Customer Reviews

Wizard's Daughter (Bride Series)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

I have previously been a fan of Catherine Coulter so I hope this is an aberration but I was SHOCKED at how badly written this was. We're not just talking about a poorly thought out plot or some quirky dialogue. This is a book that just doesn't come together on all levels. The characters are shallow and barely written at all. Other than the main heroine and hero, who you can distinguish, almost all the other characters sort of blend into mush. And the two main characters are barely fleshed out, with weirdly haphazard behavior. You don't have any idea of why they do what they do. Even the characters we know, the Sherbrookes, are almost not present. Technically they're there as their names appear, but you wouldn't know they're there by behavior or dialogue or any reference to previous books.

What's worse, the dialogue and the story are almost unintelligible. Not being mean here...it really just is sort of difficult to figure out not only why people do what they do but what they're doing in the first place.

The impression I got was that Ms. Coulter put so much time into envisioning the mystery of the two main characters, where they came from and of other world of "The Pale" that she sort of forgot about the actual story. There is VERY LITTLE ROMANCE!!! It's not that there isn't any chemistry between the two characters...any sort of opportunity for chemistry is just passed over and written off casually. It just doesn't exist! There's no anticipation, no enjoyment of the relationship, nothing. As if the romance is not just secondary, but unnecessary.

The book feels distant and disjointed and utterly unready for publication. If I didn't know better, I'd think that this was someone's juvenile freshman effort, not the work of a seasoned, well loved writer.

You'll be disappointed. Don't buy this book. If you do, you've been warned.

This is my first Catherine Coulter book so I came into it with no expectations at all. And to just sum it all up at the outset I have to say she's a really good writer who loses her way.

It starts off great. I totally enjoyed Rosalind and Nicholas meeting and their interactions with each other and the others. The banter was witty and it was shaping up to be a really good historical romance with shades of the paranormal. Just enough to make it interesting. I thought it flowed well and the love scenes were just different enough to make them interesting so I didn't skim right through it. So all in all a good read.

Until I reached chapter 49 and realized that the book was almost done and there was lots and lots of stuff not yet resolved. And I knew in my heart that there wasn't enough time for her to explain all the mysteries and bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. And, unfortunately, I was right. Either the book needed to be longer or she should have cut out some of the otherworldly "land of the Pale" elements in the book. It was too convoluted a world to try and explain in the short chapters at the end of the book. If she was going to do that kind of fantasy she should have started much earlier in the story. And there were definitely too many things left hanging. Like who shot at Nicholas?

And yet... in spite of all that I liked the first two thirds of the book enough that I can't say it's a bad book. I just wish the ending had been better thought out and not so rushed.

I usually love Catherine Coulter's historical novels and cannot put them down. Was thrilled to hear that the Sherbrook family would be re-visited, & could hardly wait to get to the store to purchase it. Where I normally cannot put her books down, I was having a hard time plodding thru this one. She had some excellent would be potential villains the half brothers, but far too much space was taken up with mythological Wizards & Witches pages which were to say the least just down right boring, & jumbled up garbage. For anyone who is new to her novels, I would recommend they spend there money on her earlier historicals.

I love most of Catherine Coulter's historicals but this one just didn't measure up to others. The middle of the book just became confusing and the end seemed rushed. I would recommend readers go for other books in the Sherbrooke series and stay away from this one.

I got this at the airport, as I was in desperate need of something to read. At first it was funny, with all the banter and silly talk. But then...that turned out to be all it was. On and on with sassy remarks, mostly highly superficial. Even the evil and danger was presented in a silly way. My reading became more and more plodding, and when they finally entered the magical world of the Pale, I was drinking martinis to get me through it. I ended up skimming. I don't know where she came up with the land of the Pale, but it was pretty bad. I got the feeling that she doesn't really care, just needs money to pay her mortgage. Oh well, at least SHE can get published, eh?

This book is so poorly crafted I can only imagine the author is writing on contract because I can see no other way such drivel ever got published. The characters are as dimensional as paper dolls and the viewpoint character changes at random, even within the same scene. The dialogue is supposed to be witty but is full of anachronisms not suited to the historical period. Worse, the "heroine" acts and speaks like a modern woman, except, of course, when it comes to sex. (And the sex scenes are not even worth reading!)The plot lacks conflict, pacing, and a satisfactory internal logic or consistency. Basically this story is a throwaway romance, a throwaway mystery and a throwaway fantasy. So I threw it away.

I too purchased this book in the airport, but wished I had left it on the plane. I love historical romance and supernatural stories, but this was a mess - way too many loose ends and a rushed ending. How could the editor have let it get published like this?

I have read many of Catherine Coulter's books, especially the Sherbrooke saga. However, this book almost seems to me like she was trying to bank on the readers desire for more Sherbrookes that she convoulted the storyline into a fantasy with their name thrown in. The writing was stilted and the dialogue was unbelieveable. Half of the actions the two main characters did was unrealistic. The premise was promising...Rosalind and Nicholas find a "magic" book that only she can read, that could hold the key to her past, since she doesn't remember anything until after she was found by Ryder Sherbrooke and he saved her. Everything else in the story is a mish-mash of fantasy, sci-fi, and romance. I was very unsatisfied with this book. She shouldn't have included the Sherbrooke saga if she was going to write a fantasy book. It doesn't flow, and about half-way through the book, the Sherbrookes don't even get mentioned. It was very confusing, and while I normally fly through her books, this one I put down numerous times because there were so many "magic" references and names. The conclusion especially made no sense and was VERY unsatisfying.

I have followed the Sherbrooke clan for years and when I picked this up, I thought: "Oh, now she's going to write about all of Ryder's charges. What a great way of keeping in touch with the Sherbrookes and to get new stories about all the charming characters in her world at the same time."

The blurb at the back of the book seemed pretty interesting - a child is beaten up and left for dead, and all she can remember is a strange song. Fast forward to when she's grown up, and things start out well enough. Nicholas Vail sees Rosalind de la Fontaine at a ball. She doesn't get to dance with him, but she can't get him out of her head. It's love at first sight, you sigh to yourself, and even though no one knows Rosalind's background you know they're going to get married anyway. That Nicholas has a half brother who thinks he should be Earl in his place is just going to make things a little more difficult for them. Let the fun begin..

Only there's very little fun despite the familiar references to nutty buns, racing kittens, and fashionable husbands. There are books that appear out of nowhere that can't be read except by Rosalind. There's a ghost singing bawdy songs which take up a lot of real estate. I felt cheated that pages and pages were dedicated to strange visions, dreams and the culture of a fantasy type world called the Pale, all of it so far fetched and inserted so randomly as to ruin the plot.

Nothing makes sense at all, even if you manage to make it to the end. Ms Coulter's explanations just leave all the loose ends more tangled than ever, and I found myself skipping pages in the second half of the book - never a good sign.

Paranormal stories seem to be all the rage now, and I'm quite happy with paranormal talents and ghosts that talk to you (Lynn Kurland and Patricia Rice come to mind). And even though I don't find the Elementals series by Mary Jo Putney (now published as MJ Putney) particularly believable, they have definite consistency.

But I picked up Wizard's Daughter by Catherine Coulter to read a quirky romance story, not a treatise on how to survive when you're in the Pale that appeared to be put together by a demented toddler. I know she can write very well, and really, paranormal can't possibly be beyond her. I never thought I'd ever award a Catherine Coulter book just one star, but I'm not going to waste my money buying any more in the same vein.

I must say that this isn't one of Catherine Coulter's best books. She did this book and The Sherbrooke series an injustice. I normally love her books because of how the characters came alive and everything seems so realistic. But this was a mish-mosh of the Sherbrooke's we've all come to love and a bad paranormal romance. We didn't even find out who Rosalind really is and why she kept singing that sad song of hers until the near ending of the book. Coulter kept repeating the same things through out many of the chapters, I don't think I would recommend this book to a friend.