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Book reviews for "Balabkins,_Nicholas_W." sorted by average review score:

To Save Russia: The Reincarnation of Nicholas II
Published in Hardcover by Sunstar Publishing, Ltd. (January, 1998)
Author: Donald Norsic
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An Authentic Account of Reincarnation
Mr. Norsic's book once started, is difficult to put down. I found myself eagerly anticipating what further revelations awaited me as I turned each page. It is rare to find an authentic, believable reincarnation book and I am grateful to Mr. Norsic for having written "To Save Russia, The Reincarnation of Nicholas II" for the undeniable proof within its pages that Mr. Norsic is the reincarnation of Nicholas II.

I applaud Mr. Norsic's courage in the telling of his past life experience as he has helped to further enlighten and educate us all about reincarnation in an interesting and compelling way.

Thoroughly Enjoyable!
I recently had the pleasure of reading this wonderful book and I found it to be one of the most exciting books I have ever read. The author deftly describes the events leading up to his discovery of a previous life. From the opening line, "They've come to KILL me!", Mr. Norsic takes you on his very personal journey of self-awareness -- I couldn't put it down -- a thrilling read! I highly recommend it to everyone!

Excellent Book
I recently read this very interesting book by Donald Norsic.The book was so well written I could not stop reading it. My eyes were glued to every printed word! The book so impressed me that I read it twice. I wanted to ensure that I missed nothing important and that I understood it correctly as written. No book in recent memory has made such an impression on me. I am currently reading it for the third time! I believe "namedejour" from Texas is being extremely critical. Mr. Norsic writes extremely well and his experence is worth the read!


The Seagull (Plays for Performance)
Published in Paperback by Ivan R Dee, Inc. (May, 1992)
Authors: Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Bernard Sahlind, and Nicholas Rudall
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In Chekov this is called comedy
Oh tormented people. One may read 'The Seagull' and wonder what's that all those things about death and killing, and failing love stories. So sad! But in Chekov's world this is a comedy, and it doesn't take too much to get why. It is indeed funny in some parts-- well, not the kind of funny we are used to, but nevertheless, it makes us laugh.

The tragicomic play is of paramount importance in modern teather. Rarely has a playwriter written such a realistic piece analyzing the life of an artist and his/her role in the society. In 'The Seagull' Treplieff is a writer wanna be, who is trying to grow over the shadow of her mother --an aging actress--, and to get an actress wanna be to love him. But above all, he has to deal with feeling jelous of Trigorin a youger and successful writer. There aren't many characters, but there is so much going on, personal dilemas, that the story grows to a placeless dimension.

Chekov can write with such a confidence that for not a second you doubt the existence of these people. His words are vivid. More than 100 years later, his play is up to date dealing with issues that are universal and timeless-- that can make you either cry or laugh.

a masterful new translation
Russian plays aren't for everyone--they are dense, heavy affairs, packed full of ideas and slow moving characters. If you are looking for a fast-paced potboiler with lots of action, etc. then stay away from Chekhov. But if you enjoy reflection and having something to talk about when you finish a book then Checkhov will serve you well--and, most improtantly, if you want to read "The Seagull" this IS the translation to get--Stoppard has done a wonderful job, making this classic even more readable and enjoyable.

I would like to add that Chekov's brilliant play,
"The Seagull," is also about how the constraints of society restrict us from achieving our goals. Constantin is not appreciated by the masses for his "experiemental" writing. Masha (?) feels trapped by her social position and unwanted by Constantin thus marries a schoolteacher who she doesn't love. Although Trigorin achieved success through his mediocre novels, he feels unsatisfied by not creating "real" art and compelled to anihilate anyone who attempts to create real art, such as Constantin. It is interesting to note that Constantin is secretly envious of Trigorin for his success and Trigorin is envious of Constantin for maintaining his integrity in his art. Maybe that's why they're always at each other's throats. Just my two cents.


The Blood Star
Published in Hardcover by Atheneum (July, 1989)
Author: Nicholas Guild
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This book rocked my world
I cannot say enough about Nicholas Guild's two volume series concerning the loves and adventures of one Tiglath Ashur. Whether you love history, romance, adventure or a combination of all three you will be entertained and educated all at the same time.

I locked myself in my bedroom after I found this book in my local library and didn't come out again until I was finished. This book is just an incredible read. Nicholas Guild, if you're out there would you PLEASE, PLEASE write some more of this stuff.

I don't care how you do it but find this book and "The Assyrian". I promise you you will love them.

Gush-worthy historical fiction
I can do nothing but gush and rave about this book! Where has this author gone, and will there be more? Nicholas Guild has an amazing mastery of storytelling and language, as in this sequel to the wonderful novel, The Assyrian, he brings to life an ancient and admirable hero in the land of Assyria, about 700 B.C.

Tiglath Ashur, a prince who should have been king, detours through life at the whim and design of the god Ashur. Tiglath is noble, brave, wise, a disciplined commander of armies who can mete destruction or mercy as justice requires. His journey through life takes him to the heights of victory, and to the depths of banishment. He always looks to the god and his signs to guide him as he escapes assassins and takes deadly treks through scorching desert, labyrinthine swamps, and squares off with enemies who set traps for him in unexpected places. Tiglath has fascinating companions, too: Kephalos, his loyal and cunning servant; Enkidu, his mute giant of a bodyguard, and Selana, his feisty Greek wife. Not only does the plot of this book take you on a great ride of adventure and human emotion, but it is told eloquently, in language with rich metaphors and detail.

Of course I had to find out more information about this historical period of Assyria, around the time of Tiglath's father, King Sennacherib. What I found online was sketchy compared to the novel, but with that skeleton of historical records, the author has built an incredibly imaginative and satisfying story, about 1400 pages between the two books. I greatly enjoyed the first: The Assyrian, but Blood Star was even better, and to cap it off, it ended perfectly.

Almost a decade expecting
I bought The Assyrian while I was living in Panama. Back then, I was a 17 year-old guy,with my head full of dreams of greatness and ambition. I read it and inmediately felt myself identified with Tiglath; I thought I was someone powerful, lucky and admired by women. I read it again a couple of years later. I felt the character grew up with me in responsability, awareness, etc. It was OK again, yet different. Last summer, I was on a bookstore just checking the latest History textbooks(I'm a History student), when a flashy cover appeared to me: The blood star.I picked it up and surprisingly it was the sequal to my all time favorite novel.As I was on vacatios i "devoured" it in 2 nights. I couln't stop!! I thik it's better than The Assyrian. I read it as a25 year old man, and I felt the same thing: I've been growing up with the character. I introduced this masterpieces to all my family, including my fiancee's, and they love it. Thanks Nicholas for also showing me the right career (historian, after a couple of years studying Law), and thank you for those dreams come true.


Seventh Swan
Published in Hardcover by Dobson Books (1962)
Author: Nicholas Stuart Gray
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A flawed but ultimately moving tale
I had a hard time getting into _The Seventh Swan_ at first; I think Gray's writing style was the culprit. He jumps between points-of-view constantly, so it's hard to tell who's thinking what. After I got used to that, though, I found a moving story in this book.

Alasdair is the seventh swan-brother from the famous fairy tale, left with a swan's wing instead of one of his arms because his sister was unable to finish that last shirt in time. He is a young Scottish lord in this novel, incredibly handsome but shrouded in self-pity and the immaturity that comes from having such a strange "childhood". Since he lacks his sword-arm, he has a bodyguard, Ewen, a gruff mercenary who is both more kind and more haunted than he seems.

Alasdair also has a sweetheart, Fenella, who finds out about what ails him--and being an intrepid young lady, sets out immediately to find the magic to give him back his arm! But dangers await, and many dumb decisions are made by various characters, and misadventures ensue. We come to care for all of the characters. Although I would have preferred a different ending to the story, _The Seventh Swan_ was worth reading.

Powerful, mature and realistic fantasy
Philip Pullman recently said that the big,important themes are dealt with in childrens' books. This proves him right. Love and attraction, keeping and breaking faith, fear and courage, and learning to live with, but not be bound by, your limitations, are among the themes of this magnificent story that redeems the often-cutesified term 'magical' and reminds us that faery is a dangerous place. I've read this book over and over again and every time it moves me to tears. If you can handle grown-up magic and real emotions, you must read it.

Wonderous read for fairy tale lovers!
Did you ever wonder what happened AFTER some of the fairy tales you've read? If you've read the story this answers--or even if you haven't!--this will be worth your time to read and enjoy.

I loved _The_Seventh_Swan_. Even though I've read it over and over, I always react to it with wonder and hope and love and sorrow. I think you will too. Every time I glance into it I get drawn into rereading the whole tale, and I am very glad to have found it. [I try to collect the tales in this publisher's series, because I've enjoyed several of them.]

You may be surprised by this fairy tale. I highly recommend it, from the characters to the clever insights to the witty comments. Unlike most traditional tales, the characters have names and personalities; by the time the pipe plays you will know them. I suspect you will cherish them.

I invite you into the world of fairy tales - come, step inside, be breathless with wonder. =smile=

Also, to pique your interest in Gaelic, the author includes a glossary of the phrases he used at the book's end. It's made me realize that I too could learn Gaelic; some of the endearments are my favorite phrases.


Magic Words That Bring You Riches
Published in Paperback by Nicholas Direct Inc (December, 1998)
Author: Ted Nicholas
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should be "magic words in book's title bring author riches"
my disappointment in this book can only be expressed by the following blunt statement: the purpose of this book is to enrich the author. no benefit to the reader is evident. I would recommend saving your pennies and looking elsewhere.

If You Want To Become A Millionaire Buy This Book NOW.
Quit simply the best book in my library to date,i have had this
book for approximatly 6 months and i have already made more
money in this time than i have made in the last 16 years working
for other people,and those are the facts.

"Are you ready to be rich"?
Let me start by saying, this book was not what I expected. I really thought it would focus on a lot of please & thank-you's, along with the persuasive manipulation of people. I was pleased to find that this wasn't the case. The first sixty-eight pages are filled with amateur illustrations on one page followed by captions such as, "Fly first class for the price of coach"- after which the author would explain how to ask for an upgrade etc.. Needless to say, after reading the first sixty-eight pages I was ready to throw in the towel... But wait, from there the book exploded. This is a book about direct marketing. I am not a marketing specialist by any means, but this book helped me realize that everyone is marketing/selling him/herself in one way or another. From the six year old kid with the lemonade stand, to Sears, Penneys, or Victorias Secret, and Dell Computers, anybody that sells a product uses direct marketing tactics. Even Wal-Mart and Microsoft are direct marketers, very good ones I might add. Ted is a genius in this regard. This book was not only good, it was Outstanding. Oh, one other thing about this book which may discourage some readers is the blatant over-use of advertisement of Teds personal ads on Teds own books. It is very annoying, to say the least. Ted Nicholas does, however, walk his talk. I'm sure that along with the wording, the persistent and repetitive use of his brand of advertising have sold millions of dollars worth of merchandise. I have learned a lot from reading this book, and I have this motto, "Learn something new each day and keep the wolves away". Always keep an open mind as you read. This book is one to read and keep handy for future reference.


Ramage & the Freebooters: The Lord Ramage Novels No. 3
Published in Paperback by McBooks Press (01 April, 2000)
Author: Dudley Pope
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#3 in an exciting series
Lt. Lord Ramage single-handedly overcomes the fleet mutiny at Spithead, sees through a slaver's ruse to take a rich prize, exposes a spy, and winkles out a secretive privateer terrorizing the Caribbean. A busy, and entertaining, fellow.

I like the sense of adventure, the clever plots, Ramage's audacity and modesty, the nautical lore and clearly described maneuvering, and the sense of place. I don't like Pope's insertion of interesting lore as a device to delay the action once it's underway, his predictably good or evilly incompetent characters (irrespective if friend or foe), and his telegraphed plot solutions (despite coy circumspection). However, in Freebooters there IS one key character about whom Pope did maintain my suspicions through many chapters and another person turns out to have had conflicting loyalties. Two minor plot elements jumped out as inconsistent.

These McBook pb edition books have a nice look, heft, and feel. (Why DID they pick that silly name?) Again there's wrap-around cover art by Peter Wright, evocative in its ghostly silence and spidery tracery. Wright repeatedly over-emphasizes an integrated design for the catheads, one that reminds me of horned beetles or owls.

Is it odd how many maritime authors write series rather than one-off novels? Pope, Woodman, Kent, Forester, O'Brian; D.C. Poyer doing it for the modern navy. Maybe it is the ready handle of a rigidly structured career ladder to follow and explore, each rung offering a different view of command behavior and individual psychology. Do others find the early books in a series offer the greatest compass for ingenuity, excitement, and water-level story telling? For example, some of the later O'Brian titles in the Pacific drag interminably to small effect, and Lambdin's Lewrie loses some of his bold, ah, flirtation.

4 carronades crashing for Ramage 3
In the third installment of the Ramage series, can our hero overcome the mutiny at Spithead, deliver dispatches to 3 separate fleets and solve the mystery of disappearing ships? The fact that there are 15 more novels in the series hints at a successful conclusion. Of course the redoubtable Ramage will overcome all obstacles and emerge triumphant although not without controversy. In the first two novels, Ramage was successful but his means of achieving success left him open to criticism. It would be unreasonable for a first time reader to expect anything any different in Ramage three.

Like the first two novels, the action in Ramage and the Freebooters starts early although shots aren't fired until well into the book. Still the novel builds to a thrilling climax with lots of action along the way. It's a good read.

Pope typically includes mysteries and subterfuge as part of the action in his novels. In Ramage and the Freebooters there are covert operations, spying, and mysterious goings on. My only complaint in that regard is that it seemed obvious who was doing the spying.

I also had a couple of other concerns about the story. Ramage finds romance in the Caribbean while Gianna waits at home. He seems to feel no guilt about establishing another relationship while he is involved with Gianna. Oh well, this was published in 1969, "love the one your with" etc. Also, unless one has a map of the Caribbean, the sailing is confusing, as is the setting in the climax. Maps would have been a real plus.

Pope was a sailor and his knowledge of the sea shows. He does include some realistic details (his description of the fashioning of the cat for example) but doesn't overburden the story with them. The Caribbean is a winter vacation spot now but Pope conveys it as the disease infested hellhole that it must have been 200 years ago. Also, it is clear that Ramage is a born, charismatic leader. Some people are like that and Ramage conveys natural authority better in this novel than the first two.

Ramage and the Freebooters isn't as good as the first two but it is a worthy entry in the series.

As good as the last two. Read also The Black Ship, by Pope
.

**********************************************

Review of the Ramage series of novels:

Don't read this until you have read the first book: Ramage and Ramage and the Drumbeat by Dudley Pope. Also included below a partial review of The Black Ship, also by Pope about a factual mutiny.

Book 1: Ramage

Book 2: Ramage and the Drumbeat

Book 3: Ramage and the Freebooters

Book 4: Governor Ramage RN

Book 5: Ramage's Prize

Book 6: Ramage and the Guillotine

Order them all, because you won't want to stop. The action is fast and furious.

This is third in a series of historical fiction by Dudley Pope. All of these are fictional novels based on British Admiralty records of the Napoleonic era. Written in the best tradition of Forester and O'Brien, these books will capture your imagination. And if you haven't read the Hornblower series by Forester, or the Aubrey/Maturin series by O'Brien, try them also. All of these are excellent books that you will treasure and reread. I particularly like these books by Pope. I recommend that you buy them all at once and read them in order. You will be glad you did.

If you enjoy reading accurate descriptions of naval maneuvers in the age of sail, or simply a good adventure yarn, Dudley Pope delivers. Pope conveys how the best of the best, handle emergency situations. He portrays these situations with realism and authenticity.

Review of this book:

Ramage, is given command of the Triton with orders to deliver a warning to three offshore fleets that the fleet in homeport has mutinied. His first job is to get the Triton under way and he comes up with a surprise to get the mutinous Triton's out of port. Even then he still has to hold the crew together and build their loyalty. Then upon arriving in the West Indies, he is given a mission and set up by his admiral to take a fall and must gamble against the odds to be successful.

Buy the series in the hard cover--worth keeping and handing down.

For more historical information about mutiny in history, read the factual story of the most notorious mutiny of all time in the, The Black Ship by Dudley Pope. It gives keen insight into the conditions of the time, an analysis of the mind of a heartless Captain whose floggings often resulted in the deaths of his men, the terrrible casualty rates due to Yellow Fever, and the gruesome deaths of the officers. One horrific tale, but if you have the stomach for it, well worth reading.

A good yarn. Buy them all. I'm starting on the next one tonight.

*************************************************

Conrad B. Senior


Latin for People : Latina Pro Populo
Published in Paperback by Little Brown & Co (Pap) (July, 1978)
Authors: Alexander Humez and Nicholas Humez
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You need a teacher
I have a great desire to learn the Latin language and was hoping to get a head start for my high school course. Latin is a complex language if you don't have an experienced teacher to explain in-depth the structure of correct Latin. While learnign the endings is not so hard, it's more using all of the endings in nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs in a correct fasion. This book scantily explains these, thus making it difficult to correctly piece together sentances. It also throws complicated items such as the declension of duo, duae, ambo, ambae etc. I would reccomend this as a simple review or an experienced student...

A pleasant, FYI tour of the Latin language
A pleasant FYI tour that gives one a sense of the terrain, anecdotal, familiar, almost a nudge-nudge, wink-wink tone, not terribly rigorous, and has a few exercises at the end of each chapter. I would check out a copy before purchasing it, and would not recommend trying to learn Latin straight from it. It serves best as a supplement to another, more thorough text.

A dead language? Minime!
This book, 'Latin for People: Latina pro Populo', is an engaging way of learning the basics of the Latin language. Humez and Humez intersperse history and story with grammar lessons to make them less intimidating and more accessible. Alas, you will still need to learn conjugations and some words (languages are like that, you know), but you will practice on translating such sentences as: An island is not a suitable place for an adulterer. For the record, they do not give advice as to what would be a suitable place.

In the chapter entitled 'Mood Music', one learns a bit about pre-Christian Roman music, including the forerunner to our do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do, that being hexachordal ut-re-mi-fa-so-la (the unsingable ut being happily replaced now with the modern do). Other chapters bring in specific topics to deepen the vocabulary and quality of texts as well as explicate grammar points.

All the basics of a Latin grammar are included in this brief book, but there is always more to be had. Humez and Humez in the final chapter proceed to give suggestions, which include many of the classics (the Aenied, the Biblia Sacra, Caesar's De Bello Gallico) as well as texts such as Harrington's Medieval Latin.

This book certainly contains all the Latin a non-scholar would need, and goes a long way in making one appear much more educated than the average bear (especially if one supplements this with memorised quotations from Winnie Ille Pu!). It also is a good refresher for those of us who did the Latin course with such drier tomes like Wheelock.


Matlab Guide
Published in Paperback by Society for Industrial & Applied Mathematics (September, 2000)
Authors: Nicholas J. Higham and Desmond J. Higham
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Not a good book for beginners
I bought this book because I saw the good reviews about it here. I just started to learn Matlab, so what I really need is a book that can describe things clearly, and STEP BY STEP. When I was reading the first chapter, which is a small Matlab tutorial (The authors stressed that the readers should walk through chapter one), I got so frustrated because there are so many functions and procedures I don't know and the authors don't explain (They defend this in their preface though). I moved on to the rest of the book and I found that it happens everywhere: this book keeps jumping on some fancy math subjects without explaining clearly the fundermentals. They didn't bother to explain the syntax for lots of programs.
I gave up on this book. What I had to do is find a online tutorial to get me started. I did find one good tutorial from University of Dundee, you can search its website in google. I am going to keep Matlab Guide in case I need it some time. But for starters, look elsewhere.

Triple C - concise, comprehensive, captivating
Matlab Guide is a clearly written, well structured and quite comprehensive account of the capabilities of Matlab. In each chapter, the material explained swiftly progresses from the simple to the more complex, making this book a concise source of information and an excellent reference for the intermediate to advanced Matlab user. The focus is on mathematical topics; the pieces of example code are a nice mixture of playful toys and serious applications. Also, the book contains important hints concerning efficient programming, it has a very agreeable layout, and the citations at the end of each chapter do their job in keeping the reader's mood at a high level. Clearly, absolute beginners may have a hard time working their way through it, and the coverage of isolated topics, like file input/output, is a little meager. However, this is only a minor point. All in all, so far having used matlab primarily for data analysis (electrophysiology) I very much enjoyed and benfited from a fresh look at it from a different perspective.

A serious book for all users of MATLAB
This is a book that doesn't ignore that MATLAB is a tool for mathematicians, but at the same doesn't alienate the non-specialist.

Starting with a basic tutorial and continuing with useful short cuts and introductions to script files, functions and graphics this book gives the reader an immediate working knowledge of the basic functions and data structures of MATLAB.

Later chapters address linear algebra (with treatment of eigenvalue problems, linear systems and matrix decompositions) and numerical methods (for differential equations and other problems); both with enough mathematical background and each topic can be accessed independently.

The book finishes with important topics such as optimizing functions, input and output, use of the Symbolic Toolbox and a final chapter with more tricks and tips.

You are left convinced that the authors are extensive users and admirers of this software, and through this book the reader can become the same.


Scales of Gold (The House of Niccolo)
Published in Hardcover by Knopf (June, 1992)
Author: Dorothy Dunnett
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confusing & disappointing
This review should be read with the following caveat: I did not know that this was part of a series. Consequently, much of the confusion that I experienced would not be experienced by a dedicated fan of the series. That being said, there is still much that is confusing about this book. The author has us linger for chapter after chapter in particular spots for no apparent reason, as there is no significant plot or character development that occurs. Ms. Dunnett often seems to be swept away in her characterization of renaissance Europe & pre-colonization Africa, so much so that she loses herself (and her reader) in description of places and events that turn out to have little (if any) relation to the underlying story. More disappointing, however, is the ending. This book is at its heart about individuals looking for peace from their pasts and from the ghosts that they carry with them. The ending could easily be a commentary on how each have the personal power to free ourselves from our pasts, and that only we as individuals have that power. Instead however, the ending turns the story into nothing more than a tale of bitterness and rivalry, with potentially great people giving into pettiness and hate.

Just a Bit too much for my taste this time.
I love Dorothy Dunnett's writing, and the way she describes the exotic places that our hero visits is extraordinary. This book covers the mysterious land of Africa. We see so much majesty and grandeur here, especially in fabulous Timbuktu. We see a much more mature Nicholas as he finds and admits real friends into his world. Godsalc and Loppe finally get to see some of the true Nicholas. Diniz is a real treasure and I really like this character. Nicholas' group faces real danger and privation in this book and none of them that attempt the adventure come back the same. Nicholas does manage to regain and even add to his fortune. Something that is different in this book is that there is not much description of what happened on the trip that Nicholas and Godsalc took to find Ethiopia. We also didn't hear much about the trip across the Sahara. This is indeed different for Ms. Dunnett, since these two events are what really changed Nicholas outlook and his dealings with his people. She always goes into quite vivid details about side trips that Nicholas has taken in previous books. Now why, after I have extolled all the virtues of this book have I only given it a 4 instead of a 5? Because I felt cheated at the end of the book. Yes, it's a clever cliffhanger, and it does make you want to continue reading the other books to find out if Nicholas does find his true love, but to me it seemed like "grandstanding", and that's not like the Dorothy Dunnett that I know and love. I won't reveal the ending for those of you who want to read the book because it would spoil it for you, but suffice it to say that there is nothing in the previous 500 pages to explain why she chose this way to end the story. Yes, I will continue to read the series, but I must admit that I was disappointed and angry after I closed the covers on this one.

my review
In this book, the fourth chapter in the Niccolo series, Nicholas engages in to his biggest adventure yet. He is faced with the imminent bankrupcy of his bank, he therefore decides to go to Africa and reach the source of the gold traffic. He is aided by Loppe his ex slave and now his friend and companion.

In this trip he is accompanied by his priest, father Godscalc and he is forced to take Diniz and Gelis, Katelina's sister and a lady from Scotland, (friend of Diniz's mother, Lucia, also Simon's sister), who is there to chaperone Gelis and help Diniz out. The deat of his father and Simon's sale of his half property in Madeira has also left them almost destitute.

This is the most daring of books yet in the series. There are so many adventures they face and so many inknown places and such different people! The author describes in detail all the trails they have to go through to reach the source of the gold and its traffic. The kingdoms they pass with their different clans and beliefs, as well as the danger they face for there is a need to keep this source of gold a permanent secret

Once again, the marriage of fiction and real history is masterfully done and this is a great real and very, very enjoyable book.

I can't wait to read the next one....


The West End Horror: A Posthumous Memoir of John H. Watson, M.D.
Published in Paperback by W.W. Norton & Company (June, 1994)
Author: Nicholas Meyer
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Better Than the "Seven-Per-Cent Solution"
I was reluctant to read this one after the "Seven-Percent Solution," but Mr. Meyer disappointed me by writing a much better story.

This story appeared first in Play Boy, and the book is a longer revision of that one.

The story is about Murders that haunted the west end. Of course Sherlock Holmes cannot hold back when there are murders nearby.

The good thing about the book is that Mr. Meyer does not claim that any of the manuscripts provided by Doyle were forgeries. The bad thing is that he still uses real characters, like Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and Bram Stoker, which I still say is dumb.

One other thing I hate about these pastiches is that they insist on saying that Watson was a real person, and that he used to publish his work under the pseudonym Conan Doyle, or else that Conan Doyle was the agent under whose name Watson used to publish works. I realize that this is one way to make things continue, but come on, we all know that we are only fooling ourselves.

Anyhow, I think the book might deserve 4 stars if not for the little drawbacks I mentioned above, and I am sure you are going to enjoy it, but try first to get it from the library, just in case you detested it.

a little disappointing
Unfortunately, I must confess to being a little disappointed with Meyer's second Holmes pastiche. First of all, he went overboard with the famous people. It was as if he was trying to pay homage to all his favorite writers at once. And all the famous people just hurt the story for me. Sigmund Freud in "The Seven Percent Solution" was okay because I don't think that the book would have been the same had Meyer created a fictional person to treat Holmes' cocaine addiction. But in this one, all the famous people just seemed completely unnecessary and I felt that the book would have been much better if Meyer had created fictional characters instead of putting Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, etc. etc. into the novel. Secondly, there weren't enough deductions in the book. And third, I felt that the book was too much about the mystery and not enough about the characters. Doyle's Holmes stories were generally a little more about the characters than the majority of this book was. But then this goes back to all the famous people. There was no need for Meyer to tell us about the characters because we already knew them. The last few chapters are very good as far as being a little more about the characters but most of the book was just too much about the mystery. I'm still going to give the book 4 stars though because it was well written and, as in his first pastiche, Meyer did well with Holmes and Watson. The basic plot of the book was also good and inventive and seemed like something that Doyle would have written. There were also enough interesting scenes that made the book well worth reading in spite of the problems that I had with it. To give just one example, there's a scene involving Holmes' indoor target practice and it is discussed in a little more detail than in Doyle's stories. I won't mention anymore of the scenes that I liked so as not to spoil anything for those who haven't read it. Overall, I found "The West End Horror" to be a very decent Holmes pastiche and I would recommend reading it, but just don't expect it to be as good as "The Seven Percent Solution". Also, this book is not about Jack the Ripper. I've read summaries that say the book is about Jack the Ripper but it isn't.

Gotta love Sherlock!
I've read The West End Horror 3 times and absolutely love it. I would recommend it to anyone who likes Sherlock Holmes and I think Nicholas Meyer writes even better than Conan Doyle! I used part of the solution as an example in a project I did recently on the... well if I give you the topic, I'll also give you the solution to the mystery so I won't spoil it.


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