The Gabriel Hounds

Rating:
Summary: Most memorable of all Stewart's books
Review: "I met him in the street called Strait." This is the line that comes immediately to mind when I think of a Mary Stewart book....the first line of this book. This my favorite; however I love all her stories. The Merlin trilogy +1, Rose Cottage, Thornyhold, Touch Not the Cat, etc., etc., etc. Ms. Stewart writes to entertain and mystify and does a totally terrific job of both. I highly recommend all her books.

Pat Schulte, Ft Myers, FL

Rating:
Summary: not as occult or romantic as many of her other gothic novels
Review: I love all of Mary Stewart's books and am especially drawn to them because of the elements of paganism and the occult that Stewart adds to her stories. The Gabriel Hounds is mysterious and has slight spiritual overtones but doesn't really have the occult flavor I've come to expect from Stewart's writing. There is a romance in the story, revealed in the first pages, but it is not the typical Mary Stewart romance, either. In many ways, despite the exotic setting and mysterious events, this is a rather subdued book compared to Stewart's other writing in the gothic romance genre. Still, those who love Stewart's writing -- or who love a good gothic romance -- will not be disappointed by The Gabriel Hounds. The mystery is built up thrillingly slowly but the climax is explosively tense. As always, Stewart uses language in a way that is simultaneously down-to-earth and lyrically poetic. Altogether, an enchanting story.

Rating:
Summary: A tedious enchantment
Review: Ms.Stewarts language and descriptive skills never fail her in this tale of the mysterious East which comes complete with an eccentric old Englishwoman living in self imposed exile and an Arabian nights style crumbling palace. However the events that take place are highly implausible and leave one wishing for the gripping suspense and drama of Ms.Stewart's other novels like'Madam,Will you talk','Touch not the cat','airs above the ground' etc.The unlikeliness of the events and their quick occurence are typical of the stereotype attached to Eastern lands,and characterization is very sketchy but the Mary Stewart style is there.I especially enjoy her practice of having a preceding quotation from a poem for each chapter that captures the mood.A good read for a gloomy afternoon.

Rating:
Summary: 1002nd Tale of the Arabian Nights
Review: When Christy meets up with her second cousin, Charles, on a street called Straight in Damascus, she has no idea that her harmless foray into the Middle East will end behind a locked hareem door. As members of a well-to-do and filthy rich banking family, both Mansels are a little spoiled and very used to getting their own ways. Hence, it does not seem out of order or intrusive for them to look up great-aunt Harriet, an eccentric old lady who has shunned life in England while living like a pasha for almost a decade in a palace called Dar Ibrahim in the high Lebanon. On impulse, Christy goes solo to the palace, meeting an ecletic cast of characters straight out of the Arabian Nights. Strangest of all is her elderly aunt who has taken the pasha descriptor a little too seriously, dressing in male Arab garb and smoking a hookah. The backdrop, in true Stewart style, is drop-dead-gorgeous; the palace, its gardens, the prince's divan, the seraglio, the darkened corridors and treasure troves are all perfectly illumined for the reader by the author's rich use of language and a seemingly photogenic memory for even the smallest detail--the baying of the locked hounds as Christy wanders about the crumbling palace is just the thing to raise the hair off the back of any reader's neck, while the heady scents of herbs and flowers act as a profuse intoxicating calmative. Of course, there is a mystery which Christy unwittingly stumbles upon like all the other Stewart heroines. But, in this case, as well-off Christy is so very different from the working girls of the other novels, she meets mayham with an outraged aplomb which is marvelously comedic especially during the novels more crucial dramatic moments.
I listened to the audio version of this book read by Davinia Porter who has read other Stewart novels but somehow manages to get across Christy's spoiled yet kindly dispostion in a fresh style that makes the listener wish the reading would never end. There is romance, again underplayed in Stewart's signature style; as with all her male leads, the hero acts as a buttress to make sense out of Christy's spirited insights.
I recommend this whole-heartedly; the language is unsurpassed; the conjuring of the Middle East of the 60s romantic and whimsical.

Rating:
Summary: 1002nd Tale of the Arabian Nights
Review: When Christy meets up with her second cousin, Charles, on a street called Straight in Damascus, she has no idea that her harmless foray into the Middle East will end behind a locked hareem door. As members of a well-to-do and filthy rich banking family, both Mansels are a little spoiled and very used to getting their own ways. Hence, it does not seem out of order or intrusive for them to look up great-aunt Harriet, an eccentric old lady who has shunned life in England while living like a pasha for almost a decade in a palace called Dar Ibrahim in the high Lebanon. On impulse, Christy goes solo to the palace, meeting an ecletic cast of characters straight out of the Arabian Nights. Strangest of all is her elderly aunt who has taken the pasha descriptor a little too seriously, dressing in male Arab garb and smoking a hookah. The backdrop, in true Stewart style, is drop-dead-gorgeous; the palace, its gardens, the prince's divan, the seraglio, the darkened corridors and treasure troves are all perfectly illumined for the reader by the author's rich use of language and a seemingly photogenic memory for even the smallest detail--the baying of the locked hounds as Christy wanders about the crumbling palace is just the thing to raise the hair off the back of any reader's neck, while the heady scents of herbs and flowers act as a profuse intoxicating calmative. Of course, there is a mystery which Christy unwittingly stumbles upon like all the other Stewart heroines. But, in this case, as well-off Christy is so very different from the working girls of the other novels, she meets mayham with an outraged aplomb which is marvelously comedic especially during the novels more crucial dramatic moments.
I listened to the audio version of this book read by Davinia Porter who has read other Stewart novels but somehow manages to get across Christy's spoiled yet kindly dispostion in a fresh style that makes the listener wish the reading would never end. There is romance, again underplayed in Stewart's signature style; as with all her male leads, the hero acts as a buttress to make sense out of Christy's spirited insights.
I recommend this whole-heartedly; the language is unsurpassed; the conjuring of the Middle East of the 60s romantic and whimsical.

Rating:
Summary: Exciting and fast-paced
Review: With her usual magic, Mary Stewart brings to her readers resourceful and forthright young people involved in intricate webs of danger and intrigue in an exotic location. Mary Stewart's top-notch success is displayed in her fast-paced and action-packed sequences that never bore her readers. Each character and location of the action as it is played out is always vividly described with a superb and real sense of detail. It is because of this superb sense of detail that a half dozen reads may not even be enough for most of her novels.

From the back cover - "The Gabriel Hounds is rich with authenticity, warm and lively people, and a story line that will hold you fast till the very end. Against the exotic backdrop of the Middle East is unfolded the tale of Christy Mansel, a spirited young Englishwoman who pays an unexpected visit to an eccentric old aunt in a crumbling Arabian Nights palace in Lebanon. Christy does not know it, but the moment she passes through the gates of Dar Ibrahim she unwittingly sets in motion a dark sinister force that carries with it both terror and death."