Customer Reviews

The Giuliana Legacy

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Giuliana Legacy
by Alexis Masters; Health Communications, Inc, 2001.

For anyone who wants to curl up at night with a good story, I highly recommend Alexis Master' novel The Giuliana Legacy. Giuliana is the Italian spelling of Juliana, the name of the heroine.

Juliana Giardani's family has served The Goddess Aphrodite for centuries. But as the story begins, Julia herself couldn't be less interested in her family's spiritual heritage. A social worker at a homeless shelter and a midwife, she's always been put off by her father's willingness to call himself a Witch. So when he tells her it's time she took her rightful place in "the family business," she makes it clear that she'll give him a listen, but only out of love for dear Dad.

Unfortunately, Dad never gets a chance to tell her anything of substance. He dies in a suspicious fire in his bookstore, a fire that Julia believes was not an accident. Now she's thrown back on her own resources to track down her legacy, based on the few paltry clues her father left behind.

In a quick-paced story that moves from Berkeley, California, to Greece, to Paris, to Florence, Julia comes closer and closer to who she really is and to the Goddess she's meant to serve. But danger lurks near by in the form the malevolent former KGB member, Gregor Danilenko, who seeks a mysterious artifact in her family's possession-an artifact Julia knows nothing about. Luckily, she also meets a protector and helper; the handsome Andrei Anatolin, Danilenko's arch enemy. As Julia travels to Italy, learning more about her destiny, hearts and hands work secretly behind the scenes to keep her alive and safe from the evil that hunts her.

Julia's last name, Giardani, is close to "giardini," the Italian word for gardeners. It's true that in ancient times, Aphrodite's shrines were often placed in gardens. However, one wonders if her last name might also be an insider's nod to modern-day Wiccans. The word "gardener" is very similar to Gardner, the last name of one of the most well-known figures of the 20th century Witchcraft movement: Gerald Gardner.

But whether her name is meant to allude to Gerald Gardner or not, the novel is a suspenseful tale about love and devotion, both spiritual and physical. The story is delivered in tightly written prose, with not a word or scene wasted. I read it in two sittings, and several of my friends who have dedicated themselves to The Goddess have also read it and found it very enjoyable. Looking for a good love story with spiritual themes? Pick up this one.

Dear Readers,

The Giuliana Legacy was recommended to me for several reasons and for the same reasons I recommend it to you; it has a unique premise and characters, is well written, and it satisfies to the end.

I have avoided visionary fiction due to the cheesy and often radical divide between titles and authors to the left and right of the political and religious center. I was pleased that I was not lectured on the way to live, the way to think or the way to pray to God while reading this novel. I was very pleased that the author allowed me to find the significant and holy (in Giuliana Legacy) without a guided tour, a giant spotlight or the banging of drums.

With my major fears aside, I'll start by saying that I enjoyed this novel from the start (I hate that I can't put in spoilers, but the book has a great first part!). I put it down several times to read other titles to string out the experience more than a few days. Alexis Masters needs to write at least five more books to complete the saga she has launched inside my mind.

Her main characters are easily the stuff of great series, and I feel that Masters' style of writing will evolve and strike a clear balance between modern mainstream readers and people like me who chomp through titles looking for intellectual sustenance.

The Giuliana Legacy covers a great deal of ground, physically, politically and spiritually and does so at a rapid and believable pace. The characters grow; they face real world conflict and suffer from inner demons and interpersonal struggle (as do you and I). There are no implausible plot twists, gaps or unbelievable actions on the part of the characters. They are driven by their own needs, instincts and the unknown deeper causes that shape our daily knowing lives.

Two recent reviewers said that the book was empty and failed to entertain. I entirely disagree with this assessment; I finished reading the book and felt perfectly sated. The writing is of higher than average novel quality and the author and editors have clearly taken great pains to tell a story with meaning on multiple levels.

It is not the author or novel's fault if you need everything spelled out for you. I find that a nod to my intelligence from an author is a good sign for building a long-term following of that author's work. I rate the novel only four stars because there were a few places with the villain that a more seasoned author could have exploited scenes and motivation more fully.

You must read the book your own way and determine for yourself what the message is, for it must be the author's desire to evoke our own quests for salvation, joy and love and to tell a story of three very ordinary people blessed with the extraordinary.

If you are not looking for a trip about salvation, joy and love - fear not. You'll still get to see some distant scenery, foreign culture, hot passion, flaming vengeance, direct action, cold-blooded murder and last but not least, some handy-dandy home restoration.

...

As a freelance editor, for personal and professional reasons I generally do not review books I have worked on, but there are a very few novels for which I make exceptions because for me they are exceptional. More than well crafted novels, they are work that is outside the box in some rare and moving way that broadens my mind and deepens my soul personally and professionally. Through Masters' vision and her profoundly Feminine heroine something in me has been enlivened or reawakened, something that spans time and space and human history, something as rich and immediate and delightful as this novel. Something of the nourishing perennial Feminine that answers a great and felt need of individual women and men, our culture, and our Earth.

One of the best stories I've read about the Goddess. I loved
the idea that a thoroughly modern woman is suddenly forced to
face herstory and discovers she's the hereditary head of an
ancient religion. Very thought-provoking. The characters were well drawn and lively. I was moved by the descriptions of the old religion on Crete and in Tuscany. Couldn't give it
5 stars as I felt the writing style was a little sophomoric, and the "bad guy" subplot was distracting from the true essence of the book. But I want more!

The Giuliana Legacy is a wonderful book. While reading, there were times when I was in tears , times when I was on the edge of my seat, and times when I was in a dream-like trance because of the beauty of the poetic descriptive narrative. It's a wonderful book because it tells an exciting and meaningful story without the use of gratuitous sex and violence, yet is powerful enough to hold your attention. Without the use of over-sentimentality, it presents the age-old theme that love always triumphs over evil. When you read it, you will think about it often for quite awhile... Buy one for yourself and one to donate to your local library.

When you are longing to be somewhere else, somewhere numinous and alive, but airfare is out of reach, reach for this book. Travel with Julia, guided only by cryptic postcards left by her late father, to the coves and caves of Cypress, birthplace of Aphrodite, origin of the mysterious magical legacy that will eventually lead Julia not only to the hills of Tuscany but through time. Masters, whom I recently heard speak, traveled to over 50 ancient sanctuary sites on Aphrodite during her research for this book. When we read her sensuous descriptions, we are there, too. I am looking forward to seeing where Julia/Giuliana travel in volume 2!

I curled up one summer afternoon with The Guiliana Legacy, thinking to just dip in before doing chores. The next thing I knew it was midnight. Lost in the sensous Tuscan landscape and the X-Files-meets-the-goddess plot, I was both thrilled and moved by Masters' novel. Julia/Guiliana is a wonderful heroine, both mythic and believable, and her legacy is one we can all appreciate. A real find!

Great discovery, wonder and the inescapable embrace of the soul await you in within the pages of The Giuliana Legacy. Your journey as a reader begins in the vast plains of a daughter's grief and the corrupted loins of her pursuing villain. She must overcome fear, doubt, and dire challenges to love a special man, rescue another, and don the duties of her karma as a Giardani heiress.

Masters' first published work is a victory deserving of your readership, it is truly a fine novel and a great read. Her literary ability conveys the innumerable counts of place, people, and the transpersonal with striking clarity and depth without cheap twists or pratfalls.

The author's careful use of mysteries and spirituality as an element of her story, instead of the whole point, should prevent any feelings of brainwashing from all but the most brainwashed. The author has a refined and polished style of interweaving the plots and events and will leave you breathless and turning the pages forward in anticipation.

To know Julia and of her adventures from the beginning of The Giuliana Legacy is indeed a gift from someone special. Masters' may not have invented a new story with her telling, but I feel that she has established her own important myth.

-- Warning: This novel includes but is not limited to: an attractive young woman in her twenties, a bad man with many years of dirty deeds and espionage to his credit, a noble and heroic male love interest, an ageless woman of great wealth and power, one burning bookstore, two birthplaces of Aphrodite, three Italian witches and four amazing parts to read!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have read it a few times over the years. Any idea if the author is planning a sequel? It feels at the end that there's more to the story...

The Giuliana Legacy is better that the Mists of Avalon at introducing the ancient Goddess religion and its mysteries of love. Alexis Master's work of visionary fiction is a delightful discovery that draws one forward into realms of ancient lore and spiritual insight that are rare and fascinating. In the passages where Giuliana is developing her psychic powers, I feel my own psychic centers opening and expanding. A fine treasure!