Review: Interesting scenery of exotic places but lacking in story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 28, 2014
Oh I am excited to read this book now because at the beginning the author states she used actual historical events and people in this story. Yeah! The nerdiness in me looooves this kind of thing.Oh man I had to break out a map and look up all these places mentioned in the book, never heard of them before.I know I am obsessed with Indiana Jones and try to connect it to every thing but this book is really giving me the Jones vibe; a man traveling in distant lands….The scenery and places the characters travel eclipses the story for me at times. Ross and Juliet faded into the background a lot.It took me a long time to read this story because of all the interesting tidbits Putney threw into it that I had no clue about. I am almost ashamed at how much time I wasted on reading about Heavenly Horses of Ferghana. The story never seemed to settle down for me so that I could focus fully on Ross and Juliet.Really wish the reason for Juliet leaving Ross was revealed a lot sooner, the reason isn't given until there are only 20 pages left in the book. Not knowing the reason held the story back for me because without knowing I felt their relationship couldn't move forward. Juliet's reason was highly dramatic also; it just didn't seem justified to me especially since I had to wait the entire book to get it. There at least should have been some blackmail, barrenness, or deathly disease thrown in there!Juliet was a great strong woman character but her actions when she was 18 really dimmed the character for me. And yes I know kids do stupid immature things but for some reason in this story I couldn't accept it. Ross was definitely "the man" in the story, being able to adapt and adjust to any situation. He was almost too perfect though. Once again as with Juliet something just didn't mesh right with me and Ross.At times I felt this story was to long, but I honestly don't know what parts could have been cut out. Like I said before I wish Ross and Juliet's relationship would have progressed faster. I'm not sure I would categorize this story as romance, but as an adventure with romance being secondary. It was a highly fascinating read, I learned a lot. If you want a romance read I would say this book isn't for you, but if you like Indiana Jones, want to learn about Asian/Southwest Asia (Middle East to Americans) cultures this is definitely a book you'll want to pick up. Even though this book is second in a series it is not necessary to read the first one to understand it.