Enjoy!

Always enjoy his books. Releasing as part of a book box.

Thank you eparks4232! The book arrived safely in Delphi through the First Sentences VBB- Round 21!
This book is new to me, it seems interesting!

First Sentence:
For numberless years a myna had astounded travelers to the caravansary with its ability to spew indecencies in ten languages, and before the fight broke out everyone assumed the old blue-tongued devil on its perch by the fireplace was the one who maligned the giant African with such foulness and verve.

Well, this is a laxed rating, given to a decent little adventure story that your read in a relaxed mood without raising your expectations too high.

There are tons of cliche and impossibilities and hyperbole to both the plot and the characters, but the pace is fast and often there is a spirited, witty writing that I liked. Towards the end the ambiance becomes graver and more "serious" though. I liked the author's choice to set his story in a place and era that we know little about, although I'm sure the "world" he creates is very far from reality.

What I didn't like at all though, was the very long phrases, especially at the start of the book. I often had to return and read two or three times a sentence in order to get its meaning. Maybe my difficulties come from not been a native English speaker, but I don't think it's necessary for a single sentence to cover half a page of the book, is it?

All in all this was an enjoyable little novel that I read in one afternoon. Decent if one is on the mood for a light entertainment, without expecting much!

PS: There is an Afterword by the author that I found completely puzzling and unnecessary. I got the impression that he felt some kind of guilt for writing this book, somehow considering this is a lesser work and trying to justify his decision to write it, without losing face or something (?)

If he thought this book is not really up to par with his previous works or that touching this genre decreased his value as a literary man, he could simply have not write it at all, or at least not publish it. As far as he did publish this book, I really couldn't get the point of this Afterword. Really weird!

Gentemen of the Road got itchy feet again and want to explore the whole wild wide world. So they will now travel to France as part of my 6th Bookiversary celebration parcel! And then.. Who knows?

Good Luck and Don't forget to write your news from time to time!