Heart of Light (Magical British Empire) [Kindle Edition]

Sarah A. Hoyt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Set in a magical Victorian British Empire that never was, this unique fantasy blends adventure, intrigue, and romance, as a newlywed couple embark on a dangerous quest—and, in the process, discover their own heart’s desires.

On a luxury magic carpetship in 1889, an English couple travel to Cairo for their honeymoon. Except for a brush with a dragon, the voyage is uneventful. But for Nigel Oldhall and his beautiful Indian-born bride, Emily, the holiday hides another purpose. Within hours of arriving in the teeming city, they are plunged into an extraordinary struggle among demons, murderers, and magic.

In Cairo, Nigel can no longer hide his secret from his wife: he is on a mission to rescue a ruby that will ensure Queen Victoria’s hold on Africa forever. But the search has already swallowed up Nigel’s older brother—and now it has put his own Emily in mortal danger. But is she the innocent Nigel imagines? Soon, separately and apart, the two will set off for the heart of the continent among conspirators and traitors, all seeking the ruby and the gifts and curses it offers them—and all of humankind.…


From the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Sarah Hoyt was born in Portugal during the Cuban Missile Crisis. To make life more interesting, she was born severely premature, at the height of winter in an unheated stone house. She survived, and is glad to report that she's still surviving. She now lives in Colorado with one husband, two children and four cats. She likes dogs but can't afford to adopt eight of them.

She writes science fiction and fantasy for a living. She has published books from her Shifter series (Draw One in the Dark), her Musketeers Mysteries series as Sarah D'Almeida (Death of a Musketeer, The Musketeer's Seamstress) and her Shakespearean Fantasy series (Ill Met by Moonlight). She is currently working on her Magical British Empire series, which includes Heart of Light, Soul of Fire and Heart and Soul, to be published by Bantam Spectra.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 650 KB
• Print Length: 530 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0553589660
• Publisher: Spectra (February 26, 2008)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0013TPX86
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #215,243 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

I was born in Portugal far more years ago than I like to admit to, in a -- then very small -- place called Granja (lugar da Granja -- lugar possibly transtating roughly as hamlet -- but literally translating as "place") in the freguesia (allegiance/fiefdom) of Aguas-Santas (Holy Waters) in the Conselho (council) of Maia in the district of Porto.

All those designations are changed now, but as I like to tell people I grew up somewhere between Elizabethan England and Victorian England with just a little of the twentieth century thrown in.

This might be exaggerating -- not much -- but the truth is that I did go to a village school and learn to write with a quill pen. Though I used ballpoint pens at home. I penned my first "novel" with ballpoint at around the age of six. And since it was pretty easy -- all twenty pages of Enid Blyton rip-off -- I abandoned what I (by then) suspected was an unattainable aspiration of becoming an angel when I grew up. I decided instead to be a novelist.

Once this was decided, of course, it didn't take all that long at all. Only some... cough... twenty years, during which I acquired a degree from the University of Porto (where we didn't use quill pens), found that employment for English majors was at best scant, moved to the US, changed my name, got married, worked at a variety of jobs from multilingual translator to retail clerk, had two kids and a varying and scary number of cats and read far more than is good for any human being.

So, now I live in Colorado with my husband, two teen sons who are both taller and stronger -- and far more handsome -- than I and four indoor cats, plus a variety of Not-Our-Cats(tm) who beg food at the kitchen door and for whom we provide facilities summer and winter. But who are not... cough... our cats. Ever.

I've been telling lies for fun and profit since 1994 (I did it for free long before that.)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars (3.5 stars) Great world with tons of fun magical stuff but annoying romance and over dictation by the powers that be, May 9, 2008

By 

Lilly Flora "by Lilo Drandoff" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Heart of Light (Mass Market Paperback)

It was the cover that drew me to this book. A woman in Victorian dress standing on the dessert sands at sunset looking at what is apparently Buckingham palace flying overhead on a magic carpet. Then the premis drew me in: a world where magic is in the place of technology but that magic was bound to the ruing class by using a ruby ages ago and now queen Victoria wants the other ruby (named the heart of light) to perform this act again and basically take magic away from all others in the world so they can continue to be subjugated.

To this end she sends Nigel Oldhall and his new bride Emily to Africa on their honeymoon to find the ancient jewel rumored to have-with its long lost twin-bound the universe in one to keep parallel planes from splitting off and confusing things. But of course things get in the way of Nigel's quest. Everyone who was to help him is dead and the small but fierce African resistance to the great jewel plot, the hyena men, set binds which could kill or enslave upon Nigel and Emily. Luckily an old friend of Nigel's just happens to be in town-or is it? Because as helpful as Peter is, everywhere he is there are reports of were-dragons (yup, just like werewolves, only dragon style.)

This is complicated fantasy with a lot of different things to keep in mind but it's not overwhelming. The basis is good, the world is great and the plot is pretty solid. But the romance aspect? Sadly this book suffers from the common aliment of Love at First Sight. Or rather, love for no reasonable basis but mutual physical attraction. And not with who'd you think either. Also way too much of the quest aspect is just laid of for our heroes by wise people and various gods/goddess they meet along the way. Annoying. They never seem to figure anything out on their own. Anything important anyway.

All in all though it's a good novel for the first in a trilogy. Flying carpets instead of cruise boats, trains powered by magic, guns which shoot magical energy, mind melds and al kinds of were-creatures...it's a fantasy lover's dream world to pay around in. I'm looking forward to the other two.

Three point five stars.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I had such high hopes, March 8, 2010

By 

Robin Hood "We're All Mad Here" (Georgia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Heart of Light (Magical British Empire) (Kindle Edition)

A friend of mine read this book and gave it a five star review. Generally, I trust her judgement and love the books she recommends.

This one? Not so much.

I must admit: I never saw the movie Pearl Harbor with Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale and....whoever the other guy was. Maybe Josh Hartnet? It wasn't personal, it just didn't look all that interesting from the previews. What I did see was Roger Ebert's review of Pearl Harbor, and his summation was "The Japanese declare war on an American love triangle." That sentence has always stuck with me, because I thought it was extremely funny. (The review, not the event. And to be completely clear, I have seen many fascinating documentaries on Pearl Harbor. The movie just looked too teen romancey for me.).

And that's EXACTLY what I think of this book:
African independence and a magical British empire interrupts the love triangle from HELL. OMG. I wanted to slap nearly everybody in the book before it was over. Not that the story ended. The book ran out of pages. It just stopped. The quest wasn't over (but God willing, the love triangle(s) is/are.). If one person thought "Oh, that person's complete silence in the dead of night must mean that person doesn't love me and can never love me and is really secretly in love with someone else and everyone in my entire life has lied to me about everything of importance and now I must make my way by myself (on this STUPID UNCOMMUNICATED JOURNEY. Sorry, that was my addition.) and life as I know it will be forever changed but I must go on and live a life in which I can never be loved and my magic must not be nearly as powerful as that other person's magic even though everyone says it is but we have almost no demonstrations of magic on which to do a comparison....", EVEYRONE THOUGHT IT. Even the characters that were allegedly natives of Africa. I have such fond hopes for other cultures, that they don't have the same stupid societal rules that a lot of Western cultures have....and I would be sorely disappointed. According to Ms. Hoyt, not a single person in England or in Africa or in the ENTIRE BRITISH BLOODY EMPIRE has ever had an original thought.

It's astonishing.

The only reason I'm not giving this one star is that all the five star reviews seem to be coming down hard on the one star review (and I'm not here to discuss whether or not that review has merit), and because I can't give it a negative star. I really can't decide whether to read the rest of the series or not.

I mean, I will readily admit to being a squeamish person, so I try to avoid true crime books (or any kind of crime books, unless they're like Donald Westlake's Dortmunder capers) because I know I won't like some of the content, especially as it pertains to parts of the human body.
So I was shocked when (**SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT**) one of the characters CUT OUT HIS OWN EYE for this STUPID MISSION. GAG!!! (If I could do a bold 42 point font here, that "gag" would be in it.).

This book had such a promising start: Magical planet, magical empire, Queen Victoria, flying carpets, dragons, and....love triangle. About 5 people I pretty much hated by the end of the journey. Which wasn't the end of the journey.

**SECOND SPOILER SECOND SPOILER SECOND SPOILER** If you didn't love the last Harry Potter book because the content was mostly two people camping out and arguing, you're not going to love this book either. If I want to see people fight on an overly-prolonged trip, I'll drive somewhere with my grandparents. I don't care to read about it in my fantasy books.

If anyone has ANY kind of insight about the remaining books, and whether or not I should read them, please leave me a comment. I'd be willing to try them, just so I didn't waste all this time in the desert with these morons.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's Part Of A Series!!, August 23, 2008

By 

bhr "birdwoman" (Bryn Mawr, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Heart of Light (Mass Market Paperback)

OH, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the alternate victorian universe - magic in such a staid world is a great contrast. Victorians were, in their way, more staidly scientific than we are! But this contrast, starting with a honeymoon cruise that occurs on a Hotel on a Flying Carpet, is quite well done.

The characters are pretty well drawn, with many facets and challenges to them throughout the story. The plot is not hugely intricate, but because it is told from many points of view, the hero/good guy POV is not overtly apparent from the beginning. This makes for a more interesting read than the usual fantaasy.

I believe this kind of fantasy is an acquired taste, but for those who like this AU magic kind of stuff, it's a good story. My biggest complaint is that it is the first of 2 books, and this is not at all clear upon reading the jacket of the book. I do not like being thusly sucker punched.

(*)>