The Plague Tales

Rating:
Summary: Unique and Spectacular Bio-Thriller with duel plot line
Review: Ann Benson, my hat is off to you and I bow deeply before you. I love tales of pestilence and despair, and Ms. Benson has written a compelling, cannot-put-it-down tale that flows smoothly over a 600 year time span. Combining medieval with future-modern is no easy task, but in Plague Tales the transition is smooth and tightly associated, leading to an amazing story of the Black Plague unleashed in two separate eras.

In the thirteenth century, a young Jewish physician with a burning desire to better medical treatments is caught and imprisoned for exhuming a corpse to perform a post mortem exam on it. With the aid of his father, Alejandro Canches is released from prison but branded on his chest as a Jew. He cuts his traditional Jewish curls in order to hide himself as a Christian, and makes for Avignon to start a new life.

On the way, he and his Spaniard companion Hernandez encounter many victims of bubonic plague, which is sweeping the countryside. Once in Avignon, Hernandez succumbs to the deadly disease and leaves Alejandro alone. In a remarkable twist of fate, Alejandro is summoned by the Pope's personal physician and sent to protect the family of King Edward III from the plague.

While isolating the royal family in order to keep the plague outside the castle, Alejandro falls in love with the beautiful Lady Adele, companion to the mean-spirited Princess Isabella. He becomes fast friends with little Kate, the King's bastard daughter, and manages with the help of the mysterious Mother Sarah to save Kate when she falls victim to the scourge.

Alejandro rises to great favor in King Edward's court, but how far can a simple physician go, whose entire background is based on lies?

Interwoven with Alejandro's intriguing tale is that of modern day Janie Crowe. In the year 2005, after the great Outbreak, surgeons are no longer in demand, so the US Government is retraining them to other suitable occupations, Janie's new job being forensic archeology. At forty-five, Janie is starting over after loosing her entire family to the Outbreak, and finds herself heading for England to collect soil samples to complete her thesis.

International travel is heavily restricted, and she must go through intense scrutiny before being allowed into the country. At the labs where she will be processing her samples, she discovers an old schoolmate from medical college, Bruce Ransom, has been working and living in England for eighteen years.

Janie and her assistant Caroline have to sneak onto one of the selected properties for their samples, property belonging to Robert Sarin, last in a long line of "watchers", and in possession of a mystical book. It is this soil sample that a strange microbe is discovered, and subsequently mishandled, unleashing the plague into modern day London. And only the simple-minded Sarin holds the key between past and present.

Well written and formatted, I liked Alejandro's tale better than Janie's, but Janie's tale had a surprising twist at the end that touched me. This is a not to be missed story of pestilence, intrigue, mystery, mysticism, love, greed, and human nature. I highly recommend The Plague Tales, and I can't wait to get my hands on more of Benson's work. Enjoy!


Rating:
Summary: Probably one of the best adventure/scifis ever...
Review: I am really torn with this book...it's not my usual reading genre for enjoyment, but I had read the book Benson wrote after this one and really liked it. I've read sci fi books in the past and while I enjoyed classics like Bradbury, I often found good writers few and far between. Adventures books have not been a genre I choose to read. But since I was in medical school and really enjoyed studying viruses. The nasty little buggers have a real tendency to one-up us all the time, so the idea that there would be catastrophic outbreaks is not all that far-fetched. Our world has grown significantly smaller due to airplane transportation, and the large boats which come from third world countries with shipments that often bring mosquitos into the U.S. and other countries which are not native to our lands. Some of the current 'hot' viruses act quickly with no previous display of symptoms that would make persons stand back or avoid situations, and because of closed circulated air in planes, a respiratory virus is very easily circulated among passengers. Scary, huh?

She also brings up a world that is fast falling on us in which individual rights are cast aside for the good of society as a whole. We've seen this nationalistic bent before, both in Nazi Germany and in our own country at a variety of times, including right now. Sometimes we need to be reminded of FDR's statement that the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself. When society becomes so afraid, of disease, of differences, etc. then we become the most dangerous to our own selves. Benson is apt at bring this up, with the presence of Biocops who make a determination that someone is dangerous on the basis of being in a building that shows the presence of dangerous viruses in only one small section of a building, and they shoot a perfectly healthy man. Someone who just happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. That is to me even more scary then our invisible enemies, viruses.

Benson is a thoughtful, literate, well-researched writer. Just because she originally sold beads does not mean she doesn't have other talents. Is this the best book I've ever read? Probably not, but it's the fastest one I've read in a while...two days flat with work and school. As far as adventure books go, this is a definite possibility for a movie I think. I am looking forward to reading more from Benson hopefully along this story line.

Karen L. Sadler, Science Education

Rating:
Summary: Parts are good....
Review: I really enjoyed the first few chapters of this book, and went so far as to recommend it to a friend at that point. When I finished, I told my friend 'nevermind'. In the beginning, the sci-fi part is intriguing, and the historical part is entertaining. But after a little while the futuristic half of this book goes downhill pretty quick. Virtually all the major characters are medical experts, yet they ALL react to the possibility of the BLACK FREAKING DEATH PLAGUE making a comeback as if they were addle-brained children. In short, the characters are unforgivably, annoyingly stupid. The historical part of the book is much better, but still could use improvement. At times I checked the front cover to make sure there wasn't an oil painting of Fabio on it, the book read so much like a Harlequin romance. (Or what I assume one would be like). I'm especially disappointed because it seems like there's a really good book hiding inside there somewhere, tryin! g to get out.

Rating:
Summary: Who Cares...
Review: I will review this as two seperate novels. One that takes place in the 14th century and another in a near future.

In the begining the 14th century characters were interesting and the plot compelling. Only towards the end of the novel did my patience with the predictibility of the story and characters stink through. Yes I unfortunetly said stink. The characters went from smart and determined to stupid. I would give examples but you are reading this as you decide whether to buy this novel. Therefore you don't want me to tell you what happens. I hate when reviewers do that.

As far as the near future parts go...At first I found the world interesting. The main characters went from stupid to selfish in an unending cycle of a poorly written plot and character. The Three Stooges could have handled things better. I groaned every time the story left the 14th century. After a number of chapters I found myself asking..."Is it wrong to root for the plague?" The characters had no real heart and not much of a personality. The chain of events the author wishes you believe is capable leads you to one of two conclusions; either the characters are idiots or the plot is way too contrived.

So in all I would say that half this story is worth reading and the other half without merit. I am a big fan of historical fiction. If you really want a medieval story that has bite and realism this isn't for you. I would suggest an Archer's Tale by Bernard Cornwell for the serious reader while this book is just fine for readers whose idea of a good story and character can be found on a TV show like General Hospital.

Rating:
Summary: I wanted to like this, but...
Review: In the future, antibiotics have become mostly useless and large portions of the population are dead from outbreaks of disease. Janie Crow, a surgeon who is retraining to be a forensic pathologist, is on a research trip in England. One of her soil samples turns up a deadly surprise that sends events spiraling out of control. Janie quickly finds herself running from the all-powerful Bio-cops with the help her old friend Bruce.

In the past, physician Alejandro Canches is dealing with the dangers of the Black Plague in the 14th century as well as the peril of being a hidden Jew moving in a Christian world. Both Alejandro and Janie find romance in the midst of disaster, but will they each find a cure for the plague?

This book has a lot of interesting concepts, and I wanted to like it. However, in the end, I just wanted to be done with it. Most of the characters are one-dimensional, and they all make frustratingly irrational choices. The introduction of a mystical element halfway through jars with the science-feel of the rest of the book. The ending is tacked on out of nowhere - I actually had to check to make sure I hadn't accidentally skipped any pages.

The chapters alternate between the two stories, and this works fairly well, but there is a tenuous connection between the two at best. Both plots rely heavily on the reader's suspension of disbelief - in the end the coincidences that drive the plot twists are painfully obvious and approach the absurd. Alejandro's story is more logically consistent than Janie's story, and Alejandro is an interesting and sympathetic character. Regrettably, I had a very hard time sympathizing with any character in Janie's tale.

Rating:
Summary: Original Timeline
Review: The going back and forth from past to future was very original and kept me wanting to find the one thing that linked them together through time. I thought that the author could have explored the Adele/Caroline connection better.

Rating:
Summary: Fun Bio-Thriller!
Review: This book would be great to take on an airplane or to read on the beach if you want an exciting, but not too deep, read.

A really clever plot keeps you wondering right from the beginning. Two alternating tales of bubonic plague in the 14th century and disease outbreaks in the 21st century future keep you guessing what the connection between the two tales might be.

Both tales are equally fascinating: One is the story of a wandering Jewish physician from Spain who is unwillingly caught up in the political intrigues between Pope Clement and King Edward of England while trying desperately to hide the secret of his past. His experiences of plague in medieval Europe are frightening and grotesque. The other tale is of a woman physician, Janie Crowe, of the near future who has suffered heartbreaking loss due to outbreaks of unspecified diseases that have swept America and threaten Europe. Hysterical fear of these diseases have changed the face of modern civilization--air travelers are forced to wear sterile suits and masks and powerful Bio Cops are authorized to shoot and kill if it is suspected that a citizen harbors disease. Janie is engaged in research in London, and unearths something that has a connection to the 14th century physician.

As the book progresses, these separate stories begin to entertwine, bringing us to an interesting conclusion.

Benson does a wonderful job of making both stories compelling and equally interesting, and she gives you tantalizing clues concerning how the earlier story will come to bear on the future one. However, a slightly supernatural thread just doesn't fit with the technological bent of the book, weakening it.

Inevitably, comparisons will be drawn between this book and "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis, a Nebula and Hugo award winner which contains the story of Kirin, a student in future London who is mistakenly sent back to a 14th century English village just when plague is breaking out. Like "Plague Tales," the Willis book alternates between the 14th century and England of the future. While superficially similar, "Plague Tales" is much more of a bio-thriller that is a fun book to read once and then pass along to a friend, while "Doomsday Book" is a deeper, more polished book with a stronger emotional impact that you will want to read again and again. Interesting how two different authors can come up with such different takes on a similar subject.

Rating:
Summary: This is unusual...
Review: This is two books in one. Yes, the two stories (one in the 14th century, the other in the 21st) are related, but they might as well not be.

Here's what you really need to know: One of the stories is mundane (the modern one). The other is --- MAGNIFICENT.

The story of the Spanish Jew physician Alejandro is worth many times over the price of this book, and the time spent reading it. Don't let the other story distract you. Read this book, even if you have to skip every other chapter.



Rating:
Summary: Had promise but misses something
Review: This novel certainly has an interesting premise, comparing and linking the horrors of the medieval Black Death with the equally horrific prospect of the plague in the not too distant future. But somehow I found that there was insiffient detail in each of the stories to really hold my attention.

The medieval story is by far the better tale, even though there are some small historical inaccuracies (for example, Alejandro our hero treats a patient early in the book with eucalyptus, which would be hard as this Australian plant didn't arrive in Europe until it was retrieved by explorers in the 1700s). Alejandro is a character that we can identify with, a Spanish Jew who is fighting for his life and thirsting for knowledge. But even so I felt that the characters who surrounded him were simply not well enough explored to allow us to really identify with the impact of the plague. Geraldine Brooks manages this exceptionally well in her superb "Year of Wonders".

As for the futuristic phase of the book, this is also interesting, but again there is insufficient character development to allow us to really sympathise with our far more modern hero Janie. And there is really no real discussion of how a modern plague would impact on a society which is obsessed with keeping disease at bay. In addition, the future is 2005, perhaps too soon for me to identify with this alternative future. For the epitome of storytelling about the horrors of plague amongst modern times, you can't go past Stephen King's "The Stand".

All in all its an entertaining read, and certainly Ms Benson is a talented writer, but I still feel something is missing. Perhaps it was a little too ambitious.

Rating:
Summary: Great characters
Review: With "The Plague Tales," Ann Benson does a nice job of creating characters that drive the story, rather than vice-versa. If you're tired of plot-driven novels with thin, and often cliché, characters, then you're likely to dig this one.

If you're into writers like Benson, Dan Brown, Katherine Neville, etc., then there's a new writer you should check out: GREG IPPOLITO. His most recent novel, "Zero Station," is a politically charged page-turner that pits its main Gen X character (John Saylor) against his Baby Boomer parents, teachers, etc., during the winter of 1991 -- in the heart of the Persian Gulf War. Right now, Ippolito is still a relative unknown (a friend turned me onto his work)...but this is a must-read. You can check him out and read an excerpt at:

http://www.zero-station.net

Don't miss it.