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The Vagabond King by [James Campion Conway]

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James Campion Conway

The Vagabond King Kindle Edition

by James Campion Conway (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 378 ratings

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Do you love powerfully written, lyrical prose?

Do you love detailed description and clever turns of phrase?

Then you'll love the coming of age story, The Vagabond King.

When his mother dies and he discovers that the man he was raised to believe was his father is not, sixteen-year-old Chris is haunted by a mysterious apparition and flees his affluent surroundings to embark upon a quest to find himself.

Hoping she will “make a man of him” he seeks sanctuary in the home of Magda, a middle aged waitress with a penchant for sex, only to discover that she lives with her father, a cigarette smoking, beer swilling immigrant.

Chris hates his shabby new surroundings at the end of the street and the shabby old man at the end of his life who spends his days listening to old blues records and making Chris fetch him fresh cans of beer.

But, when the old man tells tales of Communist Hungary, torture, escape and the mysterious medallion he wears, Chris learns that, like the old man’s skipping records, history repeats itself and the roles we play have been played many times before.

If you’ve ever wondered “what it’s all about” or, if you like mythological fiction like American Gods by Neil Gaiman, or visionary fiction like The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield or The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, then this book is for you.

The Vagabond King blends ancient mythology and modern cosmology in a lyrically told tale that will leave you thinking long after the last page is turned.

Print length

252 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

September 11, 2011
File size

1718 KB
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Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

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Editorial Reviews

Review

PRAISE FOR THE VAGABOND KING:
"I haven't finished a book so quickly in a long time because these characters were so intriguing. There were times I had to put the book down and simply reflect on how talented this author is. Conway's dialogue and narration are often mind-blowing." --Brian Braden, Undergroundbookreviews.com "The Vagabond King: A Coming of Age Story by James Campion Conway is far removed from your typical coming of age novel... This is a powerful story, beautifully told and well worth the highest rating I can give it." --Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite

"The Vagabond King is an engaging read with a protagonist that readers can easily connect with, a well-developed character dealing with a powerful conflict." --Ruffina Oserio for Readers' Favorite

"From the very beginning, I was interested in the protagonist and couldn't help wanting to see what would become of him and if he could discover his roots. The story is real and exciting." --Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite

"If you like thoughtful coming of age stories where characters have to find themselves during difficult circumstances, and with a dash of history thrown in, I'd definitely recommend this book!" --Kim Anisi for Readers' Favorite
"The Vagabond King had a unique sense of style that had me immediately turning the pages from the moment I picked it up. The language was rich and the storyline was fresh... Certainly an interesting read--ambitious, and oftentimes even lyrical in its pages--The Vagabond King will appeal to readers who are looking for contemporaries that will leave them thinking after the last page is turned." --Pixie Lynn Whitfield, the-bookaholic.blogspot.com

"...if the world and literature survive into the next age, The Vagabond King will probably be a classic." --TM Romero, Goodreads.com

"Thought-provoking and absorbing...Mr. Conway has written a soulful and soul-searching novel of a young man's coming of age." --Star, Goodreads.com

"This is a story that takes the reader deep into the heart, minds and emotions...It is a book that tears down the walls that we all hide behind and exposes our soft underbelly..." --Jackie Burris, Goodreads.com

"I found this book an absorbing read, and while I can't quite put my finger on it there is something special about it." --Tracy Cook, tc-bookedup.blogspot.com

Scroll up and click "Buy Now" to start reading The Vagabond King!

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005MGEQ2K
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Best Selling Books; 4th edition (September 11, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 11, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1718 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 252 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #728,076 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #86 in Death, Grief & Spirituality
- #187 in Children's General & Other Myth Books
- #386 in Folklore (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 378 ratings

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James Campion Conway

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James Campion Conway is the author of the literary coming of age novel called The Vagabond King.

"There were times I had to put the book down and simply reflect on how talented this author is." Underground Book Reviews

"...if the world and literature survive into the next age, The Vagabond King will probably be a classic." TM Romero, Goodreads.com

“Thought-provoking and absorbing…a soulful and soul-searching novel of a young man’s coming of age.” Star, Goodreads.Com

If you’ve ever wondered “what it’s all about” or, if you like mythological fiction like American Gods by Neil Gaiman, or visionary fiction like The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield or The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, then this book is for you.

His influences are Tolkien, Kafka, Dinesen, Garcia-Marquez, Calvino, and Chandler. He is also deeply influenced by the historical writings of Winston Churchill and the mythological studies of Joseph Campbell. His favorite poets are Yeats, Keats and Bukowski.

Conway's character's do not exist in a vacuum. They exist within the historical, metaphysical and philosophical contexts that we all exist within whether we are aware of it or not. His work frequently blends mythology, cosmology, history and modern science to reveal a deeper, more complex understanding of the world we inhabit.

He's currently working on a second novel called The House of Smoke Mirrors which follows three different plot lines. Set against the background of 9/11 and the years that follow until the housing crash of 2008. The first plot line follows the adventures of a 10 year old girl without a name who believes she must truly be a fairy tale princess and not just a runaway from the foster care system. She has convinced a conman to take her to find her Godmother so she can learn her real identity, only to realize she had really been abducted.

The second plot line follows her parents, the King and Queen, as they leave their fairy tale kingdom to search for their missing daughter in this strange and foreign world of ours.

The third plot line portrays the real history of the United States, a history that has been purposely erased as successfully as it was in Winston Smith's 1984.

The book blends semantics with a deeper understanding of how our legal and banking systems really work to reveal how reality is not a solid thing but very flexible and that nothing we see is as it appears to be. Through the Looking-Glass meets 1984.

To start reading The Vagabond King for free and to receive updates on The House of Smoke and Mirrors click here. https://www.subscribepage.com/t7f7u4

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

378 global ratings

5 star		61%
4 star		34%
3 star		4%
2 star		2%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Flower Girl

The Vagabond King Story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 31, 2021

Verified Purchase

I don't want to give too much away of the story but this book is a family type of story about a young boy named Chris own discoveries upon his mother's death. Feeling lost and conflicted he goes on a journey in order to try and find his true self. During his journey he meets a woman named Magna half his age who works as a waitress and has an appetite for sex. Chris later falls head over heels in love with her wanting to go as far as to marry her but it doesn't go as he wants especially because of the age difference between them. Worse yet, Magna resides with her immigrant elderly old weird father Mick who uses Chris as his errand boy. Chris isn't happy with his current way of life but later open his eyes in discovering new things. He couldn't understand why Mick would play over and over again old blues records until Mick tells him stories about the communist Hungary and above all about the mysterious medallion he wears. There is much ancient history there along some unexpected plots. There is also Lazo who comes later into the storyline making it a bit more mysterious. When the old man dies both Chris and Magna turned to each other for comfort. Magna advices Chris to search for the man who raised him and try to get the whole truth from him but the man who raised him as his own has no clue of who his real father even really is, the only thing he knows for sure was of his adoption. A lot of things take place during the reading of the book in Chris life, and as you read book you start to feel for Chris especially when nearing his death, he finds out he has a son. Book is a good read, I feel though few of the chosen characters could have been a bit more vivid. I hope I didn't give too much info out. Book is a long read though.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 17, 2021

Verified Purchase

The Vagabond King: A Coming of Age Story was more than simply a coming of age story. It was almost like a veiled lesson to society as a whole: the lack of identity and self-worth a fatherless boy can experience and must overcome.

Chris, a teenaged boy, discovers the man he thought was his father, wasn't, so after his mother dies, he leaves and seeks shelter with Magda, an older waitress he'd bonded with. Magda happened to live with her father, 'Mick', who was tough on Chris, helping him learn to take responsibility and become a man. Chris fell in love with Magda and while she wouldn't marry him because of the age difference, once her father died, the two turned to one another for physically.

Magda eventually gets it through to Chris he has to talk with the man he'd thought was his dad. In doing so, he learned the man who'd raised him didn't know who HIS real father was; he'd been adopted into a less than perfect situation. The saddest twist of all, is when Chris is dying, he learns HE had a son with Magda ... another boy who was raised not knowing his father.

This was a poignant, emotional and gritty story that was masterfully written with superb character development that I couldn't stop reading.

The only thing that gave me pause was when the story fast-forwarded 20 years where we learned of Chris' son then reverted back to just six months after he left his father's home. I had to reorient myself there. Otherwise, it flowed nicely and was fairly easy to follow. That lone fact did not make me want to shave anything from a 5 star rating because The Vagabond KIng was just that good. It was intense without any happily after evers, but it's certainly a book I'll remember and likely will read again. I would definitely recommend!

2 people found this helpful

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TM Romero

The fine line between love and hate

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 6, 2011

Verified Purchase

Whew! This book is no picnic. If you're looking for a mindless read to sit back and relax with after a hard week, this isn't it. That is not to say that I wasn't hooked from the very first paragraph. The first sentence, in fact. Right after the four word prologue. "A long time ago..."

"The morning after my mother's death, I was surprised to see the sun rise."

How can you put a book down after that?

There were times I would have liked to throw in the towel. Who wants to be dragged a second time, by the hair, flipping pages as you go, through the tedious muck of adolescence? Christopher, Conway's quintessential teen-age protagonist, really isn't all that likable. He's spoiled, petulant and prone to pages of banal, sophomoric philosophizing. What's the point of money if we're just going to die anyway? He runs away from his upper-middle class life of privilege and opportunity and shows up at the door step of Magda, a waitress he is infatuated with who is old enough to be his mother, and who he discovers after it is too late, lives with and supports her first generation Hungarian immigrant father. So, yes, Conway has a sense of humor, and, he tosses out a lot of really savory literary treats to reward us for sticking with his beast of a hero. The actual Vagabond King (and the real hero, in my opinion) is Lazlo Mihali, Magda's father and the mentor who guides Chris (he's changed his name and become a Buddhist vegetarian who refuses to eat the meals Magda provides and cooks for him) through his self-pity and angst and sets him, both feet on the ground, off to confront real life; an endeavor filled with enough honest to god misery and suffering there isn't any point in trying to dredge up more as far as Lazlo is concerned. Lazlo Mihali has become an all time favorite character for me. Conway portrays him perfectly. I can hear his accent, smell his stinky beer and cigarette polluted body odor, but, best of all are his stories. His love of airplanes and his descriptions of Hungarian food and his tales of life during the Communist invasion and regime.

There is a lot in this book. There are plenty of beautiful, clever, original turns of phrase. There is a plot and a few sub-plots; some well developed characters; but, the most important aspect of this book for me was that it had a moral. Not just any moral, but one that few authors would have the courage to propose in an age when the individual's search for self has become the driving force of humanity. Conway reminds us not to get so caught up looking for the meaning of our existence that we wake up one day and realize it's passed us by. This book probably won't make James Conway a famous man in his lifetime. But if the world and literature survive into the next age, The Vagabond King will probably be a classic.

5 people found this helpful

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AlwaysReading

Intriguing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

This was an intriguing look into the life of a boy where he struggles to find the meaning of life...maybe prompted by the death of his mother?

It is a serious and intense story with some beautifully written meaningful sections, though threaded with sadness. It reaches the soul and tugs deep down into philosophical arguments...certainly something to make you think.

Maybe nothing changes - is that the tragedy of humankind? Perhaps, in the end, all we can do is look to ourselves and hope?

Worth a look if you wish to ponder on more than the surface.

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