books 2007: The Jewel of Seven Stars, by Bram Stoker

[supercheesegirl]

There's a evil mummy and ancient Egyptian magic and curses and stuff. This book was completely awesome right up until the last two pages. They've spent months preparing, they've been waiting around all day, the storm's been raging for hours, and NOBODY THOUGHT TO NAIL THE FREAKIN' WINDOWS SHUT? Oh, come on! And then after all that planning by the queen, and all her hella-powerful magic, a gust of wind spoils it for all eternity? Not a great deus ex machina, there, Bram. But I was really into this book up until the very end. I didn't even know that Stoker had written other books besides Dracula until I found this used somewhere. Turns out he wrote quite a few novels. I'm planning to check them out. I think anybody who likes Anne Rice and other modern such gothy things should totally check out Stoker--he's a surprisingly good writer (surprisingly, judging by all the shlock that's come after Dracula, that is).

I'm off to Atlanta for AWP this afternoon--have a good weekend, everybody!

Comments

[sleepyworm.livejournal.com]

you'll find what they have to say about this book to be VERY interesting, given your issue with the ending...

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I saw that! The version I have doesn't say which edition it's based on; all it says is "abridged". It does not have the chapter that they mention got cut, but it does seem to have the original ending. I'll have to look into this and see if I can find a copy based on the second edition rather than the first (I don't care so much about the throw-away chapter, though I'd read it, but I definitely want to see the alternate ending!).