Customer Reviews

The Lost Prince

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

 

 

First I was entirely ripped off because this is just a re-release of an old book of hers under a new name. That's a terrible thing to do to somebody buying a book on the internet. In a store, I would have noticed. But I'm stuck with this sorry thing.

The author did not employ a copyeditor or review the pages before printing. There were many duplicated paragraphs, and hundreds of incidences of "bum" instead of "burn." In a novel on the Inquistion, that really sticks out.

I forced myself to read this sorry mess thinking she might have ended it differently. She didn't.

I give one star because you can't give none, Yarbro really ripped off the fans, especially the fans who have been fans long enough to have already read this story.

I sent a copy of this to her webmaster, who had the nerve to scold me. It is generally not a good idea to scold people who line up to shovel money at you. I am not amused.

Webmaster's email to me:


Although I'm only the webmaster, I do feel that, before I forward this to Ms. Yarbro that I should point out that NONE of this is the fault of the author -- but the publisher. Authors are not responsible for copyediting, lay-out or any aspect of production. You'd think readers would know that. I'd suggest you should take your ire out on the publisher rather than the author. Do you really think ANY author would want to have a sloppy book published?


As for the the title -- the publisher wanted that, too, although probably with the author's permission. However, if he did not make it clear that this was a re-publication of an earlier work, than that is certainly his fault and not the author's.

Once more Chelsea Quinn Yarbro writes a book about Spain while having no idea of what she is doing. The Spanish Inquisition, intrusive, brutal and powerful as it was, was also always but a tool of the Spanish crown. Courtly intrigues in Spain were complex and merciless but they stopped on the steps of the throne. The king and his family were revered to the point of worship until very late in the history of Spain. The Inquisition kept well away from the royal family and throughout Spanish history the rare times relatives fought each other the conflict was appalling as the nobles, the cities and the people of the assorted Spanish regions took sides and fought to the death. No bastard had a chance at the crown and the Church would champion the legitimate heir while kneeling to him.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's obsession with the power of the Church in the early modern times appears to blind her to how strong the kings were and how dependent the Church was on them. Also she forgets that kings and princes were themselves bound by tradition and constrained. She remembers this most times but apparently not in this book. It is an old one so it could be forgiven...if not for Midnight Harvest, her WORST book and one for which she apparently made no research on the times. This kind of mistakes make me doubt of her accuracy elsewhere. Which to me ruins her otherwise incredible work.