My Reading Nook

The Eight by Katherine Neville is one of these complex books that has dual plots intertwined that in the end explain each other. I can’t remember the last time it took me this long to read a book of this length. Usually, I can put a 600 page book away in 3 days and I’ve been reading this one for over a week now.

It’s far from being a boring book. It’s intricate and complicated. The characters are rich and well fleshed out. The scenes are fraught with suspense and danger and this book is teaching me so much about the French Revolution — stuff I never heard in history classes! Where history class glossed over the French Revolution, telling us it was a grand thing to overthrow a corrupt government, it never covered any of the atrocities committed against the noblemen. It’s one thing to read "they beheaded Marie Antoinette at the guillotine" and another to read how she was dragged through the crowds who spit upon her and beat her with clubs BEFORE she was subjected to the guillotine.

The Eight takes us from New York to Paris to Algiers — I think we hit every major city in the world except possibly las vegas nv. While in New York our heroine, Catherine Velis is taken to see a fortune teller at a New Years Eve party and it’s this fortune told that begins her quest to find the Montglane Service, a centuries old chess set that was created by the Phoenicians thousands of years ago which, when assembled with it’s board contains a formula that gives the owner great power. It’s believed to be evil, but if Catherine succeeds in finding all the pieces AND the board which was scattered throughout Europe and Russia during the French Revolution, will she be able to withstand the evil force behind it?

There are themes within themes in this book. It’s intricate, spellbinding and very interesting. I can recommend this to any reader whether you favor fiction or non-fiction because there are such strong elements of both here. Chess lovers will especially enjoy the on-going chess game that uses people as pieces. Being eliminated from the board means death.

Just like the formula Catherine seeks, the ending is hidden until the last possible moment.

I hope you enjoy The Eight by Katherine Neville as much as I have.

The Eight by Katherine Neville
Published by Ballantine Books 2008
ISBN: 978-0-345-36623-8