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Format: Kindle Edition
Page count: 325
Language: English
ASIN: B088RLVRXJ
Genre: US Historical Fiction
The BookViral Review:
Historical fiction often struggles to find an original perspective but sometimes a novel comes along that is markedly different and in this respect, Hope City takes some beating as Gordon returns us to the feverish days of 1898 and the lawless goldfields of the Alaskan wilderness.
Readers familiar with Gordon’s previous releases such as The Bomb Squad will know his novels are far more than plot and drama and in Hope City, we quickly come to appreciate the stark realities and wide-ranging possibilities gold prospectors of old faced. On this level, Hope City is parsimonious with its plot, which is revealed on a need-to-know basis and told from the alternating perspectives of Percy Hope and Magnus Vega whilst the historical figure of Simon Wible adds both intrigue and authenticity.
Yes, as befitting the genre you will find its time favoured tropes, yet in Gordon’s capable hands they feel wrenchingly right. Evoking a sense of folly built by greed where common sense would have steered clear. But the real treasure in Hope City is to be found in its character development with Gordon once again demonstrating a gift for nuance that vividly brings his characters to life.
A rich and dramatic page-turner with a shocking twist, Hope City proves a must-read and is highly recommended.
Powerfully written in an evocative style, ‘Faith and Fortitude’, Crispin Rogers’ historical account of his likely ancestor, John Rogers (the first of 287 Protestant martyrs under Queen Mary) is and the intermingling of state and church towards their own corrupt ends.
Seamlessly integrating futuristic hi-tech Latoria is quick to build a kinetic atmosphere which explores future militarism along with its underpinning values system which in turn adds an important degree of moral and intellectual depth.
We are constantly and enduringly fascinated with fictional accounts of parallel existence, alternative realities and genetic engineering. Films such as ‘The Fountain’ present immortality as attainable, whilst books such as ‘The Book Thief’ (Markus Zusak) explore the nature of death, in this case by death himself acting as narrator.
Pitching the rhetoric at just the right point between the believable and the unbelievable compels the reader to continue, and forces them to ponder on possible political realities of the future.
Go back not so many years and an author was just that-an author…. who wrote, and at the most maybe edited their own work. How different things are today!
As writers, we knowingly place ourselves in a position where we will undoubtedly face more rejection than the average person and it seems to me that how we handle that part of the creative process is often key to our success.
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