Review: Fascinating story but WAY TOO LOOONG!!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 17, 2010
Maybe it isn't fair to start a review by complaining of the excessive length of this fascinating story.  But even Red Adept in her review highlights that problem right at the start.  And, to be fair. from about 60% of the way through the book I kept wondering when it would ever end.  So the extreme and unnecessary length was a key factor in my reading this book.Now, to be clear, I love long novels.  My favorite book (Tai-Pan by James Clavell) is over 700 pages.  This book I would estimate at about 650 pages (it is 14800+ locations on the Kindle).  And I continually read long books, but mostly in historical fiction- NOT action/adventure.  Those books are usually about 350-450 pages, which would have been the right length for this book.  Only Tom Clancy writes such long action thrillers (like Debt of Honor), but even those books are too long, and he is a best selling author- not a new writer.  So this book needed substantial trimming- I'd reduce it by at least 25% and probably closer to 35%.  There are only so many times you need to read about the characters escaping from the villains.Now, having complained about the length, I will state that the plot was terrific- Mozart in the 21st century, escaping death in the 1790's by the modern day evil company's time machine that brought him to today.  And, then, with his love interest Elisse, trying to escape from their clutches.  I would have preferred more about his music, but the portrayal of Mozart was quite fun.  It is very evident to me that the author based his characterization on Tom Hulce's performance in the movie "Amadeus".  (Note that in the book the movie is mentioned several times- so this connection is no accident).I must mention one fantastic scene where Mozart gets into a fiddle contest against Rainman in a honky tonk bar in New Orleans- Mozart plays his Stradivarius.  A real hoot!The time travel aspects, and the back story of the evil company and its device and manipulations are never revealed much- and that is OK.  The emphasis is on Mozart and his escape from his imprisonment.In short, I liked the book,and the premise very much- but the  book was much too long.  A major trimming would have helped enormously. (I downgraded it one star for the length.)A final word on the Kindle formatting.  I did not find it as troubling as the previous reviewers.  There were some errors, but not that many.