Customer Reviews

The Dark Lord (Forbidden Tarot)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

(Sigh). I have always been interested in Tarot cards - their history, mystique, design. So when I read that Patricia Simpson had come out with a novel containing a mix of intrigue, romance, adventure, magic and an ancient deck of Tarot cards with a curse attached to their finder/owner, I thought, terrific - an assured good read!! I also saw many reviews lauding the book. OK. I was convinced. "The Dark Lord" would be a winner! So, without a second thought I went out and bought it. What a waste of time and money - and I am not usually this mean, really. The thing is, the concept of the storyline is so unusual and fantastic, (as in wonderful), how could the author go wrong? I expected her to spin a great tale, filled with myth and mysticism. And I am sorry to write this, but Ms. Simpson just threw it all away. In fact, this is an absolutely amateurish effort. I was not entertained.

The writing is poor. The narrative rambles. The characters are all one dimensional, like the figures on a deck of cards, but with little of the occult and absolutely nothing of the inscrutable. To make matters worse, I couldn't find one single personage I liked. There is almost no communication between characters. Enablers abound. Rather than follow through with the Tarot narrative and the dire events which occur, and are predicted to occur as a consequence of their discovery, we are taken off on various boring tangents which have little to do with the cards or their history.

Our heroine, Dr. Fay Rae Lambers, is a math professor at UC Berkeley. This lady has some serious problems, and they began when she was born. The Ob/Gyn dropped her on her head. No kidding! Things went downhill from that moment. She suffers from arthritis and various other ailments which cause her to be in almost constant physical pain. She is also extremely neurotic with low self esteem, so she lives a relatively restricted life. In other words she has Victimitis and no sense of humor. How did she get her Ph.D.? (In calculus, no less!). Dr. Lambers is a loner who believes she is a loser, and with the exception of her sister Angie - a self-centered flirt with a drinking problem - Fay has basically isolated herself from most social contact. She does have one friend, a longtime mentor with whom she has had a relationship since she was a girl, Dr. Thomas Gregory. Other than him, there are no girlfriends, no boyfriends (never), nada...and she is twenty-eight years-old!

Moving right along, Angie and Fay Rae travel to Luxor, Egypt for a much needed vacation. Fay wants her sister to disengage from her abusive boyfriend and stop drinking. The tour group they are with gets caught in a sandstorm while sightseeing. As the women wend their way back to the bus, Fay stumbles upon an ancient metal box, which she, of course, picks up and takes with her. She is told, later that evening, by an Egyptian shopkeeper and expert in antiquities, that the box and its contents present a grave danger and should be thrown in the Nile. The man reads some Aramaic words written on the container. He is able to makes out, "Soul. Dark Lord. Otherworld."..and "Typhon the Devil." These are the cursed "Forbidden Tarot." The box should never be opened. Guess what? Sounds like a wonderful plot so far, doesn't it? Well, there's not too much more in the story about these cards, or the lethal powers they unleash. Actually the lethal powers are more comedic, at times, than deadly! Instead we get a bizarre soap opera about the dysfunctional Lamber family, and the even more emotionally disabled Gregory family. These personal and emotional dramas supercede the paranormal.

Anyway, Dr. Gregory, who dies mysteriously before Fay gets home, is the father of Michael, a handsome guy with an attitude problem. He used to be Fay's school chum. Or at least they were friends until they had a "misunderstanding" when they were adolescents. Obviously, he will emerge as a love interest despite mutual bitter feelings. Meanwhile, on the plane trip back to the states Fay meets a fellow passenger, the fabulously wealthy, debonair Simeon Avare, who takes an immediate interest in her, a really serious immediate interest. She goes directly from famine to feast! Unfortunately, over a hundred pages must be dedicated to the bickering, misunderstandings and squabbles between Michael, Fay and Simeon. By the way, terrible dialogue. Things seem to pick up a bit when Dr. Fay Rae meets a psychic who knows about the Forbidden Tarot and predicts an unsettling future for mankind, to say the least, etc.. But then it's back to the love triangle between the white knight, the dark villain, and the chronic complainer...plus Angie's problems, of which there are a multitude.

There is little of the mythical or mystical here. Yes there is a plot which supposedly revolves around the paranormal, but it meanders so much it loses its way, and mine too. The ending has got to be one of the worst I have read in years. Everything is swept under the rug and left neat and tidy...supposedly. Too many threads dangling for my taste.

I know I will probably take flack for this review, but I have to vote my conscience. 1 Star!
JANA

*The Dark Lord* contains all the classic tropes of Gothic literature--a damsel in distress, a big scary house, and two men, one of whom may be evil.

In this case, the damsel is Fay Rae Lambers, a woman with a bright mind but a disabled body and a bitter heart. She and her beautiful, ditzy sister find a creepy-looking tarot deck on a vacation to Egypt, and not long afterward, weird things start happening. Rae inherits her mentor's mansion, meets an enigmatic foreign man, and runs into her high school flame once again.

The exposition is where it all starts to fall apart. For starters, one of the essential elements of the Gothic novel is that the heroine--and the reader--can't tell which man is the bad guy till the climax of the story. Here, I figured it out right away, and Rae wasn't fooled for very long either. I stayed tuned, expecting a twist, but no twist ever came.

I also hated the treatment of Rae's sister. It seemed to me that the character suffered unfairly. Was the character being punished for her beauty and charm? The punishment seemed like too much--especially after the sister's past was revealed and it turned out that she had known as much pain as Rae.

Overall, a diverting read, but forgettable and not without problems.

This book was horrible. It was slow and Boring and not terribly imaginative. What kind of a name is Fae Rae. Anywho, whenever the Author had a chance to infuse some steamy romance she came up short. Michael started off sounding like the typical goodlooking, tortured and sexy hero but ended up boring and a sucker. Fae Rae was an anorexic-never-learned-when-to-enjoy- yourself bore. I could not believe she fell for the Dark Lord. Who, by the way sounded unappealing and too darned thin to be a sexy hero. Also, he had absolutely NO REAL powers. I was never scared or thrilled. I have this hardcover for sell on Amazon. This book had no real action and you will literally hate Fae's sister Angie. What a sniveling coward.

After a too long dry spell, readers can begin the New Year by resolving to read only good books; this would be a good way to begin. When she is left half of her mentor's house, Rae Lambers is forced to live with her benefactor's son, Michael, a man she once loved with a school girl's innocence until fear sent her fleeing. Bitter resentment makes life uncomfortable, complicated when her seductive sister moves in with them, Michael's vixenish, estranged wife goes to extremes to get the house from both of them, and the enigmatic, dangerous man who courts Rae wants more than she can possibly imagine. Against this Gothic backdrop, a quest as old as time is played out, seeking the power that is the counter to the Holy Grail.

**** Romance, mystery, and magic weave a spell over readers that will keep them on the edge of their seats until the dawn breaks in order to finish. ****

Dr. Fay "Rae" Lambers and her sister, Angie, come across a mysterious box wile in Egypt. When the foreign writing mentions "The Dark Lord", Rae knows the contents (tarot cards) are bad news. But Angie pulls out the tarot cards anyway.

Rae works at the University of Berkeley. Her mentor, Dr. Thomas Gregory, has only recently died. Rae learns that she has inherited half of his estate. Dr. Gregory's son, Michael, inherited the other half. Rae and Michael are by no means strangers. In fact, Rae used to have a crush on Michael back when they were in high school. The attraction is still there. Rae also finds herself strongly attracted to Simeon Avare (they met during Rae's trip). Simeon is in town and wants to view the late doctor's Egyptian items.

Things get eerie when Rae gets a video that her mentor made before this death. He charges Rae with the task of guarding his house. For within his home is an object that could possibly cause complete havoc on earth if the wrong person gets hold of it.

Unfortunately, a dark and evil spirit has been released from the cards and has taken form of either Michael or Simeon. Rae must figure out which before she loses her heart to the wrong one, and perhaps her life.

***** This story is a "lulu" readers! Even people who do not believe in spirits, curses, and the like will not be able to simply shrug off this super natural romance. Author Patricia Simpson has written a compelling plot filled with danger, the super natural, and romance that readers will find difficult to pull themselves away from. Expect to sit up late into the night reading. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

I picked this book because of two reasons. 1) I am into Tarot and 2) Because Tor released it in their new romance name. I had hopped that Tor romance meant that we would be getting "good" romance novels. A blend of sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal romance which would break from the traditional 25 year old virgin (or near virgin who had sex once or twice before but it was bad) meets hunky alpha male who has had sex with everyone, when they meet they automatically know they are "one and only soul-mates." But disappointingly no, they didn't break the mold, infact they have embraced for the worse, because they give hope only to have it shattered.

The Dark Lord is predictable at best. One dimensional bad guy, good girl, and a typical love interest. The love triangle falls flat. The mystery of the book falls flat.

The Tarot is superficial-if you expect this book to have anything to do with modern use of the Tarot, you will be extremely disappointed. The author uses stereotypical terms to describe not only Tarot cards but the people who use them.

I did have hope for the book but and really wanted to like it, but in the end Tor and the author really let me down.

Please, lets be honest I wanted to like this book. I couldn't. It was way to long, confusing and annoying. The male lead was a whiner, the female lead was so pathetic. The only really interesting person was the demon. Skip this one.

If you are looking for a book about Tarot Cards, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a book with a plot and suspense, this is the book for you. I'm glad I read it over the weekend and I could finish it in two sittings. It was a page-turner. The plot was interesting and the characters did have development. The main character was raped as a child and cannot get over it as an adult. Her poor sister had it even worse and she goes in the other direction. I picked this book up for free and I put it down for a while because the back summary did not make it look good. I was hooked on first chapter. The only flaw was the ex-wife and her threats of exposing Rae and her family's past. If Rae thought about it hard enough, she would realize no newspaper in the world would expose her and her secrets. I hunted used book stores and found number two and I cannot wait to get started.

I found this book in a used book store. I almost didn't buy it after reading the blurb on the back--which was completely misleading. I'm glad I did. I disagree with previous reviewers who have dismissed this novel as being terrible. I read it easily within a rainy afternoon and enjoyed myself. The main character, Rae, was definitely dysfunctional, having a childhood of torment and horror, but these problems made her stronger in other ways. Rae fought to protect her sister. She tried to remain active in her work and life, regardless of feeling of inadequacy. And she attempted to fall in love despite misgivings. I just didn't see the same character other reviewers have seen--or perhaps, I didn't see it in the same light. I enjoyed the book and I would like to read more by this author.

I didn't think I liked paranormal until I read The Dark Lord. I couldn't put it down. It's intense, fascinating, and has wonderful characters. Now I want to read all of Simpson's books.
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