|
|
burning road
Burning Road
|
List Price: $6.50
Our Price: $6.50
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780440225911
ISBN: 0440225914
Label: Dell
Manufacturer: Dell
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 720
Publication Date: 2000-07-11
Publisher: Dell
Release Date: 2000-07-11
Studio: Dell
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
From the bestselling author of The Plague Tales comes a spellbinding new novel that sweeps from medieval France to America in the year 2007--interweaving two gripping stories and two extraordinary eras....
In fourteenth-century France, pockets of plague still bring death to peasants and noblemen alike. Amid the fury and the chaos, Dr. Alejandro Canches searches for a safe haven, accompanied by his foster child, Kate--the illegitimate daughter of Edward Plantagenet. But both disease and human enemies pursue them, and their only hope for survival is a rebel leader... and medical secrets that lie hidden in an ancient manuscript.
Seven hundred years later, Dr. Janie Crowe is searching for the cure for a crippling disease in a world where genetic engineering has gone mad. A repressive government wants to stop her, unnamed benefactors want to help her, and time is running out to find answers linking two dark eras, two dedicated doctors, and one miraculous book....
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: I hate it when they do this. It's a serial! And they don't tell you.
Comment: Will Janine have a normal baby? What is Katrina's secret? Will Bruce demand entrance into the compound? And what of Alehandro? Will he raise Kate's son in the Jewish Faith? Will he marry the wet nurse? And what will happen to Kate.
Tune in in five years or so to find out the thrilling conclusion to The Plague Tales and Burning Road.
This is total BS! The reader is left hanging, dissatisfied, having just read the last page and nothing is resolved. We are forced to wait for her to write her next book. Well, I'm getting older. I might not be around by then. So, keep writing Ms. Benson, but you're not writing for me any longer.
I'll buy books from writers who are honest about their craft and don't just write part of a book thinking I will be sooooo interested I will just have to also buy the next one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful sequel - high adventure, very believable plot
Comment: This is a sequel to Ann Benson's The Plague Tales. It tells the story of a 14th century physician during the time immediately after the plague, as well as the story of a woman in the very near future, battling the overly regulated medical establishment to help with a large medical conspiracy. The modern day woman has the original journal of the 14th century physician, and that plays a role in her modern day problem. Well written. While I personally preferred the 14th century sections best the modern day part was quite believable. It does end a bit abruptly, but it is part of a trilogy. Book 3 is The Physician's Tale, just published.
If you enjoyed this book, I suggest The Plague Tales (I have reviewed it as well) and A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks and The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Can't get enough Alejandro...
Comment: LOVED the book, though the end was a bit confusing. From the other reviews it looks like I'm not the only one who felt that way. I thought it might have been because I was so anxious to get back to Kate and Alejandro I often only skimmed the "future" sections of the book.
Bottom line - it's a page-turner but the real strength is in the historical storyline. It (the historical part) is well-researched, interesting and just a great story with powerful and relatable characters I couldn't get enough of. I can't wait for the next installment.
But after that I would love to see Ms. Benson break out of her "flipping between future and past" format and write something purely historical, since I enjoyed that part of the book so much more.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A good book, but...
Comment: Really just agreeing with others that (1) it would be difficult to read this book without having read the Plague Tales (although that could easily have been fixed, because most of the Plague Tales is not really relevant to this book), and there are HUGE omissions toward the end. Ok, it's a setup for a sequel, but it's just really annoying. What happened with Bruce? What is the story with Kristina? How on earth can Janie be pregnant when she was sterile in the first book, or did I miss some actual explanation for this? I like this book, and all of the Ann Benson books, but the others didn't leave me screaming with irritation because there were huge gaps.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An incredible and all too possible tale.
Comment: I find it slightly humorous that within a short period of time, say a month, I read The Killers Within which is about the rise of bacteria that are resistant to all antibiotics, read another book about the world created by the Black Plague in the 14th century (which was awful, but gave a basic understanding of life during that time), and then just accidently picked up this book without realizing that it was going to be a fictional work tieing the information of the two above books together. I didn't read the first book in this series, called The Plague Tales. I may well go back and get it so I can see where it started. From the understanding that archeological digs can occasionally release things that have lain dormant for centuries, it is easy to believe that in our quest for knowledge, we release things that would have been better left undisturbed. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The writing was more than adequate, and the plot made significant 'sense' to me. There was enough background provided in flashbacks and other hints to what had happened to bring out the original plague. I belong to a bioethical/disability group that seeks to prevent new genetic technologies being used to discriminate against those with disabilities and differences. So the concern for a large database containing all of our genetic information is extremely valid right now. Since a recent expedition occurred in which attempts were made to find frozen DNA of the original Spanish flu of 1918 (that killed one of my great grandmothers), and many fears were expressed then that the world could once again be exposed to a bacterial killer for which we have no vaccine or antibiothic. As once said by Michael Crichton in one of his books, 'scientists are too often proving they can do something, and they forget to ask whether they should do something!'
This includes cloning of humans who will most often come out with severe disabilities, the ever present threat of assisted suicide/euthanasia for those considered unworthy of life, genetic manipulation of food crops without research into whether those genetic manipulations will have long-term consequences for environmental impact or human consumption. This is definitely one of those books you cannot put down. A lot of research went into this particular piece of fiction. It is not far enough in the future to qualify as science fiction, and there are several plots to keep separate...one historical that has a direct impact on the plot based in the future. I will not waste times on books from authors who I think are unwilling to do the research, to understand the basic sciences behind this type of horrifying scenario. I would find it hard to place this book in any specific genre...what's important is that it is a great read. Karen Sadler,
University of Pittsburgh
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
