Book Chat at Covenant House

Come enjoy a lively interactive book chat at Covenant House/CHAI Apartments. This month’s book selection is "Heaven and Earth" by Nora Roberts. Roberts offers up the second installment of her newest trilogy, a conventional sage about three witches who right the wrongs of their ancestors in order to save their homeland. This page turner is sure to rouse a riveting discussion. The discussion will take place at 1:30pm at 8 Millstone Campus Drive, lower level of Covenant II Apartments, in the Board Room.

Nora Roberts' The Circle Trilogy « Gentle Wit

And I suppose it must be a coincidence that the titular character is a goddess because she doesn’t resemble the Irish mythology I’m familiar with. This particular goddess is the one who sets this whole story in motion by throwing Hoyt, a sorcerer, into a quest to rally five others to stop an impending vampire war. This comes after Hoyt has an unsuccessful battle with Lilith, the vampire who turned his identical twin brother Cian and is the Big Bad setting up the war. Since all he manages to do aside from royally piss her off is brand her with a pentagram scar, I’m left wondering why he was chosen to lead this fight in a so epic that it endangers the very existence of multiple words. Oh, by the way, it’s going down in three months. Well, plus a thousand years because you see Hoyt’s in the Middle Ages. This makes about as much sense as his being a sorcerer. At least so much in that either point is explained with any detail through three books, which is a recurring issue throughout the trilogy.

Anyway, Morrigan ships him off to present day New York City because that’s where all the cool vampires hang out what with the ease one can blend in given the eclectic population and the sun. Within moments he runs into his brother who during his century of unlife has shunned the evil vampire ways. He’s still harboring some angst at his brother, though since being tossed off a cliff before Hoyt went after Lilith. I guess the fact that he was trying to kill him right back escaped Cian’s vast memory. Rather begrudgingly and through absolutely no sense of obligation he agrees to tag along for this fight. They also get themselves two other followers in King, Cian’s modern day Renfield in Michael Clarke Duncan’s body, and Glenna who’s a witch. Again the magic element is strangely just accepted as is King’s complete devotion to his undead boss. But at this point we’ve jumped 1,000 years in time so I don’t know why I’m bothered by little things like the complete lack of world building or more accurately the exposition of the non- world building.

From here we fly off to Ireland for no specific reason other than it’s a nice backdrop for Glenna and Hoyt to fall in love. Eventually, the last three members of the “circle” find their way, supposedly via Morrigan, to round out the cast and make a nice even number to pair up the love interests.