Lydia Bailey

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Lydia Bailey
Kenneth Rob erts
Manufacturer: Doubleday & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J6BHIY

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Roberts' Innocents Abroad

Good, but a disappointing ending

An Epic Adventure

A classic adventure story

Lydia Bailey
Kenneth Roberts
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Captain Caution

Arundel Arundel

Rabble in Arms

Northwest Passage

Boon Island: Including Contemporary Accounts of the Wreck of the *Nottingham Galley*

ASIN: 0449200132
Release Date: 1982-06-12

Customer Reviews:

Roberts' Innocents Abroad.......2006-02-05

This Roberts novel is in the true picaresque tradition with action beginning in New England, moving on to Revolutionary Haiti, and ultimately to the very Shores of Tripoli. Albion Hamlin is captivated by a portrait and the adventure is on.

Roberts' formula, employed so strikingly in Arundel and its sequels, is evident here again: a young American man, a bit of an innocent despite his education, falls victim to an evil woman (Harriet Faulkner, the Mary Malinson/Marie de Sabrevois figure of this book), is thrown into a swirl of epically dramatic but mostly very accurate historical events, picks up a larger than life comic-relief sidekick (King Dick, the Cap Huff figure here), encounters many adventures and grave hardships, and wins his true love in the end (Lydia; a far more demure Phoebe; much more reminiscent Ellen the 'female lead' of his novel Rabble In Arms). [Note: also like Cap Huff, King Dick serves the role of sidekick more than once in Roberts' fiction. He makes a subsequent appearance in The Lively Lady, Roberts' novel of the War of 1812.]

Almost all of Roberts' books are dramatic page-turners, and this one is too, in most places--especially in the upheavals of the Haitian Revolution. But later in the book, as Albion is the captive of Barbary Pirates, the story--to me--actually bogs a little; at least until his rescue and the ensuing adventures.

Among the Roberts books, this is among my least favorites (I emphatically cannot sympathize with the Tory Oliver Wiswell, but I think that's just prejudice), but yet I like it very much. High praise for Roberts the story-teller.

Some complain Roberts' wriring is overwrought and his histories nothing but hopeless romances. Be this as it may, he was a master of crafting extremely exciting fictional but historically quite accurate accounts of important historic events of early American history.

If you only read one Roberts book, go read Arundel, his first and I believe best novel; or Northwest Passage, a true epic. But if you get hooked on either of those, please treat yourself to reading the rest of the Roberts oeuvre, Lydia Bailey emphatically included.

Good, but a disappointing ending.......2004-12-19

Lydia Bailey was excellent - like all of Roberts' books, but I found the end to be a bit of a let down.

Throughout the book, I found the lack of American-ness disapointing. Most of the 500 page novel takes place in Haiti and Algiers, only the first 75 pages or so necessary for preparation of the plot take place in America. Albion Hamlin, the main character, seems to have a sort of disregard for the United States - something I found upsetting in an otherwise perfectly good protagonist.

Still, I will never cease to be amazed by Kenneth Roberts' writing genius. His writing is starkly realistic, exciting, and concisely descriptive - In his stories, I feel like I myself am in the Maine wilderness, the Haiti jungle, or the African desert.

Lydia Bailey is a real page-turner, chock-full of adventure, action, and some romance. Although it's not the best of Kenneth Roberts, it's definitely worth the read.

An Epic Adventure.......2004-02-19

Wow! This book covers more ground in a mere 500 pages than I could ever have imagined before reading it. The adventures of Albion Hamlin are postively Odyssean. Our protagonist is at various times a farmer, a lawyer, a prisoner, a soldier, and a slave. And the action takes us from New England to Haiti, France, and North Africa. Somehow, in the end, it all makes complete sense. The successful integration of so many stories and characters is remarkable.

Albion's companion, King Dick, is especially interesting, a more heroic though still light-hearted incarnation of the Cap Huff character from the Arundel series, always to the rescue. And the historical characters, dozens of them, are captivating (sometimes quite literally). Unlike the Odyssey, there are no fantastic multi-headed homicidal creatures to fend off, but some of the humans are reasonable substitutes.

If I had to cite a shortcoming, it would be that here and there Roberts strains plausibility almost to the breaking point, most notably in the rapidity with which Lydia Bailey and Albion Hamlin fall in love. Ironically, it is the title character, Lydia, who is perhaps the most superficial of all the personalities who make appearances in this novel. But this is a minor flaw that is more than compensated for by extraordinary character development elsewhere.

In the final analysis, this is a great, grand book that has a lot to say about human nature, about war, about politics, and about humanity. It gets better with every page and has the power to capture the reader and whisk him away, never to return.

Lydia Bailey earns my highest recommendation for those lucky readers who can occasionally suspend disbelief. Others will find it enjoyable, too.

A classic adventure story.......2001-08-04

It's been more than thirty years since I first read "Lydia Bailey" and I'm glad to see it available again after years out of print. Kenneth Roberts was a terrific writer and he has a terrific story to tell, with action ranging from New England in the early 1800's, to Haiti during Toussaint L'Ouverture's rebellion, to the Barbary Coast. This novel is a little bit detective story, a whole lot of rousing adventure and just the right amount of romance, mixed in with plenty of pointed observations along the way about political shenanigans and the highs and lows of human nature. They really don't write 'em this way any more--which is a shame. Very highly recommended!

Lydia Bailey (GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS - THE WILLIAM MORRIS BINDING)

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Lydia Bailey (GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS - THE WILLIAM MORRIS BINDING)

Manufacturer: International Collectors Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000E0TIKY

The Big Bang: The Creation of the Universe

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The Big Bang: The Creation of the Universe
Lydia Bailey
Manufacturer: Firefly Books Ltd (J)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0920236413

Huckberry Finn, Lydia Bailey, Moby Dick, Silver Chalice, So Big, Tom Sawyer (International Collector's Library, 6 Books)

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Huckberry Finn, Lydia Bailey, Moby Dick, Silver Chalice, So Big, Tom Sawyer (International Collector's Library, 6 Books)
Thomas Costain , Edna Ferber , Herman Melville , Kenneth Roberts , and Mark Twain
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Product Description

Six books with matching black covers and gold cover design. Classic titles.

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Lydia Bailey
Kenneth. Roberts
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ODPIUA

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Lydia Bailey
Kenneth Roberts
Manufacturer: Doubleday Doran & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OO0FDO

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Lydia Bailey
Kenneth Roberts
Manufacturer: International Collectors Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P0HK1M

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Lydia Bailey
Kenneth Roberts
Manufacturer: Permabooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000NPT8UK

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Lydia Bailey
Kenneth Roberts
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NSG7YW

Book Description

Mélusine-a city of secrets and lies, pleasure and pain, magic and corruption. It is here that wizard Felix Harrowgate and cat-burglar Mildmay the Fox will find their destinies intertwined in a world of sensuality and savagery.

Customer Reviews:

Couldn't get into the book.......2007-10-05

I began reading ti thinking the book was going to be awesome, becuase I read the back cover and thought that the story was going to be a great one, full of twists and of magib, but... not such luck.

Maybe if I hadn't been flipping the pages of the book around, trying to get to the end without getting bored to no end, I would have enjoyed the book, but it didn't appealed to me, and as I said in the tittle of my review, I couldn't get into it.

MAGNIFICENT.......2007-09-14

IT WAS MAGNIFICENT, I WAS CAUGHT IN THE BOOK SINCE THE FIRST 4 PAGES, WHAT A WAY TO BEGIN A BOOK! I READ THE BOOK IN LESS THAN 2 DAYS, I COUDNT SLEEP JUST THINKING IN THE HISTORY, I INMEDIATLY ASK FOR THE NEXT TWO BOOKS, IM A LITTLE DISAPOINTED BY THE THIRT BOOK, BUT IM OFICALY INLOVE OF THE WRITER.

Sexy fantasy.......2007-09-04

One of my problems with "Melusine" is that it seems that rape is used as shorthand. We know Malkar is bad because he rapes Felix, we know that Felix is kind of bad but not totally because he intends to rape a prostitute but doesn't. It stuck out especially as Monette is an incredibly strong writer, so shortcuts like this really brought me out of the moment of the book.

That aside, this is a fantastic book. Monette is ace at world building and mythology, at crafting religion and schools of magic, at setting up different ethnicities of people with different socio-political structures. We skim the surface of a fully realized world, never quite dipping all the way into it (God save me from ever having to figure out the calendrical system Mildmay uses. Yes, I can figure it out in the context of the book, but using it every single day? Man.), but catching glimpses of just how rich and real that world is.

Monette is also fabulous at capturing two very different voices. "Melusine" is told from the point of view of two extremely different characters, Mildmay and Felix. Mildmay is a Second Story Man, a "kept thief" as he puts it. He is ignorant, although not stupid, and fairly coarse. He is, to put it bluntly, common. He's also fairly kind and surprisingly compassionate, a gifted storyteller, and an all around cool guy. Felix, on the other hand, is clever and well educated, bitingly sarcastic, not very likeable, and very very fancy. He is selfish and egotistical and much more fragile than Mildmay. And it only takes a few sentences to convey this information about them.

"Melusine" is one of those books that are almost infinitely re-readable, and also one of those books that I loan out to people. "Melusine" (and its sequel, "The Virtu") is a fantastic, poetic read. It's extremely flavorful and highly recomended.

unreadable.......2007-07-27

Maybe it's me, but I couldn't slog through this book. About half-way through, I gave up.

What a awful story...........2007-07-16

I really wanted this to be a good book. But to be blunt it's the worst book I've read in many years. The beginning was bizarre to say the least...I kept hoping it was one of those stories that started in the middle and slowly revealed the back-story...but the author never clues the reader in to the hows and whys of the characters much less the premise for magic or the political development.

Melusine is described as a world dripping with corruption and evil. And most of the book is devoted to how the main characters are scared and destroyed by the wickedness around them... which could have been interesting if the characters had somehow been able to overcome their environment instead of being defined by it. But sadly there was absolutely no redemption for any of the characters especially Felix. There were half hearted attempts but too little too late.
None of the charcters change or evolve into anything better or worse then what they were at the beginning of the book. Which makes me wonder what was the point of the story in the first place.

The challenges of abuse in the book were handled with absolutely no subtlety whatsoever. It was as though the author decided that the more times she dropped the word "abuse" the more we the readers would gasp and wipe away a pity tear for how sad and utterly hopeless Felix's situation was.

I hate Felix. I have never read about a more useless or pathetic man in my life. Every challenge Felix faces could have been avoided or overcome if Felix had had the brains or the balls to see a way out and act upon it. No such luck. I felt as though he was the damsel in distress and everyone else had to rescue him. And if that is not enough, when he is finally made aware of the sacrifices made on his behave, Felix can't even be convincingly grateful because of his "madness" he has know idea what transpired through out the entire novel. Bla what a mess.

Melusine the Serpent Goddess in A. S. Byatt's Possession and Mythology

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(3.5) Fascinating book about the myth of Melusine

Melusine the Serpent Goddess in A. S. Byatt's Possession and Mythology
Gillian Alban
Manufacturer: Lexington Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Early Civilization | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

Israel | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

Criticism | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0739104713

Book Description

Melusine the Serpent Goddess in Myth and Literature examines how women were once worshipped as the life force, but later suppressed with the introduction of monotheism and a changing attitude regarding the sexes. It connects the literary conception of the Melusine story to myths and legends of the snake or dragon goddess, from ancient to contemporary times.

Customer Reviews:

(3.5) Fascinating book about the myth of Melusine.......2004-07-09

This book presents itself as a scholarly look at the figure of Melusine, best-known as the mysterious heroine of a medieval French fairy tale, but with ties to major goddesses of the ancient world. The author focuses mainly on Melusine's story as presented in A.S. Byatt's novel _Possession_, but also ties in earlier versions of the tale and other modern novelizations.

Alban's thesis is that Melusine is a survival of the ancient Great Goddess. This book is at its best when comparing Melusine to various ancient goddesses. For example, Alban's comparison of Melusine and Medusa, both snake-ladies whom one could not gaze upon with impunity, is fascinating. Also mentioned is Melusine's similarity to Echidna, who like Melusine was a bearer of strange reptilian children. Alban also studies the figures of Eve, Lilith, Persephone, and many others. It's jaw-dropping, at least to a reader like me who is obsessed with the Melusine story, how many parallels there really are between her tale and the older myths.

The downfall of this book is its unquestioning embrace of the "prehistoric matriarchy" theory. No one really knows whether people in ancient times were peaceful, feminist, "gylanic" tribes worshipping a single Great Mother. The theory has not been disproven; however, it is far from proven. No one really knows. But I think this book would have come across as more scholarly if it had presented the matriarchy ideas as theory and not as fact.

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The Egyptian Book of Nights

Manufacturer: Ignotus Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Egypt | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books
Astrology | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books | Chinese | General | Horoscopes | Vedic
General | Occult | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 190376811X

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Historical Dances, 12th to 19th Century: Their Manner of Performance and Their Place in the Social Life of the Time
Melusine Wood
Manufacturer: Princeton Book Company Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Dance | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Notation | Dance | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Reference | Dance | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0903102706

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6 Titles By Lynne Reid Banks : Harry the Poisonous Centipede - Adventures of King Midas - The Farthest Away Mountain - Melusine - Angela and Diabola - The Dungeon
Lynne Reid Banks
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WMRD5Q

Product Description

multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.

Attentats et television: Paroles et images (Culture & communication)

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Attentats et television: Paroles et images (Culture & communication)
Melusine Harle
Manufacturer: De Boeck Universite
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

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Au secours Mélusine!
Yvon Mauffret , and Christian Heinrich
Manufacturer: Rageot
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 2700223187

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Bien joué, Mélusine!
Yvon Mauffret , and Christian Heinrich
Manufacturer: Rageot
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 2700225473

A Bilingual Edition of Couldrette's Melusine or Le Roman De Parthenay (Mediaeval Studies (Lewiston, N.Y.), V. 20.)

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A Bilingual Edition of Couldrette's Melusine or Le Roman De Parthenay (Mediaeval Studies (Lewiston, N.Y.), V. 20.)
Couldrette
Manufacturer: Edwin Mellen Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Medieval | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

French | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0773467238

A Critical Edition of Couldrette's Melusine or Le Roman De Parthenay (Mediaeval Studies (Lewiston, N.Y.), V. 19.)

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A Critical Edition of Couldrette's Melusine or Le Roman De Parthenay (Mediaeval Studies (Lewiston, N.Y.), V. 19.)
Couldrette
Manufacturer: Edwin Mellen Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Medieval | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0773467211

Book Description

Book 9 of AstroKids. Miko has discovered a secret about her lost family that no one could have imagined: She has inherited an entire planet! But a sneaky developer is after it, too. Will Miko's new wealth ruin her friendships and her life on CLEO-7? Theme verse: "A cord of three strands is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Text!.......2001-02-04

Hail! The person below knows absolutely nothing pertaining to the nature of the Odinnic Path, which as both "shining" and "murky" qaulities. I own the revised addition, and I have not read any references to the Temple of Set(although the Temple of Set is a good organisation for those who *choose* to go in that direction). However, this book is an excellent guide to visualisation, concentration, sensing energy, meditation, self improvement, and intellectual studies. The developement of these skills are the meat and potatoes of Odinnic Rune Galdor. There is also extensive information on the developement of your wode-self("magical body"), loading talismans, sending runic power, lore of Yggdrassil(the Nine Worlds/Runes bound together into the World Tree), lore of the soul, runic physiology, runic hand signs, runic body postures, and a huge wealth of techniques that can be integrated and perfected into your personal system as you advance into higher stages. Reyn til Runa,

Isenwulf Wodheart

Excellent Text!.......2001-02-04

Isenwulf Wodheart

INTERESTING.......2000-10-15

It never ceases to amaze me why publishing companies let their better qualitie books go out of print while keeping the bad ones. 9 Doors is by far the best book on runology to date. This book is still available through the Rune Gild, and why Llewellyn let it go is beyond me. It far surpasses the wisdom in FUTHARK or RUNELORE. One thing is this: 9 Doors will open doors but it is you who must walk through them! If you read this book with an open mind you will discover things you never dreamed of. But do not just read the book... WORK THROUGH IT!

Intense.......1997-03-12

Nine Doors is an intense study of the Germanic magick's and the process to achieving knowledge. A good study. Not for the faint of heart. It's not easy. Demands your attention but the reward is there. It opens yourself up to expanded awareness and a deeper understanding of the energies we have to work with. That we are! If for nothing more than a book of self-discovery, I recommend it whole heartedly

a traditional and practical Germanic magic curriculum.......1996-01-11

Nine Doors of Midgard is an excellent sourcebook for the study of Germanic magic and its rituals, practice, and runic lore. Apart from Thorsson's tendency to get going at times on his own esoteric runic explanations and get a tad off his 'unbiased' view of the lore, he keeps the text useful and mostly to the point. A great book.

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