Customer Reviews

The Penwyth Curse (Song Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

If you love Catherine Coulter books, forget that this one is even on the market, it simply is not in the same category as her previous novels.

Bishop is commanded by the king to end the curse of Penwyth and marry the already 4 times widowed Merryn. Merryn resides in Pennwyth with a cast of elderly characters who do not want to see the curse ended as this will mean they have been conquered by someone they aren't going to like real well.

Splice in flashbacks in the form of visions as Bishop attempts to tame Merryn at the same time that he comes to terms with his own status as a wizard, the tale jumps around and frankly would have been hard to follow if I had really cared about these characters.

As usual, Coulter flashes back to previous characters, which is always fun. However, they have no real contribution to this tedious tome.

When all comes together and the bad guys get theirs, you come to the conclusion that CC had reached the quota for the number of pages she needed to write and tied it all together in an implausible ending even for writers of this genre. It was like she had to tie it all together and boom that is it - we can get married. (Hey I am not giving anything away here, you know from page one they are getting married, you just don't know how it will all come together.)

Hopefully the next will be much better. I wish I had skipped this one.

I am an avid reader of historical romances and have been very fortunate in my selections to find books that appeal to my sense of romance and emotions. I myself rely heavily on reviews and authors track records, and even if a book does get slammed, if it is from an author whose excellence has been proven in the past, I try to still give it an unbiased read.

Set in the 13th century, this tells the story of Merryn, a young woman who is forced to marry four times and is widowed and still a maiden when Sir Bishop of Lythe arrives at castle Penwyth. (This plot line sounded real interesting to me!) Penwyth bears the brunt of an ancient curse, which declares that no man will ever take Penwyth, or it's heiress, by force. All four husbands died within hours of storming the castle and seizing Merryn. Is the curse real or is their foul play at work? Bishop is wise enough to take precautions and figures he'll be safe if he woos the lady first. He starts to settle into life at the castle, then he starts having dreams featuring an unknown wizard and witch and this is where I feel the novel itself starts falling apart - at least for me.

The dream-story/real time story - eventually overpowers the romance between Merryn and Bishop and at one point - I wasn't sure who the story was about as I believe there was an editing mistake that spoke of Bishop but the story seemed to be related to the dream couple. It was very convoluted and difficult to follow. The jumping around from past to present left me dizzy. Bottom line, I couldn't find myself getting emotionally involved with either couple and although there were a few quite humorous moments in the dialogs, I didn't find it to be an enjoyable and relaxing read - it was too much work to figure out who was who and where!

...mayhap I have picked the wrong Coulter novel with which to begin. Even still, I cannot say it has been totally without mirth. I have found some of the dialogue laugh-out-loud funny (audio book version.) Talking back in response to the ludicrous dialogue affords some diversion, though mayhap most for drivers around me.

Must everything be redder than red, blacker than black, whiter than white, higher than high, etc? Did I really hear that the earth moved during a vigorous amatory adventure? In subject matter, this dialogue is clearly intended for adult audiences. In construction, it rivals "See Spot run". By all the saints' pimply noses, mayhap the most fun is to be derived from the creative and deliberately non-repetitive invocations of said saints. I could wish though that someone close to the author would favor us by building an auto-correct into her word processor to over-ride "mayhap" and "hard".

Oh, aye, I'll finish it (it really is a long, boring drive home and it is futile to wish the time back) but I'm glad this was a library freebie. By all the saints' split ends, I'd have been madder than mad had I purchased it.

When the king rewards Bishop with Merryn of Penwyth as his bride, the gift is a perilous one. At the age of 18, Merryn is already four times a widow, thanks to the curse that Druids have placed upon her. No man may take her or Penwyth castle by force. If he does so, he will die, and so far, that has been true. Bishop is however, a cunning man, and plots to win his bride's heart, and then claim what is his and live. He kidnaps her, and on the journey away, becomes haunted by strange dreams of someplace else. In this other world, a man seeks an elusive magical woman as his lover and wife. As the story unfolds, the two tales intertwine, and the key to one is the answer to the other as well.

*** This overlapping story, well crafted by past masters, such as Cynthia Freeman, is more than slightly confusing here. Although Merryn is the standard Coulter heroine, full of fire and strength, and Biship is a dark, mysterious hero, the plotline is extremely difficult to follow, diminshing the enjoyment of otherwise interesting personalities. ***

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

I was very disappointed in the much anticipated book. I had hoped for an exciting story about a curse and people in love. What I got was a time travel story with Witches, Warlocks etc... And a character who kept pulling one of the main characters back in time.
I found this story confusing and disappointing. Not up the Coulter's usual excellent writing. There seemed to be parts of the story that were missing and that she had to force some aspects of the story to get things to match up. There were sections where things mysteriously appeared with no real explanation etc... At the same time I kept listening in hopes of being more interested.

I recommend that you either look to the Legacy Series or read the Song series.

Don't buy this one new. I'd wait until you could get it used.

I love Catherine Coulter. Her books have always been a joy to read. This book does not reflect the Catherine Coulter I know. The story line and the characters were boring. It is obvious that the time was not taken to develop this story the way it should have been. Catherine Coulter and other romance writers have started focusing more on writing suspense books while still trying to write romance. If this is what romance readers get in the bargain then please leave the romance writing to those who will put the time and effort into giving us great stories with great characters.

After reading the other reviews of The Penwyth Curse, I feel like I may be missing something. I absolutely loved this book! Perhaps because I read it as a fairy tale. A wonderfully romantic fairy tale. With magic, good over evil, and living happily ever after.

I can understand one of the criticisms. The characters in the story did seem a bit flat. It felt to me that we werent given much time in the characters heads; how they thought about things etc. But the relationships, within the context of the story, still seemed totally believable and endearing to me. Another criticism in the reviews I read was that the two story lines seemed disjointed. I have to disagree. I will admit, the first time the story switched to Sometime Else, I found it distracting and didnt know what was going on. But then as the story progressed, the stories were drawn closer and closer together, and more relevant to each other, to the point of a complete connection at the end.

And the story of The Prince and Brecia was WONDERFUL! I would LOVE to see an entire book dedicated just to them!

This is a unique and fun story. Ive read over 200 romance novels and consider this to be one of my favorites.

I have been a Catherine Coulter reader for 15 years, starting with her regency novels (very rare now). They were engaging and well-written. Her current offering is neither. I purchased it, more fool I, fully knowing that it wouldn't stand up to the Song trilogy that it relates to. I just wanted to see Dienwald & Phillippa again!

As in the most recent novels, The Penwyth Curse lacks real depth and character development. The reader is only able to see the surface of the characters, and, given the off-the-wall ways that these characters act and react, this only serves to frustrate the reader. We can only guess at what motivates Merryn to accept Bishop - lust, perhaps - when we could have been treated to a rich internal dialogue about how she doesn't want to be alone anymore, or how she would love to fill her keep with red-headed children, or how she needs a big strong warrior to kill all the spiders in her tower room. Since only the lust is apparent, Merryn doesn't make a particularly sympathetic heroine. Nor is Bishop a sympathetic hero: he lies and says he's a wizard (from whence did that errant though spring?), he threatens repeatedly to rape Merryn, then to stake her out on a hill until she drowns from torrential rain. Who wants to read about these people?

Not me. This one goes to the second-hand bookstore, where I will get all my Coulter in the future. I cannot stomach paying full-price for this quality of writing any longer.

Reading The Penwyth Curse, you almost believe there are two different writers at work - one moment you're reading fairly interesting dialogue and descriptions, and the next minute you read "it would be a very bad thing", and the words "simply" and "just" repeated dozens of times throughout the book! The worst? "she was so afraid she almost puked from it" Oh, puhleez!

It had potential, but "just" didn't succeed. "Simply" didn't.

This book was a huge disapointment. Catherine Coulter is a talented author and has delivered wonderful plots and characters in several genres--but The Penwyth Curse is one of the worst novels I've ever read. It was a chore to finish it and I found myself just thumbing through the last half of the book to find out what, if any, <yawn> connection was between the Prince/Brecia and Merryn and Bishop. The idea of the alternating chapers and times was good in concept but poorly executed and made me feel like I was involuntarily changing back and forth between two movies just when one had started to get interesting. I wish I'd have checked the reviews here before I wasted my money.