The Furies (The Kent Family Chronicles, Vol 4)

Rating:
Summary: The Kent Family Chronicles gets better and better
Review: "The Furies" is excellent. Though "The Seekers" got a little boring with unsettled Abraham, this book is full of the excitement of the first two. This time, the story is told from the perspective of Amanda Kent. When the story opens up, Amanda is one of the few women holed out in the Alamo mission as the Mexican troops approach. Her journey from there leads her into two relationships, a couple of business ventures, the birth of a child, a shocking reunion, and an even more stunning revelation about the family business that was left behind in Boston. Amanda confronts Santa Anna, tolerates the men with "gold fever," makes the acquaintance of Frederick Douglass, inadvertently gets dragged into the slavery issue, and makes plans to regain the family business and restore honor to the Kent name. On the outskirts of the story, Jared's preacher son, Jephtha, is struggling with the slavery issue in his church and in his family. New friends introduced include a flowery romance novelist and a young Irishman who comes to work for Amanda. While some things are looking up, the future of the family is brought into question as the next heir of the Kent fortune shows little interest in the principles of the family. The most exciting stuff happens at the end of the book, and the last couple of pages are very emotional. Amanda Kent will remind you of the young Philip Kent, and you'll love her fiery spirit and clever business maneuvers. John Jakes scores again!

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat impossible ride worth the trip
Review: Arguably the best of the Kent Family Chronicles, having as its heroine the strong-willed Amanda Kent, whose personality and strength of character reverberate off every page. How she makes it from the Alamo to the California gold rush to the throes of abolitionist New York strains belief, but ultimately the wild ride is worth the trip. Compelling characters help the journey: Bart McGill, Isaiah Hope, Jephtha Kent, Michael Boyle, Luiz Cordoba. And there is the usual liberal sprinkling of historical figures like Santa Ana. Not necessarily a page-turner, but a strong depiction of key events in American history, very indicative of the hardship and conflicts of the time. Better than "The Bastard."

Rating:
Summary: awesome, read all 8, the story gets better and better....
Review: just keep reading, they keep getting better....

Rating:
Summary: Ambitious!
Review: So far in the Kent Family series, Amanda is my favorite character. She has more guts than most of the men in her family do and she's inspirational. I also like how Jakes ties in different people from the historical stand-point with her story.

This novel opens with Amanda trapped inside the Alamo with the Texans during that fateful battle with the Mexicans. Captured as a Mexican war-of-prisoner, Amanda finds love and comfort with the man who rescued her from a certain death. When he died, she was eventually free to go back to Texas. And this is just the beginning of a long adventure. After Amanda gives birth to a son, Louis, she travels to California. And throughout her years, Amanda's main obssession was how to regain the control of Kent and Sons from Hamilton Stovall.

This is a fast-paced novel ~~ perhaps more so than the others ~~ and somehow it feels like it's seeped in more historical details than the others. Jake covers the Alamo, the Gold Rush, the expanding business in the Northeast of the USA, Texas becoming a state, slavery and abolition. Also in this novel, Amanda becomes reunited with Jared, her cousin, for a very brief time. This is also an introduction of Jared's son, Jephtha Kent, who is a minister in Virgina, also uneasy with the Slavery question. He soon becomes ostracized by his family and friends for his beliefs.

If you're expecting a historical novel with details on our ancestors' lifestyle back in the 1800s, this novel is definitely one of the better ones! Pick this one up too ~~ you won't regret it!

1-10-05

Rating:
Summary: Book 4 of a huge plot.
Review: The line of the Kent famiy is followed through with Amanda Kent as the main player. Amanda, daughter of Gilbert Kent was kidnapped and held as a wife by an Indian brave until his death when she was released.She then married a fur trapper who also died,leaving her to m ake her living as a bar keeper until she was caught up in the Battle of the Alamo and again taken prisoner as the woman of a Mexican Officer.She was treated well by him and gave birth to his son,Louis. By chance, she met,very briefly, with her cousin Jared who had been searching for her for years and inherited, on behalf of his son Jephtha,the control of his share of a gold mine. Determined to restore the printing firm of Kent and Sons in Boston to the family control, she and Louis set up house in Boston where she battles for ownership of the firm from the evil Hamilton Stovall,the man who swindled her family of their fortune and business.