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'The trees were lashed into a violent frenzy. Meg screamed and clutched at Calvin, and Mrs. Which's authoritative voice called out, "Qquiett chilldd."
Did a shadow fall across the moon, or did the moon simply go out, extinguished as abruptly and completely as a candle? There was still the sound of leaves, a terrified, terrifying rushing. All light was gone. Darkness was complete. Suddenly the wind was gone, and all sound. Meg felt that Calvin was being torn from her. When she reached for him, her fingers touched nothing.
She screamed out, "Charles!" and whether it was to help him or for him to help her, she did not know. The word was flung back down her throat and she choked on it.
She was completely alone.'
To find out what happens to Meg, you will have to read this book. First, you can get a brief preview of its exciting, unforgettable climax.
'With an immense effort she tried to breathe against the rhythm of IT. But IT's power was too strong. Each time she managed to take a breath out of rhythm an iron hand seemed to squeeze her heart and lungs.
Then she remembered that when they had been standing before the man with the red eyes, and the man with the red eyes had been intoning the multiplication table at them, Charles Wallace had fought against his power by shouting out nursery rhymes, and Calvin by the Gettysburg Address.
"Georgie, porgie, pudding and pie," she yelled. "Kissed the girls and made them cry."
That was no good. It was too easy for nursery rhymes to fall into the rhythm of IT.
She didn't know the Gettysburg Address. How did the Declaration of Independence begin? She had memorized it only that winter, not because she was required to at school, but simply because she liked it.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident!" she shouted, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
As she cried out the words she felt a mind moving in on her own, felt IT seizing, squeezing her brain. Then she realized that Charles Wallace was speaking, or being spoken through by IT.
"But that's exactly what we have on Camazotz. Complete equality. Everybody exactly alike."'
To find out what happens to Meg and her friends in the exciting resolution, I recommend that you read this imaginative novel, A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle.
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By not limiting himself to Versailles Mr.Lewis creates honesty. But he does not stop there, he remains true to the popular understanding. The Sun King's world brought to life.
Like his brother, C.S., Warren Lewis has that stereotyped but still very real and precious commodity of English commonsense. His good-humored rationality flavors the book but not to the detriment of the subject. Lewis was, afterall, writing about Louis XIV's France, not 20th century England. As with all the best historians, Lewis has the ability to see the world from outside the ideologies and pressures of the present. More than once, he cautions the reader against applying current century thinking to a 17th century problem or event.
But tone is where Lewis excels. Personable without being chatty, humorous without being sarcastic, A Splendid Century is amazingly relaxing to read, especially allowing for the subject matter and Lewis' fact-filled prose.
Recommendation: Buy it.
As the author points out in the introduction, the book might have been better titled "Some Aspects of Life in the Reign of Louis XIV;" rather than present a sequential narrative, Lewis chose to structure the book as a series of essays on particular aspects. There are chapters on the king and his court, the religious situation, the organisation of the army and the state of the peasantry. Among the unexpected pleasures of the book are the chapters on sea voyages, the world of the galleys and the education of women. A surprising omission, however, is a discussion of Colbert and his attempts at administrative reform. Nevertheless, this is a fine work of history that can be strongly recommended.
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It is therefore very fortunate that Henry should have such an excellent biography. Warren's "Henry II" takes the whole reign topically -- it does a wonderful job of teaching not only about Henry II but also the general topics of Medieval Kingship, English law and government, church & state, etc.
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Be warned--there is some nudity (not much) and gore (buckets full) so you might want to consider something else if you are not mature enough to handle this kind of stuff.
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By the way, this is a very...adult series. There is not really any nudity, but the female characters are so overendowed that you begin to wonder how they can stand. And there is gore--one of the female characters gets blown in half, and her...resurrection is shown in very bloody and graphic detail.
So, this is not a series for the fragile. If you think you can deal with seeing body parts ripped off and people cut in two and a great deal of blood and organs, then give Seraphic Feather a try. If not, well, there are other choices out there.
This looks to be a good series, but I would rather know some vital information that I think I missed somewhere. And I wish I had known about the horror aspect.
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