Customer Reviews

The Master of Blacktower

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I know that Barbara Michaels (Elizabeth Peters) has written much better books since. But I was young and impressionable when I read it and it stood miles above the average paperback gothic of the period.

The beginning is similar to that of Crocodile on the Sandbank, the book that later began her Amelia Peabody Emerson series. Her scholarly father dead, the heroine is setting out to make her own way in the world. However Master of Blacktower runs a more traditional course with a scarred employer whose reputation is not of the best, a remote Medieval pile in Scotland, not to mention, a missing (dead?) wife, sinister retainers and a mentally disturbed child (what happened to all of those traumatized children when they grew up?). However Michaels' irrepressible humor shines through at times. The predictable plot takes some nice twists and turns. The climax in a dangerous snowy landscape is nicely done.

All in all-- not to be sneezed at.

I have been familiar with Elizabeth Peters and her Egyptian mysteries, but I would have never guess that the woman can write some great stories under a pen name and live a double life of success! Master of Blacktower is cited to be a Gothic thriller but there is so much more to it than heavy, opulent furniture, gowns and language. Set in 1850's this tale is full of old fashioned virtues and the main heroine's way of breaking them.

This is a tale reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast as another reviewer has said, where Damaris who has lost her father at a young age has decided to work as a librarian for Sir Gavin Hamilton. He a brute and barbarian with scars and wild hair who occupied a half demolished castle in Scotland and she a young and quite feisty female who wouldn't dream of living the low standard of having to marry and have as much voice as a piece of furniture in those times. She gave me quite a few chuckles but the real beauty was in the smooth flow of the story and the mysterious past that had Mr. Hamilton tangled up in and the reason for his acting in such a dark, haunted way.

The mysterious disappearance and gossip about his missing wife, his crippled arrogant daughter, a castle with a black tower and full of distrustful servants were just a few of the main elements. The reader is taken on a journey of discovery and truth that has finally shone at the cold Scottish stones with the arrival of young Damaris. There were quite a few twists and turns and a lot of actions, I found myself totally enjoying this tale, reading for the entire lazy Sunday and wishing I had more of Mrs. Michael's books around. I adored the old fashioned way in which people dressesd and the hilarious way men told women what to do, what was even better was their discord when females had enough and got their way in most cases. I am sure glad I live in different times because with my snarly distaste for dictatorship I would have angered many men.

This is a fun, fast read that leaves the reader feeling happy, full to the brim with love, angst and battles against surprising foes and ready for another tale such as this one. I mainly prefer horror, books about werewolves and psychos and this is probably considered to be fictional fluff but boy o boy I adored it, more please! As far as I'm concerned Barbara Michaels can spoon feed me her stories I think I will enjoy them all.

- Kasia S.

This story is Barbara Michaels at her best. The story moves along fast and keeps you wanting more, you never suspect what the out come will be. There are many plot twists that will surprise even the most avid Michaels fans. This is one of my favorites.

The book is an excellent example of Gothic times and what people do for true love. This book just goes to show that love can happen anytime, anyplace, and to anyone! It is one of my favorites!

I love Barbara Michaels! She is one of my favorite modern writers. I also enjoy her writings as Elizabeth Peters. The Amelia Peabody Mysteries have to be one of my all time favorite mystery series. I tend to save her books as Barbara Michaels for times when I need a good dose of a modern gothic. The Master of Blacktower has to be one of my all time favorite books by Barbara Michaels. Damaris Gordon hates the thought of having to go to work for the disfigured Gavin Hamilton owner of a isolated Scottish estate, but her father's death has left her with few choices for how to take care of herself. She begins to discover the truth about his wife's "mysterious" death and his daughter's crippling injury. Barbara Michaels is a master of blending all of the important elements of a Gothic Mystery into her novels. Gavin Hamilton is the perfect tragic brooding hero. This book is easy to savor over again.

In my list of top five favorite books of all time this is one of them. I've read it several times over the years and is one book I will never take to the thrift shop. No sex, is readable by young girls and just an all around wonderful book.

Definitely tones of "Beauty and the Beast", a well crafted novel that kept me reading late (too late) into the night. My first introduction to Barbara Michaels, and it won't be my last.

I've read all books written by Barbara Michaels (and her alias Elizabeth Peters) and this is the one book that draws me back again and again. Ms. Michaels has a finely honed ability to make a hero (and heroine) out of the most unlikely characters. Finding a home in a remote, shadowy castle with a scarred, brooding man has never been more enticing.

I've read almost all of Barbara Michaels books, and I've never had to put one down yet. She's my favorite author.

Though this novel has all the charms, chills, romance, and mystery of Michaels' other wonderful Gothic pieces, it has a strangely rushed, abrupt feel that left me cold compared to her other novels. Though similar in length to her other works, the pace is choppy, and the reader is not as deeply drawn into the story. The two leads, Damaris and the eponymous Gavin, do fascinate and smolder with slow burning romance and character. Even the two of the servants, Betty and Ian, are intriguing, and provide a pleasant, if very minor, supporting influence. The real supporting players, however, left me scratching my head. Their presence, and the reactions to their presence, seem wholly untrue and poorly painted.

In fact, many characters, like the spoiled daughter, Annabelle, are implausible sketches, not used to their potential best in the plot. (She is the duller, female version of The Secret Garden's Colin, in a random, ill-used plot line.) They are set up only to fall by the wayside as the narrative manages to both barrel and creep to a "resolution" of the slackest kind. Huge events occur without much impact. When action does occur, it seems forced an ill-fitting with the story.

Shocking revelations are tumbled out at the last minute, and the end is the final jerk of a disintegrating rope. Not the kind of tug that startles the enchanted reader out of reverie, but the kind that leaves the reader holding a frayed end of a loosely woven story, wondering where the rest went.

I am otherwise a huge fan of Michaels' historical Gothic novels. But The Master of Blacktower trails far behind, in desolate mist, the truly shining, exciting, yet similar, Greygallows, Black Rainbow, Wings of the Falcon, and the Wizard's Daughter. Of them all, I find Black Rainbow to be the best of the form, though I also sometimes reread Greygallows and the Wizard's Daughter. I wish she wrote more in the vein, but Victoria Holt keeps me happily supplied with historical Gothic revival fiction. From Holt, I highly recommend Night of the Seventh Moon, which I am thrilled is available on Kindle.

Better yet, order yourself a shelfful (dusty old box full) of the original Holt/Carr paperbacks and hardbacks. You won't be sorry. Michaels' fans will enjoy.