Rating: 
Summary: a bad sequel to a fairly entertaining book
Review: Andre Norton and Rosemary Edghill's _Leopard in Exile_ is the sequel to _The Shadow of Albion_, which I thought was rather entertaining. Sadly, _Leopard in Exile_ is not. The world's magical structure is poorly worked out; it's a mishmash of elements from British faery lore, Native American beliefs, Satanistic black magic, and even Arthurian legend (the Holy Grail). The plot is absurdly contrived, the alternate history unconvincing (why would the American colonies under the Stuarts be more friendly to the native Americans than they were under Hanoverian rule?), and the characters poorly fleshed out. There's almost nothing of the relationship between Wessex and Sarah which was forged in the first book, just a lot of agonizing about how much they love each other, with very little interaction between them which shows rather than tells. Wessex's desperate search for Sarah, who has gone to the New World to help her friend Meriel, is a driving force behind much of the plot, but as there seems to be no depth to their relationship, it's next to impossible to feel any urgency about the search.
And worst of all, the narrative includes footnotes, which are very difficult to use effectively in fiction without distracting the reader from the flow of the action; here, they are overly self-conscious, frequently patronizing (the note explaining the bill which abolished slavery in Britain and its dominions ends "Aren't you glad I'm here to tell you these things?"), often useless (defining a recaumier as "A couch to you", when it's clear from the context anyway), and generally aggravating. Do we really need a reference to a web site about jambalaya when it's served to one of the characters? Surely not. I cannot imagine what the authors (or their editor) could have been thinking to include these idiotic, distracting notes.
I still think _The Shadow of Albion_ was worth reading, but by all means, avoid the sequel. (Hey, and I didn't even mention the gratuitous Star Wars reference or the meaningless appearance of a character from one of Edghill's other books - duly noted in the footnotes, of course).
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant alternate history fantasy
Review: Duchess Sarah crossed the dimensional barrier from our world (nineteenth century England) to another realm. Though similarities abound such as Napoleon wanting to rule the globe, major differences exist as the Stuarts still rule and magic is an acceptable force. While Britain honors the Ancient Ones and tries to keep the war on the mundane plane, the megalomaniac French emperor employs the Marquis de Sade to use his arcane talents to insure his success. De Sade journeys to Nouvelle Orleans to ostensibly serve as the French governor of the territory. However, he actually seeks the Holy Grail to insure Napoleon cannot lose on the battlefield regardless of the odds and for diabolical reasons of his own. Counterforces try to prevent this travesty of the ancient relic from being misused. The Dauphin is missing and an angel visits his wife Meriel to say he is fine and she must obtain the Holy Grail before de Sade finds and gives it to his master Satan. Sarah travels to aid her friend Meriel. Sarah's husband, an aristocratic spymaster, follows her with his plan to assassinate de Sade and begin a revolt in Nouvelle Orleans. The action and adventure has just begun. Andre Norton and Rosemary Edghill have cleverly created a series that cleverly combines intrigue, adventure, magic, and political machinations into a fabulous epic fantasy. The key to this alternate history novel is that the New World seems real even with the influx of paranormal events. The romance between Sarah and her Duke helps the audience understand the characters as both have hardships to overcome in their relationship. LEOPARD IN EXILE is storytelling at its best. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant!!!!!! NOT.
Review: I really liked the first volume of this joint project by Norton and Edghill. The combo of a Regency Romance and an alternate world was delightful. This effort, however, is rather leaden, poorly planned and jerky. There are fewer 'real history' cameos (outside of DeSade and Lafitte who are major characters.) The likelihood of a Duchess running off to the new world, no husband, no retinue...and no recognition when she gets there is a major stretch. The whole grail "quest" is silly, particularly Merel's survival in the wilderness! The Duke's angst is getting overdone - particularly his fear of assasination by his own people. A Duke?...really, now. I hope the series returns to Europe and to court intrigue and magic.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!!!!!! NOT.
Review: I really liked the first volume of this joint project by Norton and Edghill. The combo of a Regency Romance and an alternate world was delightful. This effort, however, is rather leaden, poorly planned and jerky. There are fewer 'real history' cameos (outside of DeSade and Lafitte who are major characters.) The likelihood of a Duchess running off to the new world, no husband, no retinue...and no recognition when she gets there is a major stretch. The whole grail "quest" is silly, particularly Merel's survival in the wilderness! The Duke's angst is getting overdone - particularly his fear of assasination by his own people. A Duke?...really, now. I hope the series returns to Europe and to court intrigue and magic.
Rating: 
Summary: A painful attempt at a novel.
Review: I wasn't really intending to review this book, but I kept writing one as I read it, so: Negatives:
1. The footnotes were QUITE condescending. Fortunately they were dropped after the first chapter in the paperback version, or this book would have quickly become wall-thumping material. 2. The characters are painfully flat. Wessex is a character out of a cut-rate Regency romance; I would have accepted him that way if the book WAS a Regency romance, but this is Andre Norton. Many of the characters have only one or two major traits and grow boring quickly (read: Robie, the Sahoya, etc.). 3. The plot was clunkly and terrible. Also the opening scene of d'Charenton was disgusting beyond need. I really don't feel it was necessary to peg him as "evil," most people have heard of the Marquis de Sade. (Or if we haven't I'm sure Edghill would be happy to tell us about him). The postitive:
1. If you skim through certain bits of the novel, the pacing is quite fast. I mostly found myself wishing that the book was over and that they would not write another, but I find that my wishes will not be granted--they intend to write a third. I honestly meant to give this book three stars, but now that I think over it, it is a two star book. I really hope the third doesn't actually get put out. I COULD have read a cheap Regency and been just as satisfied with the result, maybe even more so because the clunky plot devices would be thankfully absent. There are much better books that combine the topics of the Regency and magic, and any reader would do well to pick up one of these instead.
Rating:
Summary: A painful attempt at a novel.
Review: I wasn't really intending to review this book, but I kept writing one as I read it, so: Negatives:
1. The footnotes were QUITE condescending. Fortunately they were dropped after the first chapter in the paperback version, or this book would have quickly become wall-thumping material. 2. The characters are painfully flat. Wessex is a character out of a cut-rate Regency romance; I would have accepted him that way if the book WAS a Regency romance, but this is Andre Norton. Many of the characters have only one or two major traits and grow boring quickly (read: Robie, the Sahoya, etc.). 3. The plot was clunkly and terrible. Also the opening scene of d'Charenton was disgusting beyond need. I really don't feel it was necessary to peg him as "evil," most people have heard of the Marquis de Sade. (Or if we haven't I'm sure Edghill would be happy to tell us about him). The postitive:
1. If you skim through certain bits of the novel, the pacing is quite fast. I mostly found myself wishing that the book was over and that they would not write another, but I find that my wishes will not be granted--they intend to write a third. I honestly meant to give this book three stars, but now that I think over it, it is a two star book. I really hope the third doesn't actually get put out. I COULD have read a cheap Regency and been just as satisfied with the result, maybe even more so because the clunky plot devices would be thankfully absent. There are much better books that combine the topics of the Regency and magic, and any reader would do well to pick up one of these instead.
Rating:
Summary: Sigh. I was expecting more.
Review: I've been a fan of Andre Norton for 30 years, so I'll read any tale she cares to tell. However, in this book, her collaborator has managed to drag things down to the level of a mediocre read-once-only and pass along regency romance. Whoever allowed the inclusion of those stupid little footnotes (I agree with another reviewer-they have to be Ms Edgehill's) made a really BAD decision on this. They frequently define words I can figure out quite well from context-if I can't, I know what a dictionary is. One footnote to a scene set in New Orleans directs us to a website for jambalaya recipes. Who got paid for that lovely bit of advertising and how much? I feel like they were aimed at really dumb little kids. But even Andre's YA readers are smarter than THAT. Read the library copy before buying on this one.
Rating:
Summary: zzzzz......
Review: Is it a bad sign that I just finished this book the night before last, and now I'm hard-pressed to remember much of the plot? This book's predecessor, _Shadow of Albion_, was fun in a light sort of way, with the promise of sequels that would delve deeper into the faery magic at which it hints. I should have gotten my first clue about _Leopard in Exile_ when I looked at the cover art. Thomas Canty's drawings are lovely as always, but this illustration looks like it's supposed to be a rough preliminary sketch, compared to the sublime cover of _Albion_. Even the typefaces are clunkier. But I tried not to judge the book by its cover. Inside, though, I found little of interest. I had hoped that the characters, who were kind of cardboard in _Albion_, would get fleshed out now that we're getting to know them better. Nope, still cardboard. It's even worse in this one because people are going around moping about how much they love their husband/wife and yet the relationship has not been developed in the story. Why do they love each other? Because the authors say so, I guess. And to add more frustration, the authors seem to be under the impression that a good plot can be obtained simply by continually landing the characters in danger. (It reminds me of a 70s bodice-ripper I read years ago, in which the heroine got raped, then shipwrecked on a tropical island, THEN kidnapped by pirates, THEN trapped in an opium den... You get the idea.) Dropping the characters into one problem after another works pretty well if we KNOW the characters and CARE what happens to them, but since they're still 2-D, the constant action keeps us from learning any more about them. It's just crisis after crisis after crisis, and seldom a conversation. Not to mention, the magic doesn't get explained! Sarah went to the New World to fulfill a promise to the Fair Folk, but then they were absent for the first nine-tenths of the book, then showed up just long enough to give Sarah some vague aid against the villain, then disappeared again, without any explanation. I don't know if I'll read the third Carolus Rex book. I know both Norton and Edghill are capable of better books than this. Let's hope they remember that.
Rating:
Summary: had to stop reading
Review: It usually takes a lot for me to give up on a book. The second volume in this series did not live up to it's predecessor or even reach half its potential. Following the first book, I was excited to see how Sarah and Wessex would reconcile their differences and live together as husband and wife. Unfortunately, none of that ever materialized. The footnotes were ludicrous, the direction of the story even more, and the writing dismal.
Rating:
Summary: Just disappointing
Review: Like other reviewers I hoped to get more out of the sequel after reading Shadow of Albion, and I like Edghill. But the paperback, even with fewer footnotes, was hard going.
The threads never came together satisfactorily and the plot was ridiculous. I don't mind christianity vs satanism in a book butin this one it made the characters extremely one-dimensional and just didn't gel with the magic mixed with voodoo.
How is Sarah supposed to prevent the People's decimation with or without the Sahoya's help? Why is the chief's son courting her? What exactly did the Grail do? The book raised loads of questions and answered none--the authors would have done better taking out most of these plot devices.
I'll read other books by both authors--just not the ones they co-author.
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