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Susannah Kells

Autor(a) de A Crowning Mercy

5 Works 678 Membros 15 Reviews

About the Author

Includes the name: Kells Susannah R2H7

Disambiguation Notice:

(eng) Pseudonym for Bernard Cornwell and his wife Judy

Séries

Obras de Susannah Kells

A Crowning Mercy (1983) 358 cópias
Fallen Angels (1984) 275 cópias
The Aristocrats (1986) 33 cópias
Das Hexen-Amulett (2008) 11 cópias

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Sexo
n/a
Aviso de desambiguação
Pseudonym for Bernard Cornwell and his wife Judy

Membros

Resenhas

One afternoon during the 1640's when King Charles I of England's Royalist forces are at war with Parliament's Roundheads a pretty young girl, illicitly swimming naked in a stream, is surprised a passing stranger. Her parents call her Dorcas, but he calls her Campion and she immediately falls in love with him.

So when an unbearable prospective husband is forced upon her, Dorcas flees to seek her lover, taking with her the one gift left to her by her unknown father- a golden seal.

There are four of these jewels, each owned by a stranger. If one person can gather them all then that person will have access to great wealth and power. This is Campion's inheritance.

I am normally a great fan of Bernard Cornwell's books and this one was supposedly written in collaboration with Susannah Kells (which I believe is the pen-name of Cornwell's wife). I rather suspect that it was she who did most of the writing and the publishers cynically exploiting her husband's fame. The historical background was well researched and the plot if rather absurd moved along at a decent pace, but the characterisation was poor and stereotypical, whilst I wasn't ever tempted to throw in the towel the final supposed twist so transparent I found it laughable.

All in all I found this one a dud and I won't be rushing out looking for any more in the series.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
PilgrimJess | outras 8 resenhas | Jun 25, 2022 |
I had read this before so I knew were things were going.

Dorcus/Campion annoyed me sometimes at the beginning.

I loved Lady Lazender.
 
Marcado
nx74defiant | outras 8 resenhas | Jan 14, 2018 |
17th c. Puritan England - Dorcas Slythe - "Campion" + Toby - covenant +seals
Enemies all want seal - very good.

In mid seventeenth-century England, the nation was in upheaval. In the Dorset countryside, one sunlit afternoon, a young girl - illicitly bathing in a stream - first fell in love with a passing stranger. Her parents called her Dorcas, but he called her Campion and that's what she longed to be, then and forever. She had one gift left for her by her unknown father - a pendant made of gold, banded by tiny glowing stones and at its base was a seal engraved with an axe and the words: St Matthew. So when she flees before the unbearable, worthy suitor who is forced upon her after her forbidden meeting, she takes this and the delicate lace gloves with her, and hopes to find her father, and her lover. There are four of these intricately wrought seals - each owned by a stranger, each holding a secret within. And when all four seals are united, then the holder will have access to great wealth and power. That is Campion's inheritance. But to claim this and find again her summer love, she must follow the course her father's legacy charts for her.… (mais)
 
Marcado
christinejoseph | outras 8 resenhas | Sep 6, 2015 |
“The Fallen Angels” has a lot of good things going for it, though I prefer the first book of the Crowning Mercy series. I like how the authors have created a sequel that is set in a different era, with brand new characters, yet manage to link this book back to its predecessor.

Whereas Book 1 had lots of conflict and dramatic situations, this second book starts out in a similar fashion, yet for most of the middle section it strikes me as lacklustre in some way. The last few chapters pick up the pace again, though they neither match the opening scenes, nor come close to the final stages in the first novel.

Both novels feature a heroine named Campion, with the Campion of this tale being the great-great granddaughter of the former. They are similar in appearance and personality, yet the first Campion appealed to me more.

Aspects that make this book lack sparkle is the amount of repetition and the overuse of adjectives. English style often gets overlooked in historical fiction, as most authors in this genre put all their efforts into researching the past. Content and style should complement each other.

Quite often a character is described with two or three adjectives when one would’ve sufficed. There’s a point where the character Gitan is introduced as wearing black. This information is followed up by listing all the characters garments, each of which is preceded by the word “black”, thus we have an overflow of adjectives and needless repetition.

What particularly annoyed me was the overuse of the phrases, “he/she smiled”, “he/she laughed”. One or both of these are used during almost every character interaction. This stands out more and more as the story progresses, slowing the narrative down, when in most cases the reader can imagine whether a character would smile or laugh by the context of the sentence, like with the following two:

>He smiled at her. 'It's going to be all right.'

>Her face was frowning. 'But what if he can't unblock the tunnel?'

As a rule, if a person tells someone that things will be all right, they say it with a smile. The second sentence is Campion expressing concern, thus it’s obvious what her face is doing. These additions to the dialogue, of which there are many, serve no purpose other than providing an unwanted distraction.

I do greatly admire Bernard Cornwell’s authorship, but in every book of his that I’ve read so far his weak point is always dialogue attribution. The dialogue itself is good, but he slows it down, distracting the reader with things like in the sentences above, or telling the reader which character is speaking when it’s obvious who it is.

Anyway, despite these minus points, the good parts really are good, thus it just about deserves four stars.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
PhilSyphe | outras 5 resenhas | Jan 7, 2015 |

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Associated Authors

Anna Bentinck Narrator

Estatísticas

Obras
5
Membros
678
Popularidade
#37,272
Avaliação
½ 3.4
Resenhas
15
ISBNs
59
Idiomas
3

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