Oh, for the days of yesteryear, when meglomaniacs made movies with scant crews. Such is the setting of Pirate King by Lauire R. King, a Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel. Not much space is devoted to Holmes in this book, which is fine with me. I consider Sherlock Holms a meglomaniac. [Nice to have him on our side, though.] The play on a Gilbert and Sullivan play adds seasoning for Mary Russell's sardonic commentary.In short, all bets are off when Mary Russell agrees to go undercover, solo, on the set of a new British movie [ala 1920's] filmed in Portugal and Morocco. Goal: to find out why the film company is connected to crimes similar to those featured in their movies. Oh, there was some other doggerel about a missing person which appeared briefly at the beginning and end.
Though King uses first person narrative well, the last couple of books I've read in the series came across as ponderous, without the enjoyable, sacastic wit. The Pirates of Penzance gave King a broad canvas to work with, especially when combined with Valentino imagery. Nothing like a little abuse to make the heart grow fonder. But it does give some plot twists a target as well as pratfalls.
Okay, not the best of the series. But I enjoyed it as light reading after working on all the writerly things that have nothing do with creating a readable story. Sometimes this story became just plain boring. Granted there were lots of opportunities wasted, like one of the thirteen blond bells containing an adolescent male with a stage mommy. Guess I have an appetite for pratfalls.
Other episodes rose high on the just plain silly stage, like Russell dangling by a rope outside Holmes' cell. Still, if you're not a mystery fanatic, you can find a decent amount of entertainment in the book.
Granted, this may seem like damming with faint praise. You can read a sample and read other reviews on:
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More Reading
Did get my three Tortall, women warriors quartets read and enjoyed to the fullest. Then, with all the hype surrounding the release of the Wrinkle in Time movie, I read the first three books in L'Engle's Meg series. Surprising how the Dell glue doesn't stand up to time like the Ace paperback glue. Hard to read when pages are coming loose.The stories don't stand the test of a novel quite as well as I remembered. The three [including A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet] read more like novellas than novels. But by the time an aspiring world dictator got his comeupance, I felt like I'd finished a novel. Many of Madeleine L'Engle's ideas in the books still felt fresh, though. Who says fantasy is pure entertainment?
One of the interesting things was I found out how much my copies are worth...at least the one where the glue held.
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My Writing Rut
Still in the middle of revising/editing on On The Run. My editior didn't have too many changes to recommend, but I find I must reread every page word for word. The worse part is
Here's a sample of my "false resolution" in editor speak:
...Swirling yellowish darts swarmed towards Gracie’s wall of light. Next to Pillar, Gracie’s body waxed into a pillar of warmth. The darts stuck into the wall of power like arrows in a target until they evaporated with soft pops. The bright wall grew thicker, longer until it arced back around to protect the house. Pillar’s ears fill with Gracie’s chanting voice.
“You’re doing fine, girl.
Keep it up. Keep it up. Keep feeding the energy to me.”
“Huh?”
Pillar hadn’t realized she
was treating Gracie like her pinkie ring. She rested both hands, glowing with
blue light, on Gracie’s shoulders as the old lady crouched to the ground.
“Good, girl. Keep it up.”
Trembling, Pillar
concentrated harder. A flurry of blue spears flew from Gracie’s hands, passing
through the expanse of putrid light to hit the demons’ personal shields. The
sparks flew higher than the barn.
The next round of spears
Gracie sent rolled into flaming balls that exploded above the demons, knocking
them to the ground.
The demons staggered back to their knees. ...
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