Have any of you read a recent European import called The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie? (Or, as I like to call it: Mary Sue and the Super Friends v. the Ugly Americans.) It's been compared to The Da Vinci Code for marketing purposes, since they're both a part of that "religious conspiracy" genre. Here is a sample passage;
"Simon, and Grace, and Calvin, I now realize, [that] you and I, and everyone like us, should shout from the rooftops about these people's terrifying influence on politics, and laws, and the freedom of our choices. No single religion has a monopoly on bigoted fundamentalism. In Revelation, Jesus is the hero with a 'sword in his mouth' - and I hope we can mount a very effective counteroffensive with our own words."
The best part is when the main villain, an American ultra-conservative clearly based on Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell (I guess no one told Hardie that one is dead and the other largely irrelevant), is standing somewhere in the Middle East, making a grandiose speech about valleys being three-feet deep in blood when Armageddon comes and Jesus returns to wreak havoc on non-believers. This "rich Texan" stereotype then makes a really awkward, tacked-on comment about not having to worry about global warming then! Christ Almighty, it's like the most hyperbolic satire of the Republican party ever written.
And it's a shame, really, because The Rose Labyrinth had the potential to be so much better than anything Dan Brown could ever come out with. Hardie's dialogue and characterization need some work (the protagonist in particular was way too perfect) but she's great at setting the scene and evoking mood and atmosphere. There's also an extremely well-done death scene towards the beginning. Publishing companies have editors, folks. USE THEM.
On Booked Up: Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol'
Have any of you read a recent European import called The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie? (Or, as I like to call it: Mary Sue and the Super Friends v. the Ugly Americans.) It's been compared to The Da Vinci Code for marketing purposes, since they're both a part of that "religious conspiracy" genre. Here is a sample passage;
"Simon, and Grace, and Calvin, I now realize, [that] you and I, and everyone like us, should shout from the rooftops about these people's terrifying influence on politics, and laws, and the freedom of our choices. No single religion has a monopoly on bigoted fundamentalism. In Revelation, Jesus is the hero with a 'sword in his mouth' - and I hope we can mount a very effective counteroffensive with our own words."
The best part is when the main villain, an American ultra-conservative clearly based on Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell (I guess no one told Hardie that one is dead and the other largely irrelevant), is standing somewhere in the Middle East, making a grandiose speech about valleys being three-feet deep in blood when Armageddon comes and Jesus returns to wreak havoc on non-believers. This "rich Texan" stereotype then makes a really awkward, tacked-on comment about not having to worry about global warming then! Christ Almighty, it's like the most hyperbolic satire of the Republican party ever written.
And it's a shame, really, because The Rose Labyrinth had the potential to be so much better than anything Dan Brown could ever come out with. Hardie's dialogue and characterization need some work (the protagonist in particular was way too perfect) but she's great at setting the scene and evoking mood and atmosphere. There's also an extremely well-done death scene towards the beginning. Publishing companies have editors, folks. USE THEM.