Helpful Score: 1
It was a good read for about 5/7ths of it. The main characters of Adam & Dulcie were given ample time to develop, although Adam had more attention with a backstory & more likeable character. The subplot of Tom & his quadroon wife, Ullah, & the repercussions of their run-in with the villainous Edmund Revanche linked different stages of the story with a measure of cohesion. It was also refreshing to read a romance where hero & heroine don't dominate every single page. The first 60+ pages of the book is Tom & Ullah's doomed story & sets up the dark side of Adam's character & his white whale, Revanche. Once Adam & Dulcie unite, their relationship & the cast of characters that surrounded them were, for the most part, engaging.
However, for a story that takes place during the Civil War, it didn't seem to be that prominent, disappearing altogether around page 500 or so when the story took a downturn in quality & tone & became vintage bodiceripper with the shipwreck & imprisonment of Dulcie on a Caribbean island with a cast of characters that would make Tod Browning proud: A voodoo rivalry between a pidgin-speaking old hag & a deformed, cackling man-child called Lucifer, with Dulcie caught in the middle & abused by all quarters. All that was missing was Lon Chaney, and even then there was a deranged patriarch of a spooky plantation that has Chaney written all over it. This weird brew also includes lesbian overtones & repeated rape, & the interlude becomes the catalyst for deliberate misunderstandings & contrived separations between hero & heroine for the rest of the book until it is all wrapped up tidily in the span of a few pages...with an out for the inevitable sequel, of course. What began as refreshing & not what I expected from the stereotypical 1970s bodiceripper ended up becoming typical & formulaic of its genre.
I discovered afterwards that a book called Bitter Eden by Sharon Salvato says on the cover, "by the co-author of The Black Swan" so perhaps the odd turns in the book & the sometimes contradictory characterizations of Adam & Dulcie were caused by having two authors with two different approaches. Despite all this, it read fast & I'm eager to read the sequel, Mossrose, hoping that character continuity has improved & plot situations aren't so contrived.
3.5 / 5 stars
However, for a story that takes place during the Civil War, it didn't seem to be that prominent, disappearing altogether around page 500 or so when the story took a downturn in quality & tone & became vintage bodiceripper with the shipwreck & imprisonment of Dulcie on a Caribbean island with a cast of characters that would make Tod Browning proud: A voodoo rivalry between a pidgin-speaking old hag & a deformed, cackling man-child called Lucifer, with Dulcie caught in the middle & abused by all quarters. All that was missing was Lon Chaney, and even then there was a deranged patriarch of a spooky plantation that has Chaney written all over it. This weird brew also includes lesbian overtones & repeated rape, & the interlude becomes the catalyst for deliberate misunderstandings & contrived separations between hero & heroine for the rest of the book until it is all wrapped up tidily in the span of a few pages...with an out for the inevitable sequel, of course. What began as refreshing & not what I expected from the stereotypical 1970s bodiceripper ended up becoming typical & formulaic of its genre.
I discovered afterwards that a book called Bitter Eden by Sharon Salvato says on the cover, "by the co-author of The Black Swan" so perhaps the odd turns in the book & the sometimes contradictory characterizations of Adam & Dulcie were caused by having two authors with two different approaches. Despite all this, it read fast & I'm eager to read the sequel, Mossrose, hoping that character continuity has improved & plot situations aren't so contrived.
3.5 / 5 stars
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