A FREE MAN OF COLOR. [Paperback]

Barbara. Hambly (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: NY: BANTAM. 1998 (1998)
• ASIN: B000VAP6GM
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,685,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Many shades of gray in old New Orleans, April 4, 2002

By 

Jack Fitzgerald "JFD" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Fever Season (Benjamin January, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Benjamin January (Janvier)- free man of color, educated, speaks several languages, classically trained pianist (and guitarist)as well as Paris-educated surgeon and now amateur sleuth. An interesting character to what could build into a great series.

The plot at first seems simple, January must discover the true killer of Otis Redfern, but along the way he gets involved with slave kidnapping, slanderous accusations among so-called "medical professionals" and must carefully maneuver the caste hierarchy that existed in 1830's New Orleans.

Here are things I liked about the book:
The level of detail presented was excellent, from the character's skin tone, dress and physicality to the way they spoke. The buildings and period description immerse the reader into that time. The atmosphere of hot summer, fever and cholera is as much a character as the people. In fact, once the summer was over and the plot remained unresolved I thought it took a little of the edge off the story.

I like that the characters, both black and white and in between, are depicted in shades of gray and shadows. Not every white person is shown as a cruel slave owner or crude illiterate and not every person of color or black is shown as a noble victim of the oppressed.

These are complex characters with the illusion of reality. January's best friend, Hannibal, is an Irish violin virtuoso who reads several languages and reels off quotes but is also a drunk, an opium addict infected with consumption and regular customer with prostitutes.

Abishag Shaw, January's associate with the law, is an unwashed, tobacco-spitting Kaintuck but who knows enough French to pronouce the names correctly and has a strong but unspoken moral and ethical code.

The story also introduces Rose Vitrac, an educated woman of color who runs a school for girls that want something more than to be a placee for a white man. Rose is also a complex character, emotionally scarred, but provides a good ally for January.

There are many other interesting characters and again I enjoyed the way January moves through the various levels of this society. The medical practice was truly horrifying.

My main critique is that January is always thinking about the caste system that exists there. Always. It sometimes detracted from the plot. I also wanted to get deeper into his relationship with his mother. Livia Levesque was one not given much dimension.
I also was a little disappointed with the historical epilogue and felt it was not needed.

My questions: What happens next? Will January and Rose develop a relationship? Where does his career go from here?

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love Ben Janvier!, July 6, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fever Season (Benjamin January, Book 2) (Hardcover)

When I saw the book on the new fiction shelf I gasped for joy! I could hardly wait to get home, tell my family I was unavailable for the weekend, and curl up for a good read. Ben Janvier and New Orleans of 1833 were back! And I was not disappointed. These characters are so well limned that they seem real. The caste system in New Orleans is terrible, but more terrible still is the assumption by the newly arrived "Americans" that all people of dark skin (or light skin, yet of African heritage) are to be seen only in terms of potential dollar value. One appreciates the only good "Kaintuck," Shaw, although I got a little squimish with all of his tobacco spitting. Still, this book is highly recommended reading for lovers of a good mystery! By the way, after my review of the previous Janvier novel, I got TONS of e-mail telling me that this novel was BEFORE the civil war, not ANTE bellum. Folks -- ante bellum means before the civil war. Anyway, read and enjoy!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating! ! !, May 27, 1999

By 

L. Thiele (Gonzales, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fever Season (Benjamin January, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

When I first saw that Barbara Hambly was moving away from fantasy, I was disappointed. She is one of my favorites. But then I read "A Free Man of Color" and "Fever Season" and was blown away. The characters are rich and the amount of research and work that went into the story must have been massive. She picks you up and puts you right down in 1833 New Orleans.

One thing for sure, you don't go to New Orleans without wondering where it all happened.

Thank you for a wonderful book.