The Crystal Skull by Manda Scott

"It's a lump of rock, Stella; nothing more. No stone is worth dying for."

Except it's not just a lump of rock. It's a life sized crystal skull made by the Maya to save the world from ruin; a sapphire so perfect, so powerful, that men down the ages have killed to own or destroy it.

Cedric Owen, the skull's last Keeper, died that it might keep its secret for the next four centuries. Now Stella has found it, and someone has already tried to kill her. Like the skull-keepers of old, she and her partner, Kit, are being hunted - but by whom?

The Mayan prophecies say that if the thirteen skulls already in existence are not reunited, the world will end on 21 December 2012. Four times already, life on earth has been destroyed: by flood and fire, quake and storm. The fifth age ends in a destruction of man's making, and there is only one chance to avert it.

Facing an increasingly implacable enemy, Stellla and Kit struggle to decode the Owen diaries. Their search takes them from the intellectual rigour of Cambridge University to the untamed wildness of England's prehistoric stone circles.

Both know that time is against them and they only have days - hours - left to uncover the secret that may yet save the world.

I have previously read three book by Manda Scott - all of them from the Boudica series of books set in Roman Britain and featuring a fierce warrior princess who is leading the tribes against the Roman invaders. Having enjoyed them all, I was kind of skeptical when I read the description for this book mainly because it was completely unconnected to the Boudica books with a different setting, a different genre. Just different!

As a wedding present, Kit O'Connor takes his new wife Stella Cody to a stunning underground cave where he believes he will find the famous blue crystal skull that has long been part of the legend of St Bede's College, Cambridge. Kit has managed to do what so many have failed to do before him, and that is decode the fabled ledgers that were left behind by Cedric Owen hundreds of years before. With Stella's background as a caver, Kit is sure that this time they will be able to find the skull, but what he doesn't know is what changes this will bring to their relationship and their lives.

Without knowing it, Stella has a deadline looming, and she and Kit must do everything in their power to continue to decipher the hidden messages, along with the help of their friends, and to find the instructions hidden within. One of the major issues though, is exactly who is a friend and who is a foe? Other questions to be answered include why does the skull seem to speak to her? What is it that she needs to do? And what will happen if she doesn't? Who is it that is trying to stop them?

Alternating with the story of what is happening with Kit and Stella, we also follow what is happening in the life of the aforementioned Cedric Owen. He is from a long line of family members whose job it is to be the Keeper of the Skull. It is Cedric's destiny to learn all the secrets of the skull, and to preserve them for one who comes after him. He must leave the messages in such a way that not just anyone will be able to understand, but that the right person will. Along the way Cedric meets with such luminaries from the past as Nostradamus and Dr John Dee. Gradually he learns that the skull that he has in possession (or perhaps he is in its possession given how the skull communicates and directs his life) is likely to be Mayan in origin and is one of a set that must be guarded and protected, and then placed in the exact right position at the exact time in order to stop mankind from destroying the world. The stone leads Cedric (and his companion and swordsman) from England, to France and to South America, and then back to England again many years later.

I have now read a few of these parallel storyline novels where there are the two different stories interwoven to give the whole picture usually with one set in the past and the other in the present. Quite often, I find that I enjoy one of the threads more than the other, but in this case I really didn't feel that one aspect was weaker than the other.

There is suspense and tension in both strands of the narrative - danger, thirst for knowledge and incredible personal risk. As with the Boudica books, there is an underlying mystical themes within the pages of this book. It is obvious that this kind of subject is one that fascinates Manda Scott, and yet she is able to include it in her novels without seeming to be overly evangelical about whatever it is that she believes in.

One of the major questions that this book does ask revolves around the date of 21 December 2012 - a date that apparently several cultures believe will herald the end of mankind - pretty gloomy thought really!

If you are after a very enjoyable thriller filled with suspense, mystery, history and a lot of adventure, this book is definitely worth considering.






Given that this book is the first book that I have read so far this year that has been published this year, there is no way I could not include it as one of my books for the Pub 08 Challenge even though it wasn't on my original list of reads! One down....seven to go!




Crossed posted at Historical Tapestry

Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott

With a novelist's grace and a historian's power, critically acclaimed author Manda Scott brings her immense storytelling gifts to an epic work of historical fiction. Dreaming the Eagle breathes life into history, creating a vibrant portrait of the early years of the Celtic queen, Boudica. With haunting images and unforgettable characters, Scott draws us into a completely different world...a world of myth and heroism, beauty and brutality...where a young woman journeys to greatness at the crossroads of history...

She is Breaca nic Graine, born to the Eceni, a tribe of dreamers and hunters, storytellers and artisans. While fierce in battle, they are a peaceful people, men and women of pride and mystery, in whose lives the real and the fantastical exist side by side. But theirs is not a peaceful world; it is a world of bloody conflict, where neighboring tribes war among themselves while a greater enemy gathers strength across the ocean.. Against this seething backdrop, Breaca will come of age and prove her brilliance in battle, catapulting her to the forefront of her tribesmen, who will rename the copper-haired warrior: Boudica:"She Who Brings Victory."

Many will share in Breaca's extraordinary destiny... Eburovic, the beloved father who always knew that his impetuous firstborn was destined for greatness... Caradoc, the legendary warrior whose love for Breaca is rivaled only by his hatred of Rome... Corvus, the Roman soldier who will become a powerful - and unlikely - ally. Soon as violence and treachery threaten a fragile peace, as an emperor named Caligula rises to power in a distant land, Breaca will once again be called to battle. And this time, the future of a people will rest in her hands as she faces a near-impossible task: to rally the splintered Celtic tribes against the encroaching might of Rome.

Filled with breathtaking sights and sounds - from the beauty of an ancient tribal ritual to the blood lust of a gladiator's arena, from the deafening roar of battle to the quiet passion of lovers - and brimming with raw adventure and vivid historical detail, this magnificent novel has it all: mystery, passion, hatred, lust, war, romance, miracles. It is a work of masterful storytelling by one of the most exciting and original new voices in historical fiction.

Wow...that is an extensive inside cover flap copy, and to be honest I am not going to regurgitate any of the story because this covers it mostly adequately.

The book is broken into four parts. I found the first part quite slow going, where the author was setting up all the meaning of the dreaming, the way that the tribes interacted with each other, and with their animals, and the basis of the warrior training that Breaca received. Once the story moved into the 2nd part and beyond, the story picked up pace and it was easier to get sucked into the story.

There are a couple of things that I think that were misleading in the blurb above. The first is from the final paragraph, where it talks about the "quiet passion of lovers". If you go into this book expecting to read a balance between the history, and the romantic attachments of the main characters then you will be disappointed. The romantic outcome is telegraphed from very early in the book. By the time I was getting towards the end of the book I was actually expecting that this part of the story would be carried into the next book, instead of the inevitable happening in this book.

It is also interesting that there is no direct mention of Breaca's brother Ban in the blurb either, because in many ways his story is the counter balance to Breaca's own. He is a major character, and there were significant chunks of the narrative where the focus was on Ban, and not on Breaca.

There were many, many characters, and at times I really had to struggle to keep track of some of them, and to be honest I think the author did too. There was one fairly major protagonist who was dealt with, but there was absolutely no reaction whatsoever from any of the other characters, which given his role in things was very, very surprising at least to me.

This is no light and fluffy account of what have may have happened - it is in turns gruesome and harsh, mystical and reverent and very believable.

For me there is an inevitable comparison to be made to the Jules Watson books I have read, The White Mare and The Dawn Stag. The settings are not identical but I would think it is fair to say that the tone and intentions of the books are very similar, even though there are several distinctions between them. I think that Jules Watson's books are better able to sustain an emotional involvement on the part of the reader, but there is less reliance of the fantasy elements in this book. It is not that the fantastical, mythical parts of the story aren't there, but I do think there is less reliance on them to move the plot forward.

The hook at the end of the story for the next book is definitely well and truly there, and I for one have been caught on it! The next book has already been picked up from the library!

Rating 4/5