World Famous Comics: The Pagan Stone (Sign of Seven) (Sign of Seven)
The Pagan Stone (Sign of Seven) (Sign of Seven)
By: Nora Roberts Publisher: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD Lib Ed Average Rating: Binding: Audio CD Format: Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged Label: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD Lib Ed Number of Items: 1 Publication Date: November 25, 2008 Release Date: November 25, 2008
Product Description: Years ago, after their blood brother ritual, Gage, Fox, and Caleb emerged from the woods, each with a piece of bloodstone. Now, it will become their weapon in the final fight against the demon they awakened. Winner take all...
Shared nightmares, visions of blood and fire, and random violence begin to plague the longtime friends and Quinn, Layla, and Cybil, the women bound to them by fate. None of them can ignore the fact that, this year, the demon has grown stronger feeding off of the terror it creates. But now, the three pieces of the bloodstone have been fused back together. If only they could figure out how to use it.
A gambling man like Gage has no trouble betting on his crew to find a way. And though he and Cybil share the gift of seeing the future, that s all they share. Were they to take their flirtation to the next level, it would be on their own terms, not because fate decreed it. But Gage knows that a woman like Cybil with her brains and strength and devastating beauty can only bring him luck. Good or bad has yet to be determined and could mean the difference between absolute destruction or an end to the nightmare for Hawkins Hollow.
Entertaining but not Roberts' best (some spoilers follow)
I really enjoy most Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb novels. I particularly loved Valley of Silence, another Roberts trilogy-ending supernatural/fantasy-thriller/romance novel, one filled with imagination, emotion and passion, and wonderful characterizations. I had hoped The Pagan Stone would be as good. It's entertaining, sometimes pretty scary, but simply not of the same caliber.
The Pagan Stone takes a very long time to get started. I lost interest and put it down several times before it finally got going. While trilogy-enders must of course do some plot recapping, I thought the amount was excessive in this novel. So many of the episodes were similar, and the characters, unlike the deftly-drawn Cian McKenna or Eve Dallas, were not very deeply developed. Some interesting episodes were cut short, disappointing the reader, while others seemed to drag on, take place off-stage, or be a rehash of similar earlier ones.
Some of the best and most interesting writing in the novel takes place when characters interact with other human beings rather than with the rather tedious demon. For instance, the heroes' encounters with town bully Derrick Napper were chilling and written with tension, giving the reader satisfaction when he's finally defeated. On the other hand, Bill Turner's sacrifice would have been more gripping (and less cliched) had he actually survived it, as his changing relationship with his son was one of the most interesting conflicts in the book. As most of the mystery of the Hollow had been revealed by the second book in the series, there wasn't a whole lot left for the characters to discover in The Pagan Stone, other than figuring out the logistics of surviving the Big Battle with the demon.
I thought the setting and scope of this trilogy was too limited to effectively sustain the plot and relationships without a lot of repetition. Lacking the insightful and well-developed characterizations of the Chesapeake (Quinn Brothers) books and Valley of Silence, the story of Hawkins Hollow occupied a very small stage. Compared to the town of St. Chris (in the Chesapeake series), the Hollow seemed hardly populated. Perhaps the Sign of Seven would have been better as a stand-alone book. For example, even though Stephen King's It (a novel with a somewhat similar plot to The Pagan Stone) was made into a miniseries, it was wisely written as a single novel.
However, as I said, there are some very entertaining, emotional, and scary parts of The Pagan Stone, and overall I enjoyed it once I got past the first 100 pages and the plot began to move. The characters, while not particularly deep or unique, were entirely likable, believable, and sometimes quite interesting and touching. Some scenes, such as the "blow-up" between the three couples, sprang to life and all but jumped off the page. When she's at her best, Roberts is a master of dialog and characterization. She has a great sense of humor and irony. The Sign of Seven trilogy was entertaining, but not among her best work.
Great end to this trilogy! I am very happy with the way this trilogy ended. Nora Roberts did a great job tying it all together and giving closure without being predictable.
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. - Winston Churchill This is the third book in the Sign of Seven Trilogy
Every seven years the town of Hawkins Hollow undergoes a change. Animals turn rabid, people turn on each other and the supernatural becomes reality. All this happens because of the blood ritual three boyhood friends performed on their 10th birthday on July 7th 1987. That ritual unleashed a demon and every seven years the boys do what they can to save the town and its people. This year they plan on stopping the demon for good.
This was the book I was most looking forward to in the series as I really liked Gage and Cybil's personalities from the other two books and looked forward to their inevitable romance. Their romance didn't disappoint and on a whole I really liked the story... I just didn't love it.
The ending was much too rushed for me. We have been working towards the battle against this demon since book one. The characters have invested pages and pages in research and strategy for two books. To have the battle start and be over within 6 pages (and to the soundtrack of the B-52's) was more than a bit of a let down. I really expected more battle and excitement and there are very few surprises or discoveries in this book.
The romance was great and what started off as a relationship based on heat, really turned into a nice love story. Nora did write some more terrifying passages involving the demon who takes shape as a little boy, some that made me shiver. She really did a great job of creating that demon.
I wasn't crazy about the first book, Blood Brothers, but really enjoyed the second book, The Hollow. The Hollow has all the excitement and discovery that the first and third books lack. This is definitely not my favorite book or series by this author, but I still enjoyed it and I am glad I bought it.
Blood Brothers (Sign of Seven Trilogy, Book 1) The Hollow (Sign of Seven Trilogy, Book 2)
Cherise Everhard, November 2008
A great ending to a good trilogy - even with too many over-stated conversations... **Spoiler Alert** - review will contain spoilers
I soooo wanted to say a perfect ending to the trilogy, but I can't. I was so looking forward to reading this one, to giving it a 5-star rating, like I do with most of NR's novels, but I can't.
We continue the Sign of Seven trilogy, this time with Gage and Cybil's story. While it's obvious to the reader that these two will end up together (every love story has to have an HEA), it was over-stated! Every time there was a conversation between them about them, it started with `not happening' to 'sure but no strings attached'. There was doubt, then there was `could this work', moving on to `I don't do roots'. Okay, we got it already. Please move on to the story. While I did like how they fell in love, it was downplayed by all that talking and wondering and supposing. And I don't usually say that about NR's work. To say converstaion was over-stated, has to be a first. It actually made me think of the movie The Bachelor - not wanting to settle down.
I liked how they still hadn't quite figured out how to kill the demon, how they were still researching every lead, every clue, every possibility, how Cybil didn't want to quit with searching for an answer, even when those answers didn't turn to the positive side. Although one scenerio was a bit of a stretch - combining Gage's blood with the town's water supply? I'd think that the blood would be way to diluted to actually make a difference. I don't even think that should have been in the story as it was rather ridiculous, even for a suggestion.
I did like learning more about their pasts, but it could have used more development. I found there wasn't enough to understand why Cybil is the way she is now. You learn what happened with her father, but it still wasn't enough to understand Cybil. I did like the conversations as they discussed what to do and how. While all three women turning up pregnant was sort of cliched, I liked each separate reaction. I liked how they figured out the last of it, how Cybil interprets a dream/vision on the fly. Another cliche is how they sometimes had the same nightmare/dream; while a cliche, I thought it worked well with the story.
What happens between Gage and his father, and what happens to his father, was an unexpected surprise. But there is one part in this story that, while I was expecting it, I wasn't expecting it happen that quick. When Gage reveals to Cybil a fake bloodstone that he bought, they decided a plan of action, to see if they could fool the demon, and to make it as believable as possible. While I was expecting what came next, I wasn't expecting it to happen right on the next chapter. The fights/arguments that insued was totally believable; my heart started to pound and my hands were shaking, I had to put the book down when I found out it was the fake action they'd planned to use against the demon. She had written it so believable she had me fooled. Me? Yeah, me, LOL! And when a writer does that to me, they have a fan for life. I've been a fan of NR for 5 years, and I know that'll never change.
So, great action, awesome plot, perfect ending. While some of the middle/scenarios left me wondering what NR was thinking, this reader enjoyed the book none-the-less, and I'm looking forward to Nora's next story.
Too much talking Nora Roberts has a tendency to have her characters spend too much time in conversations that make me cringe with embarrasment for them. The constant dramatic, meaningful dialogue interspersed with omitting personal pronouns made reading The Pagan Stone tedious by the end. I admire the author for her ability to come up with new plot lines, but she needs to cut out the cutesy, contrived dialogue.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
