by David Jones
ISBN-10: 1466426683
Publisher: CreateSpace October 11, 2011
288 pages
After being washed ashore on a mysterious tropical island Captain Trebane is forced to wonder what became of his crew and love of his life Serena after the freak storm struck The Stolen Rose. He quickly learns he is not alone on the island as he meets the blood thirsty and immortal savages the Eternus. Worse still, Trebane discovers that the Eternus have Serena and he must fight against the immortal horde to save her.- Summary by Kevin Askew
To paraphrase Martin Lawrence’s character near the end of Bad Boys II “Now that’s how you write! From now on, that’s how you write!”
I wish I could say I read Lilith’s Tears all the way through
in one sitting but I can’t. I had a lot of stuff going on in my life, what with
job hunting and planning my trip up to Seattle. But boy, did I ever look
forward to my free time where I got to read this amazing book.
While this book didn’t have a dragon like the last book I
read it more than made up for it with (*Spoiler) EFFING Pirates!
Trebane is a cross between Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds, Dante
from ‘Dante’s Inferno’ and Westley from ‘The Princess Bride’.
 |
| BAMF |
Shortly after regaining consciousness on a freaky
island he didn’t even know existed Trebane is attacked by the blood thirsty
locals the Eturnus who at first bear such a striking resemblance to Reavers
that I was afraid they’d get sued by Joss Whedon. I still find the resemblance uncanny
but they’re super Reavers if anything.
Anyway, so Mal, I mean Trebane goes and gets himself into
some deep sh- trouble and has to get bailed out by my favorite character of the
whole book, the dread pirate Sarn. A guy so badass that he’s been able to
survive on Hell’s Island for the better half of a century (suck it Gordon
Ramsey!).
Sarn acts as Virgil to Trebane’s Dante, showing him around
the island and providing insight into its mysteries. He also schools Trebane in
what it means to be a pirate and why they’re just trying to fight oppression…
then he steals his wallet (jk jk)
I was surprised to find that Act 3 started halfway through
the book. It also started out as my least favorite part of the whole damn
thing. The king of the Eternus is a skeleton who goes by the name of Torn.
Boiled down to his essence Torn is basically an evil son of a bitch. He has no
qualms about his lot in life. He wants to destroy anything and everything that
stumbles upon his island. That is until fair Serena is brought to him. His
basic instinct is to kill her but there’s something about her that’s stopping
him.
Now I’m normally of the belief that you get a more menacing
enemy the less you know about him. Take the Dark Lord Sauron, for most of the
Lord of The Rings books he’s just a badass burning eye. There’s little
exposition going on there. We know he’s evil because J.R.R. never bothered to
prove otherwise. I’ll be honest; I struggled through the first bit of Act 3 because
the author was trying to humanize a character who tells us himself he’s pure
rage.
Serena is forced to fight off Stockholm syndrome because of
Torn’s behavior towards her. He allows her to wander castle Grayskull and his
apple orchard (get it?! Garden of Eden, Lilith’s tears… Apples) with no
supervision.
 |
| Not far off from how I pictured it |
I won’t give away too much more because that would spoil the
ending of the book but I will say, the expose done in the beginning has a
purpose and it is a doozy.
Overall, Lilith’s Tears is a very well written book about to
what lengths one would have to go to save the woman he loves. It is full of
subtle and overt references to many great works of myth and legend. The
climactic battle between the forces of good an evil was exceptionally crafted.
If you’re a fan of pirates, mythology, immortal skeleton
kings or love stories then Lilith’s Tears would make for a truly good read.
9/10
1 comment:
You had my ear at Mal Reynolds. BAMF, indeed.
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