Burning Lamp [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0749952911
• ISBN-13: 978-0749952914
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.2 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,963,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

With a string of bestselling Regency and Victorian Era romantic-suspense novels under her quill, AMANDA QUICK (who also writes under the pen names JAYNE ANN KRENTZ and JAYNE CASTLE) entered the world of a highly secretive paranormal group, the ARCANE SOCIETY, with her novel SECOND SIGHT. The series moved into a contemporary setting when JAYNE ANN KRENTZ (Amanda's contemporary alter-ego) released the second book in the series, WHITE LIES.

This winter, the ARCANE SOCIETY continues with THE LOOKING GLASS TRILOGY. It begins with IN TOO DEEP by Jayne Ann Krentz this December. Amanda is working on QUICKSILVER, her Spring 2011 contribution is book 2 in the series. The trilogy will conclude when JAYNE CASTLE releases CANYONS OF NIGHT, the futuristic novel, in Summer 2011.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid but not enchanting, April 23, 2010

By 

Holly J. Lethbridge (Tualatin, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Burning Lamp (An Arcane Society Novel) (Hardcover)

Newly returned to London from the American wild west, Adelaide Pyne possesses a strong paranormal skill for reading dreamprints and a dangerous lamp. In the midst of being kidnapped, she is rescued by the mysterious Griffin Winters, a notorious crime lord who claims that he will go mad unless Adelaide agrees to help him undo the curse his great grandfather wrought on him by working the lamp with him. Of course, Griffin possesses powerful abilities of his own which serve him well in his line of work.
The lamp in her keeping was invented by Griffin's mentally unstable ancestor who thought to enhance his paranormal abilities threefold,and also surpass his rival Sylvester Jones, but instead the lamp proved his undoing. The lamp is meanwhile being sought by a ruthless, highly placed member in the Arcane Society.
The Burning Lamp is the second book in a series called the Dream Light Trilogy, each book is written in the repsective style of Jayne Castle's pseudonymns. By Amanda Quick standards this story is definitely not up to her old standards. Her characters are pleasant, but not captivating. The personal history and details are there, but somehow they come across flat and not fully developed. The process of Adelaide and Griffin falling in love is nearly instantaneous with little challenge or growth required on either character's part. The barriers to their relationship were almost nil, and too easily overcome. The sense of danger is present, but not gripping. The plot is well trodden and fairly predictable. Several familiar characters from previous stories pop up in this one, but have little real impact on the story.
When I finished the book I felt somewhat dissappointed. Overall a pleasant story, but not overly memorable.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 stars compared to other authors/3 stars for Amanda Quick, April 26, 2010

By 

jhl (VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Burning Lamp (An Arcane Society Novel) (Hardcover)

Like most Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick books, this is a well-written romance with intelligent characters and a strong sense of place. Like most Krentz/Quick books of the last 7-8 years, it is utterly predictable in plot and character types. Krentz really likes rough and cynical male leads who are transformed by their love for quick-witted, capable, idealistic female leads, and I have to say that aspect of her books still works for me (romance is fantasy, after all!). I also really like the way her characters create their own "families" by gathering together people who matter to them. But her plots have become tired retreads, her characters seem to be interchangeable from one book to the next, and the clever banter that used to bring the leads together has become somewhat mechanical.

This is by no means a bad read, but neither is it a book that you'll remember. Krentz used to write books like that (sigh).

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great story but missing some of Quick's magic, April 28, 2010

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A Book a Day (New England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Burning Lamp (An Arcane Society Novel) (Hardcover)

I absolutely love Amanda Quick's arcane society novels and with the Burning Lamp, she finds a way to introduce uniqueness and novelty to the new characters, but overall, it doesn't quite have the magic, wit, and tension that makes her novels so great. The story follows a new bloodline in the Arcane mythos, that of Nicholas Winters, who was the arch enemy of Sylvester Jones centuries back when the two were obsessed with trying to enhance their own powers. In Nicholas Winter's attempts, he created a curse on his descendants for which madness is inevitable, unless they can find a woman to manipulate the powers of a device known as the Burning Lamp. One such woman is Adelaide Pyne.

After the early death of her parents, a terrified fifteen year old Adelaid is spirited away to a school for young orphans, only to find that said school is actually a brothel. A man by the name of Mr. Smith with dark powers has arranged to have Adelaide in some sort of perverse sexual ceremony that will enhance his abilities. Adelaide manages to escape, steals a strange artifact from Mr. Smith, and flees to America. Thirteen years later, after working in carnivals and sideshows, while making wise investments, an independant Adelaide senses she must come back to England, where she immediately takes up a cause to bring down as many brothels and help the poor young women take back their lives, teaching them helpful skills and creating new identities for them. In her efforts, she becomes the target of two major crime lords. One is the owner of the brothels and the other is Griffin Winters, descendant of Nicholas Winters.

After his 36th birthday, Griffin is showing signs that the legendary curse of madness is real and is tracking down both the lamp and Adelaide. His powers sense that she is the one who can manipulate the lamp and he arranges to meet with her and keep her out of danger until she can help him reverse the curse. To his good fortune, not only can she manipulate the powers of the Burning Lamp but she actually has the lamp in her posession. Adelaide agrees to help him reverse the madness which approaches and in doing so the two find themselves in a heated relationship while they run from the danger that's chasing after them from every angle.

The angle of a crime lord falling for a reformist is a new twist for Quick. The fact that the never married Adelaide is not a virgin and has in fact had several lovers is also unique for her stories. Weaving in Caleb and Lucinda Jones from the Perfect Poison to monitor and possibly kill our "hero" is certainly not expected, but even with these new elements to keep the story fresh, it lacks the tension and chemistry that are typical of her relationships. Everything falls into place and seems like a story by numbers. The danger doesn't feel dangerous. There's no emotion in their emotions, and the chemistry is not combustible. It's truly a good story but it's missing the magic, humor and tension between our two leads that somehow makes it a little off. Just a little too go with the flow.