As I have mentioned to several readers who have written to me about my "Ancient Sunlight" reviews, it appears that Adolf Hitler is the "Lucifer" referred to in Volume 14 of this almost encyclopedic work.

In a manner of speaking, this book is also devilishly long, perhaps the longest, largest, fattest of them all, advancing the story more and more until the flood that permeates the end of the final volume "The Gale of the World."

This is another great INTERIM part of the overall saga, but if the reader has managed to read all thirteen prior volumes, he or she may by now have grown weary of the extended passages describing the countryside and all of Philip's efforts to promote a re-birth of an agrarian economy in Devon.

However, please do not take this as a deterrent. The complete "Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight" merits more attention in the literary world, even though it not at all "politically correct" to advocate it.

However, having survived the entire saga about three years ago, I cannot blame readers who may preferring skimming some of the volumes rather than fully digesting them.

Please see my review under the title "A Fox Under My Cloak" for more details about the overall work.

After the death of Elizabeth, James VI of Scotland was welcomed to the English throne by wildly jubilent subjects. Most of their joy came from relief over the smooth succession and the avoidance of the devastating civil war that many of the Virgin Queen's subjects anticipated with dread. Suddenly the nightmare of an uncertain succession was a thing of the past. Here was an experienced king, a relatively young man wed to a king's daughter, and the father of three healthy children. England fell in love with the heir to the throne, the handsome, athletic, effortlessly regal and highly promising Prince Henry.

This book is not so much a biography of the young prince, but a study of his "personation." From his birth, Henry was the focus of myth-makers: clergymen, poets, noblemen, all eager to impose their own agendas. He would be a warrior king -- Henry V reborn. He would be the Protestant champion who would unite Protestant Europe and drive the Papists into oblivion. He would undo the lifework of his peacemaker father and rekindle the age-old conflict against Spain. He would promote English patriotism not only through war, but through aggressive colonization. He would rebuild the crumbling navy, and make England a power to be respected and feared. And he might have done all this and more, had he not died at the age of eighteen.

In a very real sense, a study of the myth -- the personation -- is a study of Henry's life. The young prince apparently absorbed these expectations and attempted to mold himself to fulfill them. He excelled in martial sports, was a fine horsemen, and was fascinated with naval and military history. He carried on correspondence with Henry VI of France, befriended Sir Walter Ralegh, supported the colonization of Virginia. The Puritans held up his austere, disciplined life as an example, as well as a rebuke the decadence of the Jacobean court.

It's tempting to speculate on what might have been. What if the athletic prince had contented himself with another tennis match rather than swimming in the highly poluted Thames? What if the medicine that the imprisoned Ralegh sent (probably quinine, which might have broken the debilitating fever)had been administered earlier? If Henry lived, could he have averted the Civil War that shattered his younger brother's reign? Or would he have led England into a disastrous continental war? This book suggests some interesting possibilities.

Not recommended for the casual reader, but an excellent addition to the library of anyone who is interested in the history of the early 17th century, and the fascinating story of the Stuart dynasty.

If the Great War may be said to have produced anything (besides carnage and irresolution), it is certainly the inexhaustible spate of talented English authors that first comes to mind. Those that lived (Graves, Sassoon, Blunden) and those that didn't (Owen, Brooks, Thomas) left a literary legacy of war poetry and war prose that is still unsurpassed.
The nature-loving, writing-obsessed Henry Williamson is not often included along with his fellow soldier-scribblers and is, indeed, barely known outside of England. Despite a canon well over forty tomes, Williamson's work has drifted in and out-of-print in the United States. His majestic WET FLANDERS PLAIN, which chronicles his somber return to the former battlefields after a twelve-year absence, cost this author (dollar amount) used in paperback and much anticipation as it slowly arrived from somewhere in Australia. Most of his novels are missing-in-action from used bookshop across America and must be ordered from abroad.
Fortunately, THE PATRIOT'S PROGRESS is still available (well, sort-of) and perhaps not for long. Perhaps his best-known novel in America, PATRIOT'S tells the story of Private John Bullock and his progress from a boorish London office job to the battlefields of France. Enhanced by the marvelous Masereel-esque woodcuts of
William Kermode, the novel details in sparse verbiage the life of the men in the trenches. Although not as detail-oriented as Blunden or Graves, it is nonetheless of interest to both the reader of literature and the historian and has been taught in university courses on The Great War. Williamson is an extremely important writer whose works certainly deserve a wider audience.

Much of this volume, as well as "A Solitary War" and "The Power of the Dead" focus on the pummeling of tradition by progress, as well as Philip's desire to forge a happy life with Lucy and her [unfortunately] rather obtuse family. Despite his best efforts to farm in Devon, he can never seem to reach success in all his attempts. Again, this is one of the many autobiographical aspects of the "Chronicle." I call this a "triumph" because it works well as an "interim" work in the saga, moving things along, yet providing panoramic miniutiae on nature, with which Williamson was so obsessed. A great work. [Please see my review of the entire saga under the title "A Fox Under My Cloak."

The Star Wars film-to-comic adaptations have been notoriously bad, and this one is no exception. Oh, the art isn't as drab as the previous adaptations, and it's not as hard to follow, but it's judt boring. It follows the film much too literally, and even though from some of the pictures it's clear the artists didn't have the complete movie to work from, even the poses and facial expressions like copied from the film.

This would have been a much better comic if it had been combined with the Episode I Adventures story into one big, comprehensive graphic novel, but as it is, it's just boring.

Also, the art, which as I said isn't dull, still isn't great. I feel that there was a lot of unexploited potential in this comic, and I don't understand why such a visually-oriented film should be so hard to convert to the comic medium.

Stay away from this one.

First, let me say that I am not a comic book expert. I haven't read that many recently, so I don't have a wealth of knowledge to compare this graphic novel against

That being said, I still feel able to judge the Graphic Novel for Star Wars: Episode One against my general Star Wars knowledge. Jar Jar haters will be pleased that his role was reduced a little, and that he doesn't come off as goofy as he does in the movie.

This is graphic novel is fairly true to the spirit of the movie. In places, the dialogue has been shortened, or a scene shortened, but for the most part, the book covers the movie.

However, there are places that if you did not know the story from the movie, you might get a little lost. For instance, the battle between the Gungans and the Droid Army. All of a sudden, the droid infantry just shows up with no real explanation that they were deployed from the troop carriers.

In other places, the novel fails to capture the drama, adventure, or feel of the movie. This is most apparent during the Pod Race. None of the speed, danger, or implications of the race are apparent. If this weren't a novelization of a movie, one would have to wonder why it was even included.

Overall, it is still a fun read, and a nice visual reference to the movie. Some additional narrative comments between panels to direct the action would have made up for some of the deficiencies, and the art could have been more inspiring. It'll stay in my collection as a reference, but it probably won't be reread much.

This book is the graphic novel (comic book) of The Phantom Menace. It's a great book and I've read it thousands of times. The illustrations are great and and no characters are out of place. I think that the authors did a great job with Qui-Gon Jinn especially. And all of the other characters were great. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves Star Wars. This is definently a Star Wars book to add to your collection.