Book Review: Mark's Noble Quest by Katharine Campbell

Mark's Noble Quest: Rosaline's Curse Book 2 by Katharine Campbell

Having a girlfriend from the 1200s can be a challenge. Expectations were different back then. Everyday heroism involved fighting wild animals and overcoming the elements with what nature provides. This lack of classical heroism (or even of everyday skills) is Mark Reid's problem. He was an academic who lost his job and is now more or less on the run from the law (see the events of the previous story). His girlfriend, Rosaline, was in magical sleep for hundreds of years and has slowly adapted to life in the twenty-first century. She's working at a horse farm where tourists get to ride, the sort of place Mark has never even contemplated visiting. So he doesn't have the horse-riding skills that were commonplace in the thirteenth century or any sword-wielding panache. Much less has he killed any animal, wild or tame. To solve this problem, that is, to impress his lady, he gets help from Brother Joseph, a friendly magical being passing himself off as a monk in a local monastery. Joseph has a ready-made quest for Mark: just climb a volcano and recover a beautiful ring. Mark agrees even though Joseph promises there will three difficult challenges along the way.

The story has the same charming and light-hearted tone of Campbell's previous works. Mark is good-hearted and earnest even though he lacks the skill set that he thinks will win the day. He faces ghosts and gorgons with a sword and a cellphone, an odd combination that works for him and the story. Of course he is victorious at the end, though he also gets a little better perspective on his life and his relationship. He doesn't just do something, he learns something. The book goes by quickly (it's a little over fifty pages) but it is quite delightful.

Recommended.

I did receive a review copy from the author (thanks!) but my opinions are my own.

Book Review: Doctors, Assassins, and Other Tyrants by Katharine Campbell

Doctors, Assassins, and Other Tyrants by Katharine Campbell

In this sequel to Love, Treachery, and Other Terrors, Prince Augustine lives a good life. He's really a step-prince since his mother Damara was a lady-in-waiting to Princess Fausta of Kalathea. Damara married King Florian of Kaltehafen when Augustine was seven. He grew up thinking his father was a noble knight who had died in the Kalathean army. He dreams of being just that sort of upstanding nobleman, fighting for the innocent and for just causes. Unfortunately, his mother has been lying to him. His true father is Prince Justin, Fausta's older brother. Justin was a cruel and selfish man, leaving behind many ruined towns and countries and also many abandoned children. When Augustine is kidnapped by highwaymen, he doesn't know why, though they are taking him halfway across the world to get a good bounty. The brigands are tight-lipped about their client and the client's purposes. Fortunately, the royal family are not the only ones who want to save him. He's also pursued by his childhood sweetheart Lina. She's the daughter of the town doctor with plenty of her own medical knowledge. She was teased a lot as a red-headed child, something Augustine could identify with (being a step-child and having a belligerent cousin). He often intervened for her and they share romantic feelings.

The medieval setting provides plenty of opportunities for a long and interesting chase. They travel on foot, horseback, or cart, so the characters have plenty of time to interact and reveal more about their characters and their histories. There's a sprinkling of magic in the story, making for some odder obstacles to overcome and for the occasional shortcut around difficulties, like mortal wounds. The fantasy elements are not too overwhelming; they are there to help the story move forward, not a central part like in the first book. The world is an interesting place to meander through for the reader as well as the characters.

Augustine is a typical young man who wants to be the best he can be, which in a medieval fantasy is a heroic warrior-knight. He's optimistic and forthright, resulting in occasional problems for him. He also has the aforementioned denial of his origin to overcome, so he is a dynamic character. Lina is a typical young woman who is intelligent and independent. She does her best for others even under trying circumstances. Her natural generosity doesn't get her in as many pickles as Augustine gets into. The minor characters have enough time to get beyond their two-dimensional roles as Kidnappers, Obstacles to Overcome, and The Guy I Could Have Been. The kidnappers have a lot more depth than I was expecting, making them much more human and less like plot devices. The cast is engaging.

The writing style is light and entertaining. Wry comments about other characters are mostly put into the thoughts of the main characters. No one is particularly nasty to anyone else, most everyone is motivated by some good they want to achieve or some wrong they want to correct (though the later people veer into evil). The medieval fantasy setting has none of the bleakness of dystopias or post-apocalyptic landscapes or a lot of other contemporary medieval fantasies (like The Witcher or A Game of Thrones). The first novel had a lighter touch, probably to offset its much darker main villains. This book is still very enjoyable.

Recommended.

Book Review: The Canadian Nights by Katharine Campbell

The Canadian Nights by Katharine Campbell

In a fun twist on the classic Arabian Nights, our heroine Amala is caught in Canada when the American president (an unnamed female) has turned off the internet for the whole world. As one might imagine, this event is a disaster of epic proportions: no streaming media or social media! The Canadians are mad (they can't watch hockey games to alleviate their aggression). The Prime Minister swoops down and is ready to feed Amala to the local beavers. She contrives to tell interesting stories day by day so that the Prime Minister won't inflict the horrible fate. The book is a set of short stories sewn together by the larger story.

The stories are comic satires of everyday life, fairy tales, and elves in conflict, sometimes blending all three. The tone is sarcastic with Amala often providing ridiculous morals at the end of some of the tales much like Fractured Fairy Tales from the old Bullwinkle show. The characters are generally incompetent at coming up with the proper lessons. Some stories might not have an explicit moral other than don't behave like an idiot. The book was written last year, so even the Covid reactions are satirized to great effect. The book is fun from cover to cover.

Recommended.

I did receive a review copy from the author (thanks!) but my opinion is my own.

Book Review: Rosaline's Curse by Katharine Campbell

Rosaline's Curse by Katharine Campbell

In this sequel to Love, Treachery, and Other Terrors, Rosaline is a princess whose life has gotten progressively worse. She had a twin brother with whom she would get into mischief. In their teens, they decided to "recover" relics of their national hero, Ilona the Godslayer, from neighboring Kalathea. They were successful except that they started a war with Kalathea. During the war, her brother died and she was betrothed to their best friend Lord Julyan. She was smitten with him but the more she got to know him the less she thought of him. She got to the point of not wanting anything to do with him but the political situation was not in her favor. If that was not bad enough, she was put into an enchanted sleep, only to wake up in 2017 when an archeology student named Mark discovered her in an English castle and touched her. She can't speak English but Mark and the other archeologists want to take care of her. They communicate with her through his cell phone which can access a translator program at least her Latin speech can be translated. Things might be looking up.

But her bad luck runs true--her fiance is still alive and after her. And she's hit by a car and winds up in hospital. She thinks she's cursed for stealing the bones of Ilona and the only way to get rid of Julyan (who is passing himself off as a benefactor who funds Mark's college) is to return the relics to Kalathea. Julyan is really Jace, the male half of the evil fairy twins from the first book (so that's why he's still alive). He wants to leave behind his life as a fairy and try out marriage with Rosaline. His twin, Acacia, wants him to go back to the fairy lifestyle they've been leading for thousands of years, torturing innocent humans for their own amusement. The easiest thing for Acacia to do would be to kill Rosaline but fairies are not allowed to harm humans without causing harm to themselves. If she could set up some indirect circumstances or get Rosaline to give up that protection, Acacia would get what she wants. 

The story is a light-hearted fish-out-of-water fairy tale that uses the modern setting well. In addition to the evil twins' machinations, Rosaline has to deal with motor vehicles, internet-enabled devices, and endless paperwork. She is fascinated by it all and has a nice spirit of adventure. She also has her Christian values that don't quite sync up with Mark's modern take on things like pre-marital sex or respecting international borders. He's skeptical about her age and the fairies until he gets some hard evidence. He's also not aware (as the reader is immediately) that he and Rosaline are destined to be together. They have a rough ride getting to know and appreciate each other. He clearly cares much more about her than Julyan, who only looks for his own good. Good and evil haven't changed over the centuries even if technology has.

The plot moves along at a nice pace and I like the twist of having the villains from the previous story be the main connection, though Rosaline is a descendant (several generations removed) of the heroes from the first story. The jump in time allows for different sorts of complications than were in the first book, though this novel keeps the romantic-comedy vibe that worked well before. Campbell does a great job providing both familiar and new elements, a challenge for sequels. She rises to the challenge and gives the reader a fine, entertaining novel.

 Recommended.

I did receive a review copy from the author (thanks!) but my opinion is my own.

Book Review: Love, Treachery, and Other Terrors by Katharine Campbell

Love, Treachery, and Other Terrors by Katharine Campbell

Fausta, the middle daughter of the Kalathean king, decides she wants to be in charge of the country. Her older brother, Justin, is a drunken bully who likes to wage war and terrorize their younger brother Alexander. To help her out, she finds a pair of fairies who use their magical power to manipulate the kingdom. They spread rumors that Justin is a good guy and then have Fausta stab him with Alexander's knife, thus making her younger brother look guilty. Alexander has no regal ambitions and, as third child, was destined to go to a monastery and paint icons. He doesn't really understand what's going on. Fausta has pity on him and orchestrates his escape from execution (against the fairies' wishes). He flees to the kingdom of Kaltehafen. He becomes a beekeeper and a painter, though soon enough he's drawn into the royal court (and love) by Ilona, a local princess. Meanwhile, back in Kalathea, the twin fairies are wreaking havoc on the locals by brutally oppressing them. Word reaches Alexander, who has matured quite a bit in the meantime. He wants to go back but is unsure about tricking the tricksters.

The book is fairly lighthearted. Alexander is a guy who just wants to get by, keeping his head down. He can't live that way, even after his exile from Kalathea. Seeing him grow as a person is gratifying. His romance with Ilona is charming and follows a more bookish, smart-alecky path than the typical fantasy romance. The fairies make interesting villains. They have grown bored of a life where they test the moral fiber of people by pretending to be poor (to see if people will help them out). Now they use their magic and their wiles to trick people into hurting each other or get stuck in difficult circumstances. They do execute some horrible schemes, so this book is not for the youngest readers, though it does read like a typical YA fantasy.

The book has a very strong Catholic tone, which makes it less like a typical YA fantasy. At first, I thought it was set in a fantasy realm (i.e. not this world) but then there's mentions of the Liturgy of the Hours, the division between Eastern and Western Christianity, Greek and Latin, and real world cities like Paris and Constantinople. The combination takes a little getting used to but seems natural by the end. The romance is very chaste and the morality is solid. The happy ending feels natural, not forced, which is also a big plus.

Recommended.