#455 - Call of the Kiwi

Call of the Kiwi by Sarah Lark

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The conclusion to the 'Land of the Long White Cloud' Family saga by Sarah Lark. Although I have to admit I took the easy way out and listened to the audio version that came along with my Kindle Unlimited copy.

I had at first thought that it was an electronic voice, but realised eventually that this was an incorrect impression. There were little things with it that I found annoying, such as 'said' pronounced 'sad' and sometimes no the correct intonation. However, on the whole it was enjoyable, and meant that I could bust through it quite quickly.

As far as the writing was concerned, it was probably the most harrowing of the three books. Although with the writing of Miss Lark I do find that whilst it's generally a good story told fairly well, the characters lack a little in texture and depth.

I do believe, however, that they are translations, and am perfectly willing to accept that this be a consequence of not reading it in the original, and thus authentic, voice of the writer themselves.

Apart from that I haven't any real criticism; thus, 4 star rating.

Hugs

Kay

xoxo

#454 ~ Song of the Spirits

Song of the Spirits by Sarha Lark

My Rating 4 out of 5

This is the second book in the saga of 'Land of the Long White Cloud'

Overall, it was really enjoyable and the characters stories moved on.  At times though, it is a little mechanical and lacking texture, but it could well be that its a translation of the original.

That having been said, it's still well worth a read, and I have just downloaded the third book in the series.

There was probably the odd mistake in there too, but I'm so pleased to be back reading for pleasure again after my degree module last year has taken up so much of my time with all the academic reading I needed to do.

 I have cracked and gone down the Kindle Unlimited route, and am looking forward to taking advantage of the audio track.  At least this way I can listen to it at work and not feel I am drowning in an academic sea.

Have a good day, and happy reading.

#450 ~ In the Land of the Long White Cloud

In the Land of the Long White Cloud by Sarah Lark

My rating: 4 of 5 stars







Even though I've been an Amazon Prime Member so some time, this was my first ever book borrowed from the library there.

All in all quite enjoyable. I understand this is a translated version of a German novel, and the one that that disappointed me was the Americanism of the translation. The writing itself was of a fairly decent standard, and that let it down a bit.

Even within the bounds of the historical setting, there was a margin for a bit more spice and pop.

The plot most of the way through went at a nice pace, but the end was a little disappointing; I hate the sudden fall off a cliff with no real dramatic conclusion, and that's what I got with this one.

The sudden ending apart, it was left so that a sequel could be written I believe.

4 stars from me.



Product Details

I borrowed my copy from Amazon Prime, but you can pick up a Kindle download HERE for £3.99.

Fiction, Historical, Family Saga, Romance
666 Pages
Amazon Crossing (2012)
German novel translated into English


The good ... the bad .... the ugly

In the ugly corner:

I abhor the Americanisation of historical novels, it's purely a person thing, and if you've read my blog for any length of time you will realise that the main bug bear is "gotten" ... it's sloppy and lazy!  Therefore my greatest disappointment was the amount of time it was used through out this book - I counted at least 28 (and there could well have been more.

My other constant bug bear is missing connectives, such as go get go, go wash ... it harnesses up my annoyance and whips it through the village at a break-neck gallop.

In the good corner:

One lone little word ... 'gracile '(Loc 4754).

In the bad corner:

Loc 316: '.. the sheep's heads sank once more ...' - sheeps' heads.

Loc 407: 'Gwyneira's handwork never resulted in anything ...' - handiwork.

Loc 681 x 2: 'fraternity' - it's England for goodness sakes, fraternities simply don't exist.

Loc 920: 'Gwyneira appeared to be taking the whole thing in stride.' - her stride.

Loc 1091: 'OK?' - it's an historical novel, I seriously doubt okay would have been uttered, but would be suitably impressed should somebody prove me wrong.

Loc 1091: 'the help' - uck, servants is far more appropriate for historical novels.

Loc 1481: 'feel Elizabeth up' - inappropriate use in a novel like this, but that's just my personal opinion.

Loc 1611: 'ship's sirens wail' - I had inferred that this was a sailing ship, and therefore a bell would have been more accurate possibly?

Loc 1753: '... of her riding dress riding up, ...' - never a good idea to repeat a word in such quick succession.  I feel that riding habit would have been more appropriate.

Loc 1814: 'Still she could not bring herself greet the group ...' to greet the group.

Loc 2131:  'She should rest up ...' - she should rest would be sufficient.

Loc 2506:  '... you needed more money than what could be earned from whales or sheep.' - what is superfluous.

Loc 2528: 'Drapes ...' - drapes is an quintessentially American word.

Loc 2864: 'cute' - mmm, not sure about use of that particular word - it was used in early 18th century to describe somebody clever or shrewd, but I'm unsure when it because acceptable to use it in the form suggested here.

Loc 3082: 'centimeters' - imperial measurements would have been used in colony.

Loc 3229: 'black-tie wedding suit' - ouch, morning suits are worn for weddings, but not sure if that would have been the form at that time, I am certainly sure it wouldn't have been 'black-tie'.

Loc 3740: 'They're gross ...' - Americanism.

Loc 3872: ' ... had to acclimate ...' - acclimatize.

Loc 4784:  'Gwyneira called for Kiri to have her clean the breakfast table.' - ...called for Kiri to clear the breakfast table.

Loc 6247: 'acclimate' - acclimatize.

Loc 6552: 'On Monday David took Lucas along to work construction ...' - more unattractive Americanisation.

Loc 6665: ' ... and Lucas had to ride back a ways to find a way up and over.' - Lucas had to ride back to find a way up and over.

Loc 7022: 'You had a long ride.' - you have had a long ride.

Loc 7107: ' ... galloping around the yard.' - a yard is a paved area, a paddock or field is appropriate.

A long list, with a few things missed off due to boredom!

Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay