(3.5 stars) Great world with tons of fun magical stuff but annoying romance and over dictation by the...

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	• Heart of Light Sarah A. Hoyt Spectra, 2008 - 528 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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Interesting setting for this magical tale

This was a very enjoyable book in that it was unclear, the whole way through reading it, what was going to happen at the end. So many books are very predictable that to find one that took the reader on a voyage of discovery and surprise was a real treat.

As the book opens we travel with Nigel Oldhall and his new wife Emily as they travel by flying carpet to Egypt for their supposed Honeymoon. However Nigel actually has an additional important reason for the trip - he's been sent on a mission to find a magical ruby which will ensure Queen Victoria's hold on India forever. Unfortunately things start to go wrong from the very beginning; Nigel and Emily's honeymoon doesn't really get off the ground before Nigel discovers his contacts in Cairo have been killed. The shadowy group known as the Hyena Men are apparently also after the ruby and when Emily does something to get her dragged into the quest things get even worse.

The majority of this book takes place as Nigel, Emily and a friend of Nigel's named Peter Farewell travel through the African landscape in their search for the ruby. They are accompanied by many native bearers including the enigmatic Kitwana and the Masai woman Nassira. The point of view of the story changes chapter by chapter as we follow events through the eyes of Emily, Nigel, Kitwana and Nassira. There are some surprises unveiled but much of the action is in people's minds as they begin to understand what the quest is about. The British attitude towards the native is well portrayed throughout the book and is toe-curlingly embarrassing, especially as it seems historically accurate. I felt the book lost its way in the middle a little as Nigel and Emily kept suspecting each other of various things on the slimmest of evidence. However, overall it was a good read with an interesting magical element and a surprising resolution in terms of the relationships between the main characters.

The book doesn't end at a particularly clear point and there is a follow-up book to be published which continues the story. However it's a good enough read in its own right and the African setting certainly gives it more punch than a traditional Victorian novel.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

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(3.5 stars) Great world with tons of fun magical stuff but annoying romance and over dictation by the powers that be

It was the cover that drew me to this book. A woman in Victorian dress standing on the dessert sands at sunset looking at what is apparently Buckingham palace flying overhead on a magic carpet. Then the premis drew me in: a world where magic is in the place of technology but that magic was bound to the ruing class by using a ruby ages ago and now queen Victoria wants the other ruby (named the heart of light) to perform this act again and basically take magic away from all others in the world so they can continue to be subjugated.

To this end she sends Nigel Oldhall and his new bride Emily to Africa on their honeymoon to find the ancient jewel rumored to have-with its long lost twin-bound the universe in one to keep parallel planes from splitting off and confusing things. But of course things get in the way of Nigel's quest. Everyone who was to help him is dead and the small but fierce African resistance to the great jewel plot, the hyena men, set binds which could kill or enslave upon Nigel and Emily. Luckily an old friend of Nigel's just happens to be in town-or is it? Because as helpful as Peter is, everywhere he is there are reports of were-dragons (yup, just like werewolves, only dragon style.)

This is complicated fantasy with a lot of different things to keep in mind but it's not overwhelming. The basis is good, the world is great and the plot is pretty solid. But the romance aspect? Sadly this book suffers from the common aliment of Love at First Sight. Or rather, love for no reasonable basis but mutual physical attraction. And not with who'd you think either. Also way too much of the quest aspect is just laid of for our heroes by wise people and various gods/goddess they meet along the way. Annoying. They never seem to figure anything out on their own. Anything important anyway.

All in all though it's a good novel for the first in a trilogy. Flying carpets instead of cruise boats, trains powered by magic, guns which shoot magical energy, mind melds and al kinds of were-creatures...it's a fantasy lover's dream world to pay around in. I'm looking forward to the other two.

Three point five stars.

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It's Part Of A Series!!

OH, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the alternate victorian universe - magic in such a staid world is a great contrast. Victorians were, in their way, more staidly scientific than we are! But this contrast, starting with a honeymoon cruise that occurs on a Hotel on a Flying Carpet, is quite well done.

The characters are pretty well drawn, with many facets and challenges to them throughout the story. The plot is not hugely intricate, but because it is told from many points of view, the hero/good guy POV is not overtly apparent from the beginning. This makes for a more interesting read than the usual fantaasy.

I believe this kind of fantasy is an acquired taste, but for those who like this AU magic kind of stuff, it's a good story. My biggest complaint is that it is the first of 2 books, and this is not at all clear upon reading the jacket of the book. I do not like being thusly sucker punched.

(*)>

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reviews: page 1, 2

Set in a magical Victorian British Empire that never was, this unique fantasy blends adventure, intrigue, and romance, as a newlywed couple embark on a dangerous quest?and, in the process, discover their own heart?s desires.

On a luxury magic carpetship in 1889, an English couple travel to Cairo for their honeymoon. Except for a brush with a dragon, the voyage is uneventful. But for Nigel Oldhall and his beautiful Indian-born bride, Emily, the holiday hides another purpose. Within hours of arriving in the teeming city, they are plunged into an extraordinary struggle among demons, murderers, and magic.

In Cairo, Nigel can no longer hide his secret from his wife: he is on a mission to rescue a ruby that will ensure Queen Victoria?s hold on Africa forever. But the search has already swallowed up Nigel?s older brother?and now it has put his own Emily in mortal danger. But is she the innocent Nigel imagines? Soon, separately and apart, the two will set off for the heart of the continent among conspirators and traitors, all seeking the ruby and the gifts and curses it offers them?and all of humankind.?

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