Customer Reviews

Named of the Dragon

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Set in Wales, this modern gothic is long on atmosphere and short on plot. If you can swallow the angle--bad dreams clear up when vaguely Arthurian mystery is solved--you will enjoy a sweet love story and a likeable heroine. Setting it a Christmas is a tad too much, however, as you will see.

The author, who is Canadian, uses a vocabulary that may confuse a few Americans, but is pure nostalgia if you have ever lived in Great Britain. Well written---I will read more of the author's work.

Lyn is a literary agent who has been haunted by the death of her baby for a long time. Lyn's friend Bridget writes children books. Bridget is tough, mad about men and loves to create scandals. She invites Lyn to spend Christmas in Wales with her and two other writers, James and Gareth. Bridget has her reasons for inviting Lyn along, but my impression is that a power much stronger than a best selling writer has something to do with her trip. Lyn feeling a trip would do her good accepts Bridget's offer. Once there she meets a neighbor who swears Lyn was sent to be a guardian and a writer who believes she is only there to convince him to sign with her company. Lyn finds herself pulled into a mystery that is beyond her control. Now her dreams are not just disturb by the haunting cries of her own lost baby, but by someone else's child as well. What do they want? Why does she keep seeing people in her dreams that do not exist?

Susanna Kearsley's writing impressed me greatly! The first page captured me immediately; once drawn in I couldn't let go. Although Named the Dragon is a contemporary novel, the historical aspects of Wales, its castles, its myths and its royalty, along with the quotes at the beginning of each chapter by Shakespeare, W.B. Yeats, and Lord Tennyson made the read that much more delightful for me as a historical buff.

Susanna Kearsley's writing has been compared to Barbara Michaels and Mary Stewart. I have to agree - it is that good.

Author Bridget Cooper persuades her literary agent Lyn Ravenshaw to join her on a Christmas vacation in Angle, Wales. Bridget looks forward to spending some time with a famous playwright, whose name she refuses to divulge to Lyn. She wants Lyn to occupy a boy friend, noted writer James Swift. Lyn looks forward to meeting James because she loved his last work "The Leaden Sky" that she thought deserved a Booker.

After they arrive in Angle, Lyn learns that Bridget plans to have a tryst with the renowned recluse Gareth Gwyn Morgan, whose play several years took the world by storm. Gareth rejects the spotlights of the London stage and has not published anything since he was heralded as the greatest. When Gareth and Lyn meet for the first time, no sparks fly. There is only a squabble that occurs whenever they're together. As they see each other, they begin to fall in love. However, neither one can handle a relationship filled with love because their respective hearts are overloaded with guilt from their pasts. Adding to their problems is the continual dream that Lyn suffers involving a mother and a child.

NAMED OF THE DRAGON is a very interesting contemporary romance that centers on protagonists predominantly belonging to the world of literature. The story line is character-driven, which works because the prime players are different in temperament yet add much to the mix. Though the subplot involving Merlin's Prophecy (Lyn's dream) seems distracting at times, it ultimately works its way into the main plot. Susanna Kearsley provides her audience with a complex relationship drama that shows her ability to showcase her cast.

Harriet Klausner

I liked the book. I like Kearsley's writing and her plots, and her dialogue is good. But I keep having the same problem-- her climaxes fizzle. There just isn't much to them. The climax in this one just blew up out of nowhere and lasted so brief a time that it hardly seemed to qualify as one.

Susanna Kearsley's books never disappoint. With her evocative descriptions of place, her engaging characters, her special gift for dialogue and a dash of suspense thrown in, they are always fun and entertaining reads: fast can't-put-down-until-it's-finished books.

In Named of the Dragon she takes us to a little corner of modern-day Wales, to Castle House in the village of Angle. In looking up Angle on Wikipedia I discovered that Castle House is a real place; in fact, the picture on the cover of this book looks to be taken from an actual photo of the place. And indeed, in the Author's Note at the end, Kearsley explains that she once spent at winter at Castle House and that its owners invited her to write about it. Cleverly, she used the names of the owners -- Ralph and Pam -- as the names of the owners in the book.

The heroine is a young widow who, five years later, is still grieving and having nightmares about the baby she lost at birth. At the invitation of a client she goes to Wales to spend Christmas, and there her constantly-recurring nightmares take on ever-new twists as they become entwined with the story of a young widow living at Castle House who lives in fear that someone is trying to take her baby boy. Added to the mix is a dose of Arthurian legend, as the young mother, who most consider half-mad, constantly refers to the prophecies of Merlin and mysteriously believes that Lyn (the heroine) has come to save her baby.

If this sounds a bit melodramatic and over-done, it does verge on that at times. However, Kearsley rescues her book from going completely over the top by her engaging and witty characters. Although the dialogue wasn't quite as sparkling and witty as in The Shadowy Horses, she still manages to create people you wished you knew.

The romance was a weaker element in Named of the Dragon, as Lyn and her would-be love interest spent the entire book sparring with each other. He wasn't handsome, he wasn't intriguing, in fact he was a jerk most of the time. But by the last five pages or so it was evident that in the near future they would finally get together.

Named of the Dragon isn't Kearsley's strongest book, but it is an entertaining, fast read recommended for her fans, or fans of Mary Stewart.

Another winner from Susanna Kearsley, who is on the fast track for overtaking some of my favorite "spooky" writers, Barbara Michaels, Barbara Erskine and Mary Stewart.

Canadian writer Kearsley pens the kind of books I particularly enjoy (and have a hard time finding) for a weekend read - an atmospheric, somewhat romantic mystery set in Europe (particularly Great Britain) and containing historic or mythic references. Named of the Dragon is set in a small coastal village in Wales, and references Tennyson's epic poem, The Idylls of the King (which also happens to be a beloved favorite of mine). Nerd that I am, I knew immedaitely from reading some reviews that the hero and heroine, Gareth and Lyn, MUST be somehow connected to Sir Gareth and Lynnette of the Idylls, and they were! Lots of Authurian references from the Welsh mythic tales, The Mabinogi, as well as some brief history of Henry VII and his young(!) mother, Margaret Beauford.

I've read three Kearsley books now (Mariana and The Shadowy Horses), and this offering, while the weakest, is still better then alot of what passes for romantic suspense these days, IMO. If you enjoy Barbara Michaels, Barbara Erskine or Mary Stewart, you should enjoy the books of Kearsley. The only problem is, her books are very difficult to get a hold of in the US, and she hasn't written but 7 or so.

I'd love to see a resurgence in this genre of book, which hasn't been popular since the 1970's. Alot of current books claim to be romantic suspense, but usually feature 80% romance and 20% suspense, which isn't really my thing. In addition, I personally want my "paranormal" suspense to include spooky houses, ghostly sightings, reincarnation or time travel...not vamps- and weres- and zombie-lovers.... Am I the only one?? lol!

Ms. Kearsley's book is the best book I have ever read! She combines a fantastic plot with history and one of the greatest stories of all time-Arthurian Legend. Lyn Ravenshaw travles from London to Angle, Wales with her client, where she meets the interesting and confusing Elen, the "unbearable" Gareth, and a host of other characters who all add to this increadible mystery. I definently recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery and lore.

A wonderful read. I was glued to this but made myself put it down so not to finish too quickly. I am now online looking for more books by Susanna Kearsley. I hope she is a fast writer! I also read Barbara Michaels and Diana Mott Davidson among a few so if you enjoy them, I think you will enjoy this author.

In this offering, Susanna Kearsley introduces us to Lyn Ravenshaw, a literary agent who, plagued by a past tragedy involving her deceased child is coerced by her man-hungry client, children's author, Bridget, in spending her Christmas holiday observing Bridget's manhunt in Wales. With her usual flare and ease, Kearsley introduces us to an odd combination of guests/inhabitants in an isolated setting that is reminiscent of that of Mary Stewart's in her novel, "Wildfire at Midnight". Among the cast of well-drawn characters are the two "hunted" men, James and Gareth, who provide some provocative mind-candy for the female readers and Elen, the fanciful young mother who is certain that her baby is "Named of the Dragon" in the Arthurian sense and claims that Lyn has arrived in role of her baby's protector. Of course, this proves unsettling to poor Lyn who plunging headlong into her own memories of the loss of her own child, must finally face her demons as she unravels the mystery surrounding the threat to Elen's child. The mystical Arthurian themes as well as the reclusive personalities of the more shadowy characters in this story add to the rather misty ambiance and act as an enjoyable foil to Lyn's reemergence into the light of life. Great story with a fantastic setting which I heartily recommend.

This is yet another beautifully written book by Susanna Kearsley. Almost as good as "Marianna" and better than "The Shadowy Horses", both by Ms. Kearsley, this book is a highly entertaining gothic style novel.

A literary agent with a sad past, her client who is a children's author, another author romantically linked with the agent's client, and his brother, all spend the Christmas holidays together in the two brothers' farmhouse in Wales. Our literary agent starts having vivid dreams in which a woman from the past keeps asking her to protect a beautiful child she has with her. Meanwhile, a local, somewhat eccentric neighbor also perceives this literary agent to be someone sent to guard her own child from danger. She, too, has had haunting dreams.

Throw in a brooding Welsh playwright, some atmospheric surroundings, a lonely, wild country side, some romantic yearnings, haunting legends, and mysterious, inexplicable occurrences, and what you have is a gripping page turner. It is a book well worth reading.