culture, a little mystery in the mist, which has been entirely stripped away to be nothing more then over ninety minutes of battle. There is so little plot that I wouldn't even deign to call it a plot, something other critics and moviegoers apparently agreed with as the movie quickly flopped at the box office. The movie should have just been called "Buliwyf Does Battle." At least re-naming the story for release as The 13th Warrior versus Eaters of the Dead helped to highlight this lack of depth. The simple truth about this film is I struggled with it. This is a nothing film. Watching the movie I kept thinking to myself, how can I even write a review about a movie that is so lacking of anything that it is slipping out or my mind as unforgettable as I'm viewing it? This is just a bad movie, plain and simple, and this is after extensive re-shoots. The curious side of me wonders how bad the film was before the re-shoots. The fact that Crichton had to swoop in to try to save it makes me contemplative. If Crichton didn't step into the breech for the laugh riot that Congo became and the horror show The Lost World turned into, just exactly how horrible was this movie?

Even in this "polished" and "fixed" format it's a weird movie. Antonio Banderas is nothing so much as comic relief and nowhere approaching a romantic hero. Also, the film doesn't feel of it's time. Now I'm not talking about the tenth century when it's supposed to take place, I'm talking about the turn of the last century. This doesn't feel like a film from 1999, it feels like a film from the mid 80s. In fact it feels as if this film is the kindred spirit to Ladyhawke and Masters of the Universe with a little Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom thrown in for the Wendol. Because the Wendol sure as hell don't look like they belong in Scandinavia! India, maybe. If that India came out of the fevered dreams of Lucas and Spielberg. If only we could get this Jerry Goldsmith score, which is laughably bad and uneven, replaced with a score by Tangerine Dream, a la Legend, I think, aside from Antonio Banderas being on screen, no one watching it would think it was made later then 1987. Just look to that 80s hair band appearance of all the vikings, and I think my point has been made.

In a film of weird and awkward scenes strung together with no regard to plot or pace there is one scene that sticks out. I really can't tell if it was really cool or really lame. In the beginning of the film it's a big deal that Ibn can't speak the language and therefore needs not one by two translators. This not only makes the movie hard to get into, but with Omar Sharif re-telling the events happening in the film I felt as if I was watching this documentary I saw years ago on the IMAX about the Nile that he narrated. But these clunky opening scenes are nothing to the scene where Ibn "learns" the language of the Northmen. Over the course of what we presume is many weeks we just see Ibn staring at the mouths of the Vikings around the fire. The first time it is all gibberish, but slowly, through rain and snow, words are decipherable until finally he understands everything they say, being able to then speak to them and also scaring them with the rapidity of his learning. While I like that it had a realism with him slowly learning, like everything in this film, it was handled in such a cheesy and heavy-handed manner that I'm not sure if I liked it or if it was groan worthy. I tend to lean toward groan worthy, just because of the rest of the movie.

The depiction of the Wendol was also just odd. As previously mentioned, they obviously are inspired by the evil death cult in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, what with their sartorial choices as well as taking off their victims heads and gnawing on their bodies. This is also where the movie diverged most radically from the book. The book clearly proposed the theory that the Wendol where really Neanderthals. There is nothing Neanderthal here, as Ibn screams "they are just men!" All their danger lies in the trappings of their appearance, not in their mysticism. The bone shirts and the bear headdresses are the signifiers that these people are evil and mean business. I'm sorry, but no. Looking a little different and killing people isn't enough for what is supposed to be the epicness of Beowulf! Plus, the Vikings kill each other all the time for dominance, land, and fun, so how are the Wendol different? The only real atrocity these people have committed, as far as I've seen, is that they must singlehandedly be responsible for Scandinavia having a depleted bear population because each and every one of their thousands of warriors has a bear headdress. Crimes against nature, yes, crimes against man, debatable.  

But the worst part of this movie I think falls into the category of racial insensitivity. Ibn is from Baghdad, in Iraq; Antonio Banderas is from Málaga, in Spain. These countries aren't interchangeable. Just because Antonio isn't white doesn't mean he's middle eastern! Besides the atrocities of an obvious spray tan and so much guyliner that it's laughable, his accent is in no way correct. In fact, more then once I noticed that if Ibn said "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die" it would seem logical. Because he is THAT Spanish. His accent is so Spanish it's stereotypical Spanish. It is obvious that Antonio Banderas did nothing to help the box office of this film so why not just hire an Iraqi actor? But time and again this happens in Hollywood. Don't they get it that here's a chance to do something right and then they go and do something wrong, like Rooney Mara playing Tiger Lily! Seriously folks! The reason this pisses me off even more is that Michael Crichton knows better. He has DONE BETTER! Look to Rising Sun! Instead of hiring anyone who looked Asian for the Japanese roles, the movie used all Japanese actors! I know, it's a novel idea, but there it is.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 80s, Antonio Banderas, Beowulf, Congo, Eaters of the Dead, He-Man, Indiana Jones, Inigo Montoya, Legend, Michael Crichton, Racism, Rising Sun, Spain, The 13th Warrior, The Lost World, The Princess Bride, Viking

The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose
Published by: Mira
Publication Date: January 1st, 2007
Format: Paperback, 449 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy
Josh Ryder has been having weird spells ever since he survived a terrorist attack in Rome. He keeps slipping into the past, into what could only, logically, be his past lives. There is too much detail for any doubt to exist. He has sought out help from The Phoenix Foundation, who specialize in helping children understand their dreams which aren't really dreams but past life regressions. Malachai and his aunt take Josh on because he has such clear visions, one of them involving their building. A discovery in Rome sends Josh back there with Malachai. A Professor Rudolfo and his assistant Gabriella have uncovered an unknown tomb. Malachai and Josh hope that not only will this discovery help Josh, but perhaps will shed light on the mysterious memory stones, stones said to allow you to see all your past lives.

Josh is so haunted by his past that in a daze he wanders for miles till he stumbles on Professor Rudolfo's site hours before their meeting. There he finds Sabina... or the well preserved corpse of Sabina, his true love back when he was Julius, all those hundreds of years ago. Tragedy strikes the tomb again and Rudolfo is killed. Josh is arrested as the primary suspect but soon is released. While his time in Italy is at an end, the memory of Sabina still stirs him. He will find the answer one way or another. Back in New York he connects with Rudolfo's assistant Gabriella. Josh feels drawn to her, was she Sabina in a past life? Soon their knowledge of the memory stones lead to the kidnapping of Gabriella's daughter Quinn. If Josh and Gabriella can't solve the mystery that has baffled people for centuries, Quinn might die.

Part Indiana Jones, but more Da Vinci Code without any kind of narrative drive, this book was a struggle to get through. If I hadn't thrown out my back and been immobile, I don't think I would have finished it. Besides having the hardest title of a book to ever say, I dare you, try to say it out loud, this book left too many lose ends and me saying "well, that happened." While I don't look favorably on books like The Da Vinci Code, at least Dan Brown kept the urgency, kept the plot moving. For something so dire, for a race against the clock, the pace of the book was quite languid. Not to mention, the sub plot with Rachel and her Uncle Alex being so secondary until the end was pointless, hence eliminating them from the synopsis. Use them throughout OR don't introduce them till you need them. They felt like they where thrown on stage three acts before they where needed. I also felt that Josh's jumps into the past a little too cliche. "He smelt Sandalwood and Jasmine" now he gets a giant erection and can only dream of the dead girl. I kid you not, the biggest sex scene in this book, and there are a few, are between Josh, aka Julius, and the memory of Sabina, while in the shower.

If the story had remained in Italy, perhaps there would have been a better chance to connect with the narrative. But once they left Italy, I really couldn't care less. Then the fact she brings out the kidnapping trope... ug, just no. I will give her credit that in the last page she did give a little bit of a game changer, which was nice, but I knew who the bad guy was from the beginning, and all your running around and adding plots on plots and more and more stupid characters will not take away from the obviousness of everything. Again, a book not finished by the majority of my book club... but sub par writing with one too many cliches will do that, and, if the writer can't be bothered to finish the story and tie up the loose ends, the memory stones, etc, then why should a reader be bothered with finishing it? Also, nothing pisses me off more than an obvious lack of understanding something. M.J. Rose obviously doesn't understand that a yard is equal to three feet. He was so close, only 3 yards away... dood, that's not that close if you're in a tunnel and trying to get out. Also, if you are interested in something good about reincarnation, rent Dead Again and be done with it, don't read this book.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Da Vinci Code, Dead Again, Indiana Jones, Memory Stones, MJ Rose, Reincarnation, Rome, The Phoenix Foundations, The Reincarnationist

My first introduction to Dorothy Parker might not be what you expect. You probably picture my house growing up as jammed with books and me one day stumbling upon The Portable Dorothy Parker and that, as they say, was history. That would be an entirely fictitious history, one that Dorothy herself would probably like, she did after all say "I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true." The "truth" of it was, there where shelves and shelves of books, though Dorothy wasn't on them, and I viewed the shelves mainly as the stuff that was behind the tv. Yes that's right, I was not a bookworm as a child. I had a few books I loved and didn't really branch out till after high school, otherwise known as, the time when I got to pick what I wanted to read and wasn't assigned horrid and asinine books, My Brother Sam is Dead anyone?

One of my favorite shows was The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Ah, Sean Patrick Flannery, you are a god, and will always have a special place in my heart. I squealed like a little fangirl when I got to meet you this summer (luckily not to your face) and had so much fun talking about the show, I did after all bring my original Young Indiana Jones Chronicles fanclub magazine that I ordered through Scholastic, yes I am that dorky. Ironically this show, without me knowing it I might add, did what George Lucas set out to do, teach kids about history through the life of Indiana Jones. While I was more into the romantic travails of Indy fending off a young Ernest Hemingway, the Spanish Civil War wormed it's way into my brain. Pancho Villa worked his way in while I was admiring Indy's horsemanship. Damn that boy can ride! It was a silly episode though about Indy trying to balance three very different women, for the sake of humor, one a blond, one a brunette, and one a redhead, that caught my eye. It wasn't the goofy storyline, obviously he should be with the brunette, she was smart and streetwise and surprisingly Anne Heche, it was the literary world that caught me. Of course the members of the Algonquin Round Table did straddle different worlds and often had people in the arts and theatre other than just writers, it was the writers that Indy meets one day that transfixed me.

The whole table was there, from Benchley and Parker to Woollcott and Ferber. Woollcott and Parker actually go with Anne Heche's character to the Broadway musical Indy has been stage managing wherein Hemingway gets upset that Woollcott won't be quiet. What struck me rewatching the episode (yes, cause I'm that kind of person who won't let the opportunity to rewatch Sean Patrick Flannery pass me by) was that they really did capture the essence of the table. The biting humor along with the camaraderie. Benchley with his arm around Mrs. Parker's chair. The other tablemates telling Indy exactly how the press works. Indy being accepted as one of their own because he makes a biting comment about the scarcity of an Alexander Woollcott first addition saying that a second edition would be even rarer. A book to which they use Dorothy's famous quote, "This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown aside with great force." Even if that was about another book entirely... I wanted to be in that room! I wanted to be at that table! One can dream...

I leave you with the finale of that episode.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Alexander Woollcott, Dorothy Parker, Ernest Hemingway, George Gershwin, George Lucas, Indiana Jones, Robert Benchley, The Algonquin Round Tabel, The Man I Love, The Portable Dorothy Parker

The Last Camel Died at Noon, Amelia Peabody Book 6 by Elizabeth Peters
Published by: Grand Central
Publication Date: 1991
Format: Paperback, 430 Pages
Challenge: Valley of the Kings, Mystery and Suspense 2011
Rating: ★★
To Buy
Amelia and Emerson are all abuzz. Parts of the Sudan are once more under British control. All new archaeological sites are at their fingertips! All Amelia can think about is the pyramids. All those pyramids that have been not been studied due to political conflict and strife. But, never can the Emersons be allowed to just work, oh no. There must always be something more. That something more comes as a plea from a Mr. Forthright, who happens to pass out at Amelia's feet. Luckily Viscount Blacktower soon arrives to explain the situation in full, unconscious grandson and all. Over a decade ago, his eldest son, Willoughby Forth, set out to explore the Sudan with his new bride. They were never to be heard from again, until now. What with the conflict in the region there is a slim chance that a message might have taken this long to reach them. Now that England has reclaimed the land and the mysterious note has arrived scrawled on ancient papyrus, Lord Blacktower hopes that the rumors of the Emersons going to the Sudan are true and that they can help in his cause. Despite having known Willoughby, Emerson does not hold out hope for the Forths. The unique message and map drawn on a page from one of Emerson's own journals, does not raise Emerson to the bait. He is for pyramids and pyramids alone, but if he should hear of something, well then... he'll pass along the information.

Soon the Emersons are ensconced near the British regiment in Napata with a whole plethora of pyramids and Mr. Reggie Forthright. Thinking that perhaps he should be on the scene if news of the Forths reach them he has brought himself all the way to the Sudan. Things start to escalate, as they always do. Ramses is almost kidnapped, Reggie is attacked and then decides to head off into the dessert in search of his uncle, against the better judgement of everyone, where he soon disappears. Whence Reggie went, Emerson and Amelie feel it their duty to go. The mysterious map they follow appears to be eerily correct. Could the Forths still be alive in some secret oasis? As time passes it looks as if they will never know. Not only do their men desert them, but soon the last remaining camel dies. They are miraculously saved and awaken to find themselves in the secret oasis that the Forths discovered years ago. Ancient Egypt is alive and well in the secret land. Time has stood still for thousands of years. It's an archaeologists dream come true. If only they were treated as honored guests and not as well maintained prisoners. Embroiled in the fight for the crown between two brothers, one of which was secretly working at the Emersons' site, they must find out what truly happened to the Forths and then make good their escape. The natives seem a little too keen on keeping them in their hidden valley with their masked maidens waiting on them forever. Biding their time, the mysteries start to unfold, but hopefully, this mystery won't end in death or imprisonment.

Going in an entirely different direction than her previous novels, this is Amelia Peabody does Indiana Jones, or, as the author herself says, H. Rider Haggard. Only, it's more like the crappy forth Indiana Jones movie then the wonders of the earlier films. It's all just too far fetched having them stumble upon this "lost tribe," but thankfully it wasn't aliens. There has always been a grounding in reality with the Amelia Peabody stories. The ghosts aren't ghosts, the mummies don't actually walk amongst us, despite all evidence to the contrary leading up to Amelia's Scooby Doo reveal. But here, here it is like the mummies walking amongst us. It's just silly and stupid all at once. So the Forths found this secret place by accident and then lived out their days there, and now it appears the same thing has happened to the Emersons. So? I really couldn't be bothered to care. They sat around all day in a house with a nice courtyard which occasionally had a cat. The cat was the high point, they mainly sat around. So what if Mrs. Forth is still there? Once they finally get to the good part, it's convoluted and nothing is openly resolved. It's a mess of a novel which I pushed through. I'm just hoping we never end up in this bizarre Never-Neverland of the Peabody cannon again. Please, I want this series back on track, not meandering with dead pachyderms in the desert.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 3 comments  

Labels: 2011 Reading Challenge, Amelia Peabody, Elizabeth Peters, Emerson, H. Rider Haggard, Indiana Jones, Lord Blacktower, Napata, Pyramids, Ramses, Reggie Forthright, The Last Camel Died at Noon, The Sudan

The Wyvern's Treasure (Nathaniel Fludd Book 3) by R.L. LaFevers
Published by: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: October 5th, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 160 Pages
Challenge: Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy
Nathaniel Fludd and his Aunt Phil have cared for a Phoenix and helped recapture an escaped Basilisk. All in a days work for a Beastologist, except that there's this niggling doubt that perhaps they've been set up. How did that Basilisk escape? Also what of the sightings of a red haired man at both sites? Rushing back to England to solve these mysteries and perhaps answer a few relating to Nathaniel's parents disappearance, they find even more trouble. Aunt Phil's house has been ransacked, but luckily Cornelius, her pet Dodo, is fine, even if he might object to the word "pet." He in fact might object to many things, including Nathaniel and his "pet" Greasle, a gremlin, which is very similar to "vermin" in Cornelius's book. According to Cornelius the home invader looked very much like Phil... leading to the conclusion that perhaps the branch of the family that was long ago disowned due to their greed and corruption has returned to wreck vengeance. Octavius Fludd must have passed on his hatred of the other Fludds to his living descendant, Obediah. Hoping that perhaps Nathaniel's parents' lawyer and his ex governess, Miss Lumpton, might have some answers to their problems, they head to London by train, a far preferable means of transportation to Aunt Phil's rickety plane. But the lawyers office is boarded up and heading on to the Fludd homestead in Upton Downs, they discover this house has been ransacked as well and Miss Lumpton's possessions have been cleared out. But they don't have long to consider the ramifications of a second home invasion because a plea comes from Wales. The Wyverns are restless. These glorious dragons were long ago tamed into behavior by a treaty. This Covenant protected not only the people and their crops but helped to hide the Wyverns and keep them happy and secluded. Only a person has broken the treaty by entering their caves. It doesn't take Phil and Nathaniel long to realize that this has to be Obediah's work. If they can only find him before it's too late and the Covenant lies in tatters while the countryside burns.

Nathaniel Fludd and his adventures are a quick little joy to read. They have that nostalgic olde tyme feel with the exploratory gene akin to Indiana Jones. What I loved about this book was the Wyverns. In the two previous installments we had the beauty of the Phoenix, which introduced the glories of being a Beastologist to Nathaniel. In the second book, the Basilisk showed Nathaniel the dangers. But what we get with the Wyverns is something entirely new. They aren't good or evil, they just live by their instincts, but they have an intelligence and an ability to understand and communicate that the others did not. Instead of just observing the beasts, we get more of an inner knowledge as to how they think, how they live and love. Plus, instead of lone creatures, they live together in a community raising their young and forming life long bonds. Also, it never really struck me before about the underlying message of animal preservation. Creatures that were once pests and vermin were hunted into extinction or close to. Now these beasts become rare endangered animals and it's up to the Beastologists to nurture and care for the creatures while keeping them hidden from the outside world who contributed to their depleted numbers. Without bashing you over the head, but showing us these wonderful beasts, Robin is teaching kids the importance of animals, that it's preservation and care not exploitation that need to be embraced. Because as everyone knows, if there are still dragons in the world, we don't know of them anymore, so either the Beastologists are doing a really good job or they were too late. Hopefully the kids reading these books will realize there is a time when it's too late and it's best to start helping animals yesterday.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 3 comments  

Labels: Aunt Phil, Basilisk, Beastologist, Cornelius, Dodo, Greasle, Indiana Jones, Miss Lumpton, Nathaniel Fludd, Obediah Fludd, Phil A. Fludd, Phoenix, R.L. LaFevers, Reading Challenge, Wales, Wyverns