#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

#449 Blue Fire and Ice

Blue Fire and Ice (Land’s Tale, #1) by Alan Skinner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars





Land's Tale Book #1




I would say that this is a book perfect for the age 12 upwards market, even moving into adult reading.

On the whole it was simply written, but had a fairly decent pace and voice to it.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that it's got the bones of a film lurking in there ... much like Game of Thrones laid down the foundation for adaptation to the screen, I could seriously see this doing the same things.

Every story is made better by the inclusion of a bear, and then when you add in the unpredictability of the mix, it pretty much would have it all for a screen writer to run with.

This is certainly a book I think I will recommend to my 11 year old God Daughter, as a decent read.



Product Details

Another DSOA from about this time last year, when it was free to download.  At this current time it's available HERE for £1.84 as a Kindle download - actually, that's really a fairly decent price.

336 Pages
Sibling Press
Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, Mystery, Adventure, Family Reading
Aimed at the over 10 market up to adult reading


The Good ... the bad ... and the ugly

Kudos for the fact that the writing was simple, and of a decent quality - actually something that is proving quite rare.

In the ugly section were a few a handful of missing conjunctions.

The bad were a few errors/bug bears:

Loc 530:  '... quite worn out from trying to make Beadledom a look a little brighter.' - look a little brighter.

Loc 534:  'I'm sure they are very clever but I don't why anybody ...' - know why.

Loc 1099: 'I would love to have you come, ...' - I would love to have you, or I would love you to come.

Loc 1116: 'She so hoped she was.' - the so is superfluous.

Loc 2362:  '... making the sea the only way leave the Land.' - way to leave the Land.

Loc 3023: 'Dot had offered hers to a young mother cradling a young baby in her arms.' - no need to use 'young' twice.  A baby is by definition young!

Loc 3853:  'I will not be burden!' - be a burden.

Loc 3858:  'Standing back from them all, she watch as Copper took ...' - watched.

Loc 3920: 'Her hands searched for the Dot as she ...' - delete 'the'.

Loc 5437: '... no larger than a crickle ball.' - I'm not sure if this should be 'cricket' ball, or in fact there is a came called 'Crickle' in the Land.


Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay