Hello everyone!
Being the reader that I am, I've certainly had no issue finding what I wanted, though I will admit that sometimes the 'what I want' turns out to be 'am I actually sure this is what I want?'.
Tonight's book is an example of that, because while the premise sounded like something I would enjoy, the actual execution of the book I picked wasn't something that I was all that fond of, and I figure I should try and explain myself in this review if I possibly can.
Especially since I finished this one before my Booktober started.
I'm still playing catchup, yessir. But hey, it's one of the fun things about reading, am I right?
So without further ado, let's get right into it, as swashbuckling adventure and pirates lurk around the corner.
Sofia Ashford's Belle of Eden awaits.
I actually don't think I have anything remotely pirate-y in my collection other than the very obvious Pirates of the Caribbean, but those were movies and not books or comics. I'm definitely going to have a look around and see what I can offer, but if not, then, sadly, there might be no links at the bottom of this post!
But I digress.
Let me point out: I'm a fan of pirates. I sort of had a thing for them even before Orlando Bloom took to the ships to do what he had to do.
So, naturally, when I found Belle of Eden on Booksirens, I was kind of excited.
I don't think I've ever read anything similar, not counting the adventures at sea of one Lord John Grey, who honestly could PROBABLY pull off the whole piracy gig, but he's a bit preoccupied being a soldier or a governor.
Ms Ashford's book promised to have it all: some mystery surrounding a location that, honestly, I was thrilled to read about (how many books do you know that cover the Garden of Eden?), and the era of piracy with the added bonus of a Commodore, and I've always been fascinated with the old pirates vs. Royal Navy fight.
My excitement was not QUITE met, however.
The book begins as we meet with Belle, the pirate who will be our window into the world, and she's about to be hanged for her crimes.
Woop.
Enter one Commodore Dominic, who rescues her from the gallows and drags her on his own personal mission, which mainly is about saving his son, who's dying of some unknown wasting disease. The only way to save the boy is by getting him to the Garden of Eden - and the only one who had ever been there and back was Belle.
She goes along with the scheme mostly to save her own life, but eventually because she comes to care for both Dominic and the boy, though she does warn Dominic that only those free of sin can enter the Garden and expect to live.
She has experience. Her previous crew kind of ... didn't manage that.
See she and her then-lover were actually looking for the Garden, and found them, and happily made their way inside, but when those eager to go ahead walked through the entrance, instead of gaining their spot in whatever awaits on the other side, they transformed into red mist because of their sins and unworthiness (aka they bliped out of existence).
Dominic acknowledges all this, but he also needs to save his boy at all cost, so there you have it, he will also turn into a pirate if he must, which includes taking over another pirate vessel and ending in a sea brawl while taking their supplies for the long trip ahead.
Belle leads Dominic to three people who might help them get to the Garden if they don't dissuade them, one being a crazy old lady living in a sort of garden of her own who apparently went to the Garden herself and it drove her mad, the second being one of Belle's old comrades who became a priest after the misadventure and now hunts Belle, so the gang barely escapes (setting fire behind them, natch), and the third being the one who initially gave her the map to the Garden anyway, though this time he also traps Belle in some sort of agreement so she'll bring him a flower that only grows in the sacred location.
Each time they make the pit-stop, it's worth noting, something happens that makes the lot of them run off with their tails between their legs and chaos behind them, whether this is someone anticipating the coming there, or the British Navy finding them, seeing as Dominic kind of didn't get approval before sailing out.
This then leads into two sea battles, one with the pirates they initially boarded, where Belle's brother is now captain (she solves that problem really fast by killing him, and honestly I don't blame her given the fact her story has got to be the saddest of the lot: her mother was a prostitute but she couldn't feed all her children, so Belle was the last living one because her brother then either sold whoever was born next, or just killed them; she eventually helped as much as she could to keep them alive). The second is with the British Royal Navy, from who they take the new Commodore captive and sail on.
All this time, Belle and Dominic are growing closer and more or less dancing around the bush about the fact they're attracted to each other and committed to helping, but nothing ever comes of it, something Belle eventually regrets.
They do, in fact, reach the Garden, which seems to be hidden within the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and there they're, er, welcomed by a strange species of humanoids who've apparently been cursed by God, or blessed, depending how you look at it, to guard their home base forever.
Here is where we say goodbye to Dominic's first mate because he wants to be judge, jury and executioner, but equally this is where the Navy catches up to them, and only Dominic, his son, Belle and their captive Commodore rush into the Garden, where the boy can FINALLY be cured - by walking through the entrance of the tree and disappearing.
Not in red mist though, no. He actually makes it.
The Navy then makes its entrance, the new Commodore stabs Belle and they overpower Dominic, but Belle, even as she plucks the flower she'd been commissioned to get, throws herself through the Garden's entrance, sinner and all, as Dominic is dragged away.
She also doesn't evaporate into red mist, interestingly enough, even though she's far from an angel - she falls into the sunrise.
I fell through the archway, holding my breath. The orange dawn swallowed me, and I drifted forever. Oranges, pinks, and reds enveloped me, devouring my soul and body, cleansing and forgiving. The sun was only just rising in this world. Everything was new and only just awakening.
And then something caught me.
The Belle of Eden, p. 205
Fin!
You're welcome.
I can promise you I was as BZUH about that ending as you are LOL, BUT apparently there MIGHT be a sequel in the works. That's the chatter on Goodreads in any event, and considering we don't really know Dominic's fate (other than potentially ending at the gallows, and I mean ...), and we don't REALLY know about Belle's fate, I think a sequel might be needed.
But let's try and make this as concise as possible, since my thoughts are basically all over the place anyway, okay? I'll do my best, I promise!
- it's not immediately apparent that the boy is dying; actually, I was pretty convinced the both of them were, and it's not really clear until well after the point is supposedly all understood between the connected parties, but I as a reader felt that this needed extra information as it's the key point for the entire story
- the Commodore's plump pink lips get more description than the ship they're sailing on, and I'm not joking; every time he pops up on a page, which is almost all the while as he's one of the main characters, his physical appearance gets described in some fashion, and we get it, he's very handsome (although somehow he comes off effeminate to me, but it might just be me), but we really don't need it after a while
- the Garden of Eden, or the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, because this seems to
be one and the same remain a mystery even at the end of the book (and on that topic, were the Hanging Gardens only
meant to LOOK like they were hanging mid-air and it was an illusion with
mirrors? THAT is what I got from the text! That the mirrors reflected the sand and sky so that it covered the foundations of the Gardens)
- the ending which I'm still trying to understand, because did she get there? Did she die? Did someone yank her back? Is there a reason for it being a cliffhanger?
Aside from the points I made above, I felt that the text felt incredibly condensed and rushed in a lot of places - and it jumps between past and present tense A LOT. While I wasn't necessarily BOTHERED by the constant switching, it did feel jarring and you needed a second. I'm not entirely sure whether the author meant this as a way to connect better with Belle, but I did find I often edited to past tense in my head to go with the rest of the text.
The adventure itself was fairly enjoyable, swashbuckling and pirates are always en vogue really. It was just incredibly VAGUE and a lot of things were very much skipped over in favour of some physical description of Dominic's or a chit-chat between him and Belle.
Overall, I did enjoy it - it flowed nicely enough and it was an easy read - but I feel the editing could have been a bit tighter and some things might have been cut out. While the characters were likeable enough, the abrupt cliffhanger ending is incredibly painful and I literally tried to figure out if my copy of the book was missing a few final pages, I was that frustrated! A lot of it was condensed and the ending could have used a page or two more to breathe, however, if there ever WERE a sequel, I'd still read it. Because what on earth happened to Dominic???
The adventure itself was fairly enjoyable, swashbuckling and pirates are always en vogue really. It was just incredibly VAGUE and a lot of things were very much skipped over in favour of some physical description of Dominic's or a chit-chat between him and Belle.
Overall, I did enjoy it - it flowed nicely enough and it was an easy read - but I feel the editing could have been a bit tighter and some things might have been cut out. While the characters were likeable enough, the abrupt cliffhanger ending is incredibly painful and I literally tried to figure out if my copy of the book was missing a few final pages, I was that frustrated! A lot of it was condensed and the ending could have used a page or two more to breathe, however, if there ever WERE a sequel, I'd still read it. Because what on earth happened to Dominic???
xx
*image not mine
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