The Morning Star : In which the extraordinary correspondence of Griffin & Sabine is illuminated

Back to Griffin & Sabine. It always comes back to Griffin Moss & Sabine Strohem. Except not. This time, it is Matthew and Isabella. Matthew Sedon and Isabella de Reims are madly, hopelessly, truly in love. Except, like Griffin and Sabine before them, they cannot reach each other. He, in Alexandria, Egypt. She, in Paris, France. The archaeologist and the student worlds apart. Unable to connect, their romance depends on the guidance of the only other couple to experience such a divide. Through similar letters and postcards, Matthew & Isabella explore worlds beyond their imagination. Will they ever meet?

A beautiful end to the series, though by no means an easy one to wrap your mind around. While Bantock's art and prose are both stunning, he makes the reader work for the payout. Nothing is directly stated; it's up to you to figure out just what has happened and what it means to the characters. This makes the book both thought-provoking and maddening, to my mind. I'm sure I'll have to read the whole series through a few times more before I come to any definite conclusions about what it all means.

(The same review is posted for all 3 books in the 2nd Griffin & Sabine trilogy -- the Morning Star trilogy.)

In this series, we meet Isabella and Matthew, whose lives seem to echo Griffin & Sabine's in some ways and who seem to be drawn into this sort of supernatural struggle with Griffin & Sabine and the sinister villain who is doing whatever he can to change the course of their lives.

I don't know why, I just didn't like these as much. I didn't like Isabella and Matthew's story as much as Griffin and Sabine's - I felt it was too contrived. And I didn't particularly enjoy Griffin & Sabine's involvement in Matthew & Isabella's story either. I just didn't.

But I will say, that if you're mushy gushy and like a little sex-talk in your show more postcards, this will probably appeal to you :) Other than that, I thought it was OK and I was eager to keep reading, but they weren't my favorites. If I were to recommend Bantock's books, I would probably recommend the original trilogy & the 7th book (The Pharos Gate).

This book - 3 stars; the series as a whole, 3 stars. show less

There was a lot of build-up in this novel with no climax, except for that of the two lead characters who finally managed to hook up in Egypt. I guess that was the point. This trilogy was doesn't live up to the first. The speech is too elliptical and the sinister elements seemed tacked on and unnecessary.

Still exquisitely rendered illustrations, but with a truly boring plot whose characters feel contrived.

Curious - this trilogy (a sequel to the Griffin & Sabine trilogy) was in many ways a more exciting story than the first. And the format and artwork was comparable, but somehow, this final volume in the second trilogy did not seem to have the overall impact. This seems solely due to the amount of information Bantock hints at without ever revealing. If you're used to your novels ending in a nice tidy package, this isn't it. However, the overall storyline, the presentation, and the artwork are enough to encourage me to re-read the first trilogy (which I don't recall as well as I should) and then re-read the second, taking a bit more time and dwelling on the hints and symbols. In doing so, one may get a better idea of what exactly show more happened.

Os. show less

It confused me...although I found a very good quote amongst the postcards and I throughly enjoyed the art.

I really didn't understand this!