Review: booksbysteph says "Talented Author; Captivating Story"
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 30, 2013
After their ship sank somewhere in the Irish Sea, Catherine Briton tried telling the Captain of her lifeboat that she saw land. The Captain denied her claims, saying, "[o]nly the dead or dying see that island." After the lifeboat capsized, Catherine felt someone pull her to the beach of the island. When she opened her eyes she saw "a sleek, powerful beast, it's fur black as midnight." When she heard a commotion, Catherine tried calling for help."'How the bloody hell are you here?' [A] deep voice above [Catherine] sounded utterly perplexed. 'How the devil did you accomplish it?'" Catherine soon finds out that she is the only survivor who washed up on the shore of Ynys Nos, Welsh for the Dark Island. She learns that "all the inhabitants of this [island] have been suspended in time and have ceased to age[.]" Catherine was "the real first contact [they] have had with the outside world in many years." A hundred years in fact."No one ever leaves the Dark Island." Catherine is stuck on a mysterious island under the supervision of a man the residents called Master.I GIVE THIS BOOK: 5 StarsAn extremely talented author pens an intriguing and captivating story.Ynys Nos may not exist but this author brought it to fruition. To me, the Dark Island existed. Well placed detail, that did not distract from the story, created a real yet mystical image. I could feel the fog closing in around me and the terror of the inability to see past the nose on my face. The fog is a character in itself but you do not realize it.The two main characters, Gerald and Catherine, are hot tempered and full of passion in the sense of what they believe and who and what they stand for. Two stubborn people so concerned about their own agenda to realize what is right in front of them.The author stuck true to the era of each character: Catherine in the mid 1800s and the inhabitants of the island in the 1700s. The idea Catherine gave the resident gynecologist had me in fits of laughter. And the ending of this book shocked me. An end that I never saw coming.I hope this is the beginning of a series. The author could take this story and build so much on it.Until next time, live life one page at a time!