45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bracing plot, graceless execution, July 8, 2009
This review is from: The Last Ember (Hardcover)
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After reading and reflecting on this novel, I determined that I have mixed feelings about it.
I loved Barry Bosworth's
Land of Marvels and Michener's
The Source, two quite different but satisfying historical/archaeological novels. I ignored the red flag of this book--it was advertised as "erudite" in the same passage as comparing it to
The Da Vinci Code. (The Da Vinci Code's sensationalism is riddled with poor writing rather than secrets, and is decidedly not erudite.) An oxymoron--but I decided to risk it. My heritage and the opportunity to delve into ancient secrets influenced my decision.
Daniel Levin is scholarly--that is clear. He possesses a wealth of knowledge on Roman and religious history and on the source of ancient artifacts and language. His facility with classical history and the humanities informs the utterly believable and ultimately appealing story. However, it is not riveting, despite Levin's efforts to compel the reader.
Most of the story takes place over the course of one day, and goes back and forth between Rome and Jerusalem. The protagonist, former classics scholar and rising attorney Jonatahn Marcus, has an unresolved, traumatic personal history that is gradually revealed and woven into the plot. Several characters (villains and lofty good guys) converge in a race to find a hidden menorah, which demands a thrilling pace. Unfortunately, the narrative flow is turgid at times. In his effort to combine historical facts within the novel, the author failed to find a rhythm. It often reads like a text, with written descriptions inexpertly lumbering through the prose. The information he gives is integral to the story but gracelessly inserted. Yet I was so intrigued by the facts he presented that it held my interest enough to keep reading.
The author does have a master control over the Byzantine twists and turns, and the pieces of the mystery unfold to reveal a startling story. (There are also terrific little tidbits of information, e.g. the predatory animals brought to the gladiator stage from Asia and Africa contained seeds of exotic flora in their coats. These seeds dropped into the subterranean depths of the Coliseum and blossomed, and remain to this day.) The architecture of the book works; the execution gets in the way.
This is a debut novel, so I expect some flaws. The characters are stock and reductive--if you are looking for depth, you will find it in the archaeology and ancient mysteries but not in the cardboard characters. I didn't feel a tone, either, which prevented a desired, immanent tension from materializing. I suspect that it is related to Levin's inexperience with fictional narrative. The opportunity to spellbind the reader with a dazzling story was limited by its very flow. However, I would take another chance on this author. I have faith that his next novel will be more realized.
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37 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
So Exciting, I Was Late for Dinner, July 18, 2009
This review is from: The Last Ember (Hardcover)
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"The Last Ember," a legal/historical/religious thriller and a debut novel by Daniel Levin is being compared by many reviewers to the works of Tom Clancy (
The Hunt For Red October) and Dan Brown (
The Da Vinci Code.)
It is, in common with many first works, semi-autobiographical, as they say. Its protagonist, Jonathan Marcus, a practitioner of international law at the major New York law firm of Dulling and Pierce, LLP, finds himself suddenly called to Rome on the case of an ancient archaeological Roman artifact, because he had studied ancient Roman and Greek history, civilizations, and art, and had won a visiting scholar's fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. Levin studied Roman and Greek civilization at the University of Michigan, and is a graduate of Harvard Law School. He won a visiting scholar's fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, and has practiced international law at the major New York firm Debevoise & Plimpton. So let us grant that the author is knowledgeable in ancient Greek and Roman history, art, and civilization; and international law. And, while we're granting him knowledge, we can throw in ancient biblical/Jewish history, art, and civilization,too.
Several reviewers have further compared the neophyte author to Clancy in that he fails to integrate his facts well into his story line; but I, for one, found "Red October" so exciting, I almost forgot to breathe. Although I will grant that Clancy's later works, to me, read like ordnance manuals.
In the interests of full disclosure, I myself, history student at a major American university, studied ancient Roman and Greek history, art, and civilization, and find it still fascinating. I've spent some time in Rome and greater Italy, Athens and Greece. Archaeology absorbs me. I come from the background, and am strongly interested in biblical/Jewish history. I remember clearly being awakened at 4:30 A.M. to make a Sunday at 6 A.M. time slot to look at a Jerusalem water tunnel from biblical times: the city was then still overrun with tourists and it was the only slot available. (Ancient Roman and Israeli water tunnels figure largely in Levin's book). And I am a mystery lover.
Reviewers have further compared first-timer Levin to Brown in that he is just not the finest of writers. His factual interpolations interrupt the flow of the story. His characters are flat and stereotyped; many readers will be able to predict the betrayals and double-crosses necessary for this kind of tale. I was disturbed by the author's arriving at an overblown, device-heavy denouement more reminiscent of an early James Bond film -
Thunderball, actually - than a historical mystery. But I thought the author did very well in giving us ancient, medieval, and modern Rome. And, as a confirmed mystery lover, I found the plot, which is supposed to take place in a day, moved quickly enough so that I could ignore most distractions.
Mind you, I'd be the first to say I don't actually know much biblical history, nor know the Old Testament well. I don't know if the iconic menorah at the heart of Levin's tale actually existed or exists. I do know that the author's most important background character, the historian Flavius Josephus, whom the author quotes as having said, "Historians are forgers," existed. He was a first century figure, descended from a Jewish, royal, priestly family, a general at, and eye witness to, the siege and fall of Jerusalem to the Romans. In his works, he always denied that the future Roman Emperor Titus, with whom he eventually soldiered at the siege, ordered the burning of the Temple. And when Titus,son of the Emperor Vespasian, who had actually initiated the invasion of Judea,ascended the Roman throne, he gave Josephus Roman citizenship. At any rate, Josephus's work set the stage for our comprehension of the Dead Sea Scrolls; recent excavations at Masada, site of the Jews' last stand, have proved his description accurate. The medieval Church protected the historian's work, as he is one of the major informants on extra biblical history, as well as early Christian history: he mentions Jesus, John the Baptist, and Jesus' martyred brother James.
Okay, bottom line. I found "Last Ember" so exciting, I was late for dinner.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thought-provoking theme served up thriller-style, July 16, 2009
This review is from: The Last Ember (Hardcover)
Beyond my expectations, this debut had me hooked. In an era of "24" we're used to lots of firepower (literally) to compensate for meaningful plot, but in this book (though, too, taking place in only a day and night) archaelogical mysteries, ancient religious disputes and legal puzzles serve up a thought-provoking theme about historical revisionism long after its finish. The double-tiered ancient and modern conspiracy was well-executed and the historical background actually enhanced plot twists that were --even to my jaded eye -- admittedly more clever and unpredictable than the other genre suspense books. I'm sure many others will compare this with Dan Brown but this novel's depth sets it apart (and may disappoint some looking for merely quick pacing at the expense of a thoughtful plot). This novel walks and talks like a thriller, but there are real ideas here, particularly the fragility of the past and how "history is written in fire, but to save it takes only an ember." Most important, in the best tradition of historical thrillers, I'd no idea how much I learned
until the last page was turned.
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