Customer Reviews

Blood and Judgment

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Brilliant! In general I dislike comparing one writer to another, simply for the fact that a good writer and a good piece of work should stand on individual merit. Yet for Walker I make an exception.....He is a traditional Lutheran and within his WONDERFUL novel he,like Lewis, matains a flow of Christian orthodoxy in his writings. Also like Lewis one need not be Christian to enjoy and embrace his works! Blood and Judgement is a beautifuly toned novel with a very unique plot.(If that sounds vague it is simply that I want everyone who reads this review to read for themselves this fine novel and do not want to give to much away!) I have also read his other novels and they are great as well! Buy them read them love them. +PAX

For someone who claims to be a "Christian" writer, Lars Walker has got a lot of guts! The book is full of cursing, it has a lesbian for one of the main characters, and it is rampant with adultery - yet the gospel is still presented effectively - and I don't care who you are - you can't help but walk away from this one without finding yourself pondering over what it all is supposed to mean for days.

I have never been much of a Shakespear fan - and this book (which revolves around an alterante universe in which the characters play out the roles from "Hamlet") hasn't inspired me to go out and read any Shakespear - and it really isn't necessary to enjoy this book.

I really think Walker has the potential to be on the same level as C.S. Lewis - as this book often reminded me of Lewis' style of fiction - minus some of the liberties that he takes in describing the sinfulness of his characters. Although you have one central plot - you have a lot of lessons learned along the way.

The only reason I did not give this book 5 stars was because it was sorely lacking in detail. Walker's technical ability to write and tell a story is extrordinary - but I found myself wishing he would have spent more time describing events and places. One thing that irratated me to no end was that he would use old actors and actresses (most of whom I had no clue of whom they were) to physically describe all of the characters in the book. For example, he would say something like, "so-and-so looked like Clark Gable" and leave it at that. I really felt like the writer was taking the easy road in going this route.

I have no doubt that if Walker can put the time in and really go the extra mile and be more detailed that he could very well be on par with the likes of Tolkien or Lawhead. I can't wait to read the rest of his books and I'm anxiously awaiting his next.

At a small university in the small town of Epsom, a theater group is preparing to perform a shortened version of Hamlet. The play is, of course, based on earlier stories and legends and possible history. The theater is actually an old church reputed to be haunted.

Things begin to heat up quickly. A professor discovers an old book that may prove Hamlet was plagiarized word for word. Then during a rehearsal, the troupe is sucked through the stage and into the real-life story of Amlodd (Hamlet). They find themselves in the roles they have been studying except for the professor who seems to have swapped bodies with Amlodd.

Not wanting to die like their play-characters, the actors try to disrupt the story but discover that the story has a lot of momentum. To make matters worse, one of their number seems to be channeling some form of deity.

I have to say that I now know more about the history of Hamlet than when I started to read, but it was not a history lesson. In fact, some of the later revelations would have been right at home in one of the finer novels of Richard Laymon. Some may find these revelations a little disturbing.

I would have to say that this is sort of a fantasy tale and sort of a horror story but that it leans more towards the fantasy. A very original book.

Not only did I like this book, but I learned a great deal more about Shakespeare and Hamlet, which was a nice benefit, as well. The characters were fun, and it was quite amusing to see everything snap into place as the play, and also also I liked Amlodd a heck of a lot.

I heard about this book from friends, normally i don't take much into consideration on books except a read of the first chapter or two, but i decided to listen and bought this book with out even cracking it open. Quite a good read, while the author uses a few semi standard plot devices, he manages to breath new life into them and keep you guessing until the end. This was my first Lars Walker book, it won't be my last.

From having enjoyed Walker's previous novels, I might have guessed that Macbeth would be the Shakespearean drama likeliest to show up in one of Lars's tales. (Maybe it will someday -- who knows??) There's not the slightest indication that he slipped in turning to Hamlet for this one, though. With the very important difference that Blood and Judgment isn't corny, this thriller about a handful of Minnesotans condemned to live the action of the famous tragedy reminded me a little of one of the better third-season Star Trek episodes, "Spectre of the Gun," with people caught in a "script" that sentences them to death. (Remember how the bodies litter the stage at the end of Shakespeare's play?) There's an apparition, as in the Bard's play, but here it has the form of a child-abusing clergyman. Lars Walker has not forgotten his saga lore (so evident in Wolf Time and, especially, The Year of the Warrior) for this new novel -- this time, the background for Amlodd, the original Hamlet. As Lars Walker's readers expect, the fantasy is linked to our "ordinary" world, which is alertly observed and, occasionally, neatly poked by his satire.

There were a LOT of interesting ideas at the outset of this book... perhaps too many to fit into a single story. A broad range of character-actors from a small community theater are whisked away to a half-formed alien "experiment" space and urged to play out the Hamlet story themselves, with real life-and-death consequences.

BUT: The lead character is mistakenly sent to yet another world where he assumes the role of the "historical" Hamlet model, Amlodd... and fairies and aliens are watching HIS performance, too.

BUT: One of the actors turns out to be a fairy/alien himself. AND one of the stagehands is a demon-worshipping monster who wants to rule the experimentation-realm as a god. AND the "true" Amlodd is occupying the lead actor's body. AND... AND... AND...

It's too much, and so too much is left unexplored or poorly explained at the end. Does Will even make it home? or does he stay? Seemingly, it's both.

And it doesn't help matters that there's a conservative-Christian contempt mingled into the mix. All the other actors--liberal academic loons, gay militants, pigheaded rationalists, and moral cowards--react with irrational and awkward hostility to the eminently calm and reasonable Christian in their midst. Not that he's Jesus! No, he carefully has his own flaws that he freely admits and holds a touching "conversion" scene with one of the degenerate actors just before he's senselessly killed off. And some of his comrades Lean the Errors of Their Ways before the end--much to the disgust of the now-revealed fools who criticized the noble Christian.

Yes, it really is that clumsy and implausible. The extreme venom and hostility that meets every mild comment Peter (the Christian, duh) makes is every fundamentalist's fantasy of how "evil gays, scientists, and liberals" react to True Faith. Gag, gag.

The book had enough problems just in keeping the story together and failing to explain important characters. But the extra layer of smug piety makes it even more disappointing. C.S. Lewis at least knew how to tell a good story first and foremost.

Lars Walker puts heart and soul into his writing. Well developed characters, pulling you into the story. A good read...