Forget Vicky - Keep Schmidt!
First up, I completely missed that Elizabeth Peters had died and that sad news (from August last year) means that no matter what advice I would have liked to have given her about her Vicky Bliss series is now redundant. (Unless Jacqueline Kirby is hired to write the sequel! ;o)
Vicky and her six book series suffers a bit (to my mind) from being a child their time. I am absolutely baffled about why I continued with the books when they are from that most dated of periods - the 1970s. The militant feminism in the first couple of books is perhaps historically accurate but so were the fashions of the 1980s and I don't care to relive those, either.
So the first, Borrower of the Night (1973), and second, Street of the Five Moons (1978), were okay but dated reads. Things started to improve by the third, Silhouette in Scarlet (1983).
Maybe it was just because time had passed but perhaps it was the reappearance of 'Sir John'. It started to feel like a series.
Then the fourth, fifth, and sixth, Trojan Gold (1987), Night Train to Memphis (1994), and The Laughter of Dead Kings (2008) were huge leaps forward. Yes, 'Sir John' was still there but the main thing that improved these stories was the comedic element of Schmidt.
Now the connection to the Amelia Peabody series that was confirmed in the last title was telegraphed fairly plainly (though I did think with John's ability to disguise himself he would be descended from Sethos) and the appearance of Elizabeth Peters as a character in her own books was inspired, but all the best stuff could be chalked up to Schmidt, the greatest swordsman in Europe. ;o)
Of all the stories Night Train to Memphis was my favourite - Schmidt was in fine form and if I would never had got all the references to country songs I thought the book title (used by Schmidt) was brilliant.
Night Train to Memphis
I might even keep these last three in the series ... at least for one re-read.
~ ~ ~
Vicky and her six book series suffers a bit (to my mind) from being a child their time. I am absolutely baffled about why I continued with the books when they are from that most dated of periods - the 1970s. The militant feminism in the first couple of books is perhaps historically accurate but so were the fashions of the 1980s and I don't care to relive those, either.
So the first, Borrower of the Night (1973), and second, Street of the Five Moons (1978), were okay but dated reads. Things started to improve by the third, Silhouette in Scarlet (1983).
Maybe it was just because time had passed but perhaps it was the reappearance of 'Sir John'. It started to feel like a series.
Then the fourth, fifth, and sixth, Trojan Gold (1987), Night Train to Memphis (1994), and The Laughter of Dead Kings (2008) were huge leaps forward. Yes, 'Sir John' was still there but the main thing that improved these stories was the comedic element of Schmidt.
Now the connection to the Amelia Peabody series that was confirmed in the last title was telegraphed fairly plainly (though I did think with John's ability to disguise himself he would be descended from Sethos) and the appearance of Elizabeth Peters as a character in her own books was inspired, but all the best stuff could be chalked up to Schmidt, the greatest swordsman in Europe. ;o)
Of all the stories Night Train to Memphis was my favourite - Schmidt was in fine form and if I would never had got all the references to country songs I thought the book title (used by Schmidt) was brilliant.
Night Train to Memphis
I might even keep these last three in the series ... at least for one re-read.
~ ~ ~