British Ice

British Ice is a fictionalized account of a commissioner's year on Reliance Island off the northern coast of Canada. At the time of Commissioner Harrison Fleet's visit, the island was part of the British Arctic Territory. British Ice is a graphic novel. It was published two weeks ago by Top Shelf Productions.

Since the plot revolves around the setting, it will need some explanation.  The British Arctic Territory is an imagined territory that consists of one main island, Reliance, and a few smaller ones including rocks and underwater formations. It was discovered in the early 1800s by Captain Netherton and the main island was named after his ship. It has remained British land since its discovery and has been constantly manned by a member of the British High Commission even though it is in remote, freezing location. The artwork contributes to the setting. It has been colored entirely in an icy blue tone to match the setting. Drawings in comic strip panels complete the look of this book.

Upon his arrival on Reliance Island, Fleet immediately realizes he cannot speak the native language. He soon meets Ana and Abel, the Community Engagement Officer, both whom treat him with plenty of distrust and sarcasm. After snowmobiling to Netherton's home, a townhome, Fleet settles in for what is supposed to be a four year post. Inside he finds a few items owned by the prior commissioner, who disappeared without a trace. The natives refuse to communicate with him so Fleet must rely upon his pilot, Ana and Abel to determine why the indigenous people have always mistrusted the British.

I did not expect this book to be a mystery but love that it is a historical mystery. Fleet did an investigation into the background of the natives anger toward British rule and was surprised at what he discovered. It wasn't just a reaction to colonial rule. I won't be a spoiler but the answer to that question connects to the first chapter. He also asked plenty of questions about his predecessor. Why did he disappear?  Fleet was able to figure this out after snowmobiling around the island looking for clues.

I was impressed with the author's creation of the setting. He went into great detail in the beginning of the book to tell the reader about the geography of the area, the person who discovered it and British colonialism. Then he began the story.  Incredible!

5 out of 5 stars.

Forbidden

Forbidden is a novel that takes place in twelfth century England. Richard Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Kent, is a jealous man who does not trust his pregnant wife Beatrice. After his brother Edward, prior of Canterbury, falsely claims that Beatrice has not been faithful Richard decides to remove the child she bears from his home. He refuses to pay for the bastard's food and education. Richard takes the newborn away to a monastery, never telling Beatrice where the child is. Before he leaves, Beatrice wraps her own mother's ruby cross necklace around the baby's neck as a remembrance of her.

At St. John's Cluniac Monastery in Lewes a baby is found in a basket by a child, Gweneth. Gwen brings the child to Prior Bartholomew who expects that another unmarried woman has dropped off a baby. Usually the mother returns in a fortnight to reclaim the child but not this time. Gwen wants to name the baby Nicodemus after the Bible character and his formal name becomes Nicodemus St. John. Nick St. John grows up alongside Gwen, her mother Agnes, and Simon who both work at the monastery. His best friend Jeremy's mother works there also. He and Jeremy both have childhood crushes on Gwen that carry on into their teenage years. However, when Jeremy talks Nick into taking monastic vows with him to be Templar Knights, thoughts of Gwen have to be suppressed.

There is nothing like a good family fight. The sibling rivalry between the Fitzwilliam brothers reached epic proportions in Forbidden. Not content to just win the fight, the brothers need to destroy each other. If destroying other family relationships helps bring that to fruition, they do so. The characters in this novel were fabulous. There were several villains, which added to the excitement. Nick's father is identified but how the father accepted the news did not seem realistic. The men who could have been Nick's father were emotional and easily angered but when the actual father realized his paternity, he accepted it point blank. The only part that I did not like was the ending. It was too sad for this love story.

Wrap-Up of the 2019 My Kind of Mystery Reading Challenge

I read 20 books for the My Kind of Mystery Reading Challenge during this past year. There were no required number of books to read, which is what I prefer in a challenge.  No pressure! Below are links to the books that I read for the challenge:

The New Girl
Brewed Awakening
Genesis
Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry
Angel's Share
Publish and Perish
The Widow's Guild
Bad to the Bone
The Time for Murder is Meow
The Persian Gamble
The President is Missing
Saving Meghan
Pandemic
Broken Bone China
The Bengal Identity
A Plain Vanilla Murder
A Body in Barcelona
The Malta Exchange
Harvest of Secrets
Murder by Misrule

Favorite Book:  Genesis by Robin Cook

Second Favorite Book:  Brewed Awakening by Cleo Coyle

Least Favorite Book:  A Body in Barcelona by Jason Webster

Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge

The Cloak and Dagger Challenge is a new (to me) mystery book challenge. You can join at several reading levels but I will be selecting the Detective Level and will read between 16 and 25 books. The challenge runs the 2020 calendar year. All mystery genres/subgenres count for the challenge.

This challenge replaces the My Kind of Mystery challenge that I have participated in for several years. This challenge is not returning in 2020. 

The Other Woman

The Other Woman is the latest book in Dan Silva's Gabriel Allon spy series. I have loved this series from its inception but feel that with this installment of the series Silva's writing is slipping.  After reading 200 pages, nothing in the book remotely matched the inside cover blurb. This was almost the halfway point of the novel. Other authors who have written a series for decades have gotten bored with their characters and their writing suffered. With 21 books in the Gabriel Allon series, perhaps this is what happened here.

Here is the plot summary from the inside cover blurb: "In an isolated village in the mountains of Andalusia, a mysterious Frenchwoman begins work on a dangerous memoir.  It is the story of a man she once loved in the Beirut of old, and a child taken from her in treason's name. The woman is the keeper of the Kremlin's most closely guarded secret.  Long ago, the KGB inserted a mole into the heart of the West - a mole who stands on the doorstep of ultimate power.  Only one man can unravel the conspiracy - Gabriel Allon, the legendary art restorer and assassin who serves as the chief of Israel's vaunted secret intelligence service. Gabriel has battled the dark forces of the new Russia before, at great personal cost.  Now he and the Russians will engage in a final epic showdown, with the fate of the postwar global order hanging in the balance.  Gabriel is lured into the hunt for the traitor after his most important asset inside Russian intelligence is brutally assassinated while trying to defect to Vienna..."

At the halfway point in the novel, Allon's Russian asset Konstantin Kirov is murdered in Vienna. However, the reader does not yet know that Kirov is Allon's asset. The woman in the blurb was finally mentioned and her story was interesting. The plot began moving much quicker at the midway point but the resolution of the story did not fit the series. The bad guy didn't just get away after being caught. The bad guy was knowingly given away to the Russians by a western intelligence agency, leaving the world open to more malicious attacks.

The Other Woman was a disappointing read.

Can We Trust the Gospels

Can We Trust the Gospels is a short, 140 page, book outlining the reasons why Matthew, Mark, Luke and John can be trusted to be historically accurate. The author's intended audience are non-Christians. However, the arguments presented in the book are also encouraging for Christian believers.

The author uses the writings of non-Christians such as Tacitus,  with his Annals, and Josephus, with his Antiquities, to corroborate the gospels. He also tests the gospel writers' knowledge of geography, culture, names, and Jewish law. For example, all four gospel writers mentioned obscure, small towns and villages in Israel as well bodies of water.  They had to have been familiar with these places in order to write about them. If the gospels were written hundreds of years later or were forgeries, the writers would not have known the names of some of these places. They were not on any maps. Similar arguments are presented for Jewish culture, law and personal names.

Other details that demonstrate the authenticity of the gospels include what the author calls undesigned coincidences. In an undesigned coincidence, the gospels will give incidental details that someone without eyewitness information could not possibly have known about. For example, Luke and John give two different stories about the sisters Mary and Martha. However, the personalities of the two women are the same in both gospels. One is an activist while the other is contemplative. Thus, both Luke and John are describing real characters. There are a few more examples in the book.  In addition, questions concerning whether we have Jesus' actual words, whether the text of the gospels changed over the years, and contradictions are also discussed.

It is pretty amazing how much data is contained in this small book. The information presented is highly detailed, includes charts and tables, but it still easy to understand and is a quick read. The  topic was well-researched. I am interested in reading a few of the books the author referenced in writing his book. While this book is a good one for skeptics or for those new to the faith, it would be nice to delve more deeply into the subject. So, to answer the question that the title poses...can we trust the gospels? My answer is yes.

13th Annual Graphic Novel/Manga Reading Challenge

I am continuing this challenge in 2020 by signing up to read 12 graphic novels by the end of the calendar year. Since I already have 5 books in my Amazon wishlist waiting for my next payday for purchase, I thought about signing up at the next highest level. However, for me it's always best to lower my reading expectations or I get anxious and stop reading. I am looking forward to getting started on this challenge. It's one of my favorites.