Customer Reviews

Fever Season (Benjamin January, Book 2)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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?

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!

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.

As much as I loved the first book, A Free Man of Color, the second in the series was even better in some ways. Hambley plays her strongest card in this book--her fantastic command of characterization. Once I got to the last 1/3 of the book, I literally could not put it down. My only complaint--the end left me wanting more!

FEVER SEASON is the second book in the Benjamin January mystery series. The first book is called A FREE MAN OF COLOR and I believe that this book is much easier to understand and enjoy if it's read after the primary story.

Ben is a black man, who had been freed from slavery and left New Orleans, went to France where he was educated as a doctor and returned to New Orleans. The year is 1833 and Ben has to be very careful, people are dying of Bronze John which is the name for cholera. To add to the terrible season, a gang of men are stealing freed black people off the streets, and reselling them into slavery in different areas of the country. Ben's constantly worried that he will be kidnapped and sold into slavery again. He carries his papers with him, and maintains copies of those papers in several different places. Ben, although a medical doctor is not allowed to fully practice medicine and has to make his living as a musician. He stays in New Orleans because it is his home, and he has family there, but he often thinks about the freedom that he had in France. He's a kind and religious character, and really tries to be a good person. As in the first book, there is a very interesting mystery that Benjamin is working to discover.

I really like this series. I think that the author's done a terrific job in her research into the 1840's of New Orleans. There is a lot of information to take in, and many characters to keep track of, but certainly worth the read.

This book is spare as well as chilling. Ms. Hambly borrows from true historical situations to write this story about her "freed coloured" hero, Benjamin January. This book opens during a massive "fever" (Bronze John) outbreak in New Orleans in the summer. Benjamin is working nights at a hospital trying to help people stricken with the sickness. He is a trained doctor, although he is not allowed to practice at any other time because he is "coloured". He is asked to pass a message from a runaway slave to her slave lover in another household and from this seemingly innocuous act, he is embroiled into a maelstrom of of lies, greed, torture and murder. As we read we see life as it was in 1833 New Orleans. We also see how black people had no choice or rights in that city, even if they were "free" and not slaves. It's scary to see what can be overlooked and glossed over for cultural or politically reasons. This is an awesome historical mystery, and much more fast-moving and exciting than the first one was.

I picked up this book at a little book store in Eagles Meere and the cover caught my eye. I really enjoyed this book because it was written about the 1830's and it was very interesting because I havent' read anything about that era in awhile. I like to read about that era and the way things were then. The fever must have been alful. The auther seems very educated in her field of history and sometimes I felt very uneducated about history to understand some of the lingo. There were some terms I still don't know about. (Where can I find out about those terms.) Anyway I really enjoyed this read. It was suspenseful, knowledgeabel and very well written.

Barbara Hambly gives her readers a mystery that captures their attention and a main character that captures their sympathy. Benjamin January is in quite an unenviable position. He is a free man of color, but his status is very precarious in a society that at one time respected the rights of people like him, but as more American whites have come in, his freedom could be taken away at any moment. And with the murder of a free woman of color ruffling the feathers of both the white and colored community, Benjamin's very life could be in danger.

Ms. Hambly not only makes the mystery engrossing, she also makes the caste system engrossing. We come to understand the ins and outs of the New Orleans society Benjamin and his family and friends reside. We also understand why Benjamin both reviles it and yet cannot leave it. For better or worse, this is home. And Ms. Hambly describes it in lush detail, from the wild costumes of the colored balls to the Louisiana backwoods and swamps. You can almost feel the drumbeats the slaves are forbidden to tap out, yet do so with their voices and the rhythm of their work. I will definitely be reading more of this series.

Barbara Hambly has done it again. Benjamin Janvier returns in a sequel to A Free Man of Color. The images that are invoked are excellent. The streets of New Orleans, the culture, the miscarriage of justice reflect the way it was. My friends who teach French and enjoy mysteries loved the frist one after I pointed it out to them. I am recommending this one as well. Please keep up the good work.

It's the summer of 1833 and the muddy, cobbledstone streets of New Orleans reek with the stench of death. The city is under siege by an invisible killer that is claiming hundreds of lives. Knowing no difference between class or color, yellow fever is striking at will. From the lavish mansions of the wealthy landowners to the battered slave quarters, no one is safe. Nothing seems to be able to keep the illness at bay, not the skills of the conventional doctors or the mysterious healing powers of the voodoos. Citizens fortunate enough to get away to the country flee in droves. The ones left behind avoid the streets and open markets as much as possible, leaving New Orleans a virtual ghost town by night fall.

The city's hospital is filled beyond capacity with the wailing, suffering victims of the fever. For Benjamin January this is one of the rare occasions where he can use his skills in medicine. Educated in the finest medical schools in France, January is an accomplished, experienced surgeon. However, in 1833 New Orleans no Black man can practice medicine, even if they are free. Therefore, January is subjected to being nothing more than an assistant to less competent white doctors. Yet, as a trained physician he can not ignore the suffering of others. So by night, enduring meager wages and indignities, he assists the suffering victims as best as he can, sometimes secretly correcting the wrongs his less skilled white counterparts bestow upon them.

By day January earns his living as a music teacher, one of the few dignified jobs available to a free man of color. He teaches the children from wealthy white families as well as a few from the free black families how to read music and play piano. It is during one of these lessons that January is approached by a runaway slave to relay a message to the servant of one of his pupils. Having been a slave himself, January understands the desire to hear and see loved ones who have been sold away, so he takes the risk to pass on the message. Little does he know that this one act of kindness will have deadly consequences.

Intrigued and angered by the events that transpires, January decides to investigate. What he uncovers is a string of mysterious disappearances masked by the yellow fever epidemic. Understanding that it is not safe or accessible for a Black man to question what goes on behind certain closed doors, January approaches everything and everyone with extreme caution. He knows that he must rely upon his wit and a few trustworthy friends to get to the truth. As he digs deeper into the mystery, risking life and limb, he uncovers a den of lies, deceptions and a sadistic, murderous secret that will shock and anger even the most hardened New Orleans citizen.

In FEVER SEASON, Barbara Hambly has captured the essence of old New Orleans.
Hambly brings to life the complex mixture of cultures and people that helped form New Orleans into such a legendary city. Never relinquishing to mere stereotypes, Benjamin January is a character who understands his environment and those who inhabit it. Hambly allows him to remain dignified and intelligent in a world that often did not appreciate such attributes in a Black man. January was first introduced in A Free Man of Color, and although FEVER SEASON continues with his experiences in New Orleans, it truly is a stand alone novel. So for anyone who wants an intelligent mystery where the characters are believable and the plot is thrilling, pull up a bowl of gumbo and take a stroll down the French Quarter in FEVER SEASON.

Reviewed by L. Raven James
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers