Customer Reviews

Cursed In The Blood

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

 

 

In this 5th of series, we learn why Edgar was able to leave his home and family for Catherine - and why he could love and respect her even though she is but a woman. I love this historical period, and enjoy glimpses of Abelard and Heloise in the earlier novel and, in this one, seeing more of E. Peters' Brother Cadfael's world. Edgar is so much more than a beautiful face. I want to know him and Catherine even better. I hope there will be more. I want Solomon to find a kosher wife and I want Catherine's son to grow up. I want to hear more talks with their Parisian friends. I am deeply satisfied with the characters in these five books - and I hope to meet the again.

Edgar and Catherine - what a pair. I really enjoyed finding out more about Edgar's past. I wondered how he could leave his home, seemingly cut the ties with his relatives and move so far away.

This is an excellent time period and now that Ellis Peters can no longer reveal Cadfael and his times to us, Catherine and Edgar can pick up the slack.

Go back and find them all and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

I have been eagerly following the adventures of Catherine and Edgar. This book takes them to Scotland, where Edgar has been summoned to avenge the death of his two older brothers. This is a more complex story than the others, with lots of clerical and political wrangling. And yes, I did find the ending a little weak. But the characterizations, and the surprise ending compensate a bit, I think.

Catherine and Edgar both continue to change and to mature as they struggle to meet the challenges life presents them. No, this story isn't as humorous as the first one, for example, but it allows us another glimpse into the relationships between the main characters, and also into life in 12th century Scotland.

When I first picked up this series, it was after I had read the Guinevere Trilogy, by the same author, Sharan Newman. My mom had gone to a conference for Mystery Writers and picked up a bunch of her books, including the first installment of her Catherine Levendeur Series. I fell in love with it, and each year my mom returns to the conference she gets me a signed copy of her latest adventure. The character was very headstrong then, but now, in this sixth part of the continuing series, Catherine has taken motherhood, and life in mideval France to a more mature level. It's very enjoyable to see how the characters of Edgar, Catherine, and their children have changed over the years in the stories, but it may not be as strong as in the first few.

In this novel, Catherine, her husband Edgar, and the rest of her family trek the miles to distant Germany to save her sister, Agnes, from an undetermined fate, as she was accused of the murder of her new husband. The conflicts are understandable and believable as we see her struggles to hold a family together in a time and place of racial anger and missunderstanding with the various culture clashes.

Sharan Newman's views and enterpretation of the time peroid are amazing and fantastic to see, but some of the plot becomes rediculous and confusing, as well as Catherine's strange newly-found, docile sense of motherhood. It seems that she is no longer taking on the mysteries of this novel, but leaving it to her husband. I enjoy this series very much. It is a must read! Take it from me, you should pick up this series, but don't be dissapointed if the attitude changes from book to book. The years do go by swiftly, and Catherine is, and always will be a little too headstrong for her family, no matter how any children she has! Try it out for yourself!

Sharan Newman's series is so real that it is sometimes terrible to read. She paints a true picture of what medieval life was like and no punches are pulled. The era and the characters come alive for the reader. We see a realistic picture of the "Dark Ages". Not only that, but she weaves an interesting mystery into each of her stories. This book is one of her darkest and in it Catherine and Edgar and their small son, James go to Scotland after Edgar's terrible father has summoned them. It is a country that is torn asunder with civil wars. The people are barbaric and superstitious. Catherine feels totally lost there, and it doesn't help that her and Edgar are separated from each other for most of the book. They both face their own dangers and overcome them in order to be reuinted again at the end. In this book we see a true villain in Edgar's father Waldeve. Catherine wonders how her gentle Edgar can be related to this monster. There's a lot of hate, and from that hate real revenge that makes Scotland a dark and ominous place. Really, the mystery in this book is secondary and not much of a one since it's easy to figure out, but this is a great historical novel and this is a cracking historical series. It seems to get better with each entry (as well as bloodier).

Cursed in the Blood continues the story of Catherine and Edgar, this time they travel to Scotland where we meet Edgar's family. The story portrays the harsh realities of Medieval times. A must read for all Sharan Newman fans!

The characters and the dialogue make this book. There was no need to look back to figure out who was who as each character was so well crafted with dialogue to suit that they were tangible. There was wonderful humor as well as suspense, and the setting makes one want to know so much more about the time period in which it is set. The plot is the reason that I give this only 4 stars. It was weak and one is left feeling that all the questions were never really answered. The ending has the feel of an author racing to meet a deadline without a clear ending to the tale yet laid out in her mind. I wonder if her writing is not more of an exercise in giving a riveting lecture on the life and times of the Middle Ages rather than on writing a solid mystery. Lecture or no it was riveting enough to send me here to search out other titles in the series and to see other reviews on Newman's writing. So while I don't give it full marks I do highly recommend this as a good read, a great way to escape today's world for a few hours.

The usual excellent tale of times, religion, the Middle Ages, this time Catherine and Edgar in his home country of Scotland (during Ellis Peters's Cadfael period).

But get a notebook -- many characters, friendly and un- have names starting with A.

Lots of geographical slogging forth and back, and a secondary mystery not entirely reasonable.

Keep on reading, though: worth the wading.

I found the latest Catherine LeVendeur novel to be lacking much of the humor and charm of the previous books in the series. There is a much darker element to Cursed in the Bone that I was dissatisfied to see, although there are some new characters of whom I am fond. I am glad we know more about Edgar's antecedents, but I would have liked to see more of James in Paris before he got dragged off to Scotland! I like the more grown-up Catherine, but I hope Edgar does not become bitter. Don't want to give any more away!

After meeting Catherine's eccentric family, we finally get to see where Edgar came from. All I can figure is that he indeed was the changling - because he's far too normal to be part of that motley band. Edgar, Catherine, baby James, Soloman (one of my favorites - we need to find him a nice Jewish girl!), and servant Willa travel to Scotland. Edgar has been summoned to help avenge the deaths of his two eldest brothers and 12-yr-old nephew. This family brings new definition to the term "dysfunctional"! Once again, Newman's dialog just clips along - very rich and believable. Her attention to period detail is just unmatched. I did figure out the mystery before the end - and I've done that with her books before - but she does add some breathtaking twists to the end, don't assume you've got the whole story nailed. All in all - this series is just wonderful. Unlike other series, it doesn't seem to be losing steam as each book comes out. Yes, Catherine is changing - but she is growing older and more mature, and we all change as we do that. I look forward to more, especially if Margaret (Edgar's baby sister) is going to play a bigger role. And what will we do with Soloman??