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Blog Entry 8 of 65 The Front Range Reader
Books, books and more books. In my spare time, I write book blogs/reviews for websites specifically devoted to books and readers. Although I have an advanced degree in Comparative Literature (specialty in Medieval Studies) I love to read all sorts of books from medieval to modern literature, from light reading to literary.

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~Merrimonbooks

Exquisite debut novel with a hint of Arthur

Contributed by: Merrimon Crawford   on 3/23/2007

Deidre Knight: Parallel Attraction.
Publisher: Signet Eclipse, 2006.
ISBN-10: 0451218116
ISBN-13: 978-0451218117

As an adolescent, Kelsey Wells explores the trails around Mirror Lake in Yellowstone Park when she discovers someone else on the trail. Is he collecting fossils and samples without a permit? What is this unearthly attraction that pulls her to him? Who is this shape shifter alien who captures her heart? Will the first love of her youth fade in the memory or last forever?

The exiled Refarian warrior king Jared Bennett carries the destiny of his people. As the last of the regal lineage, he must both lead the Refarians to freedom and produce an heir. When shot down over Mirror Lake, he must protect the weapon that can win the battle against the enemy Antousians. Can he trust this woman Kelsey? The Refarian Council would be none too pleased with the king's all consuming desire for this human Kelsey. When betrayal from within threatens both the kingdom and the love bond of lifemates, can the Refarians survive?

Parallel Attraction captures all the great themes of battle, love and betrayal, and the possible extinction of a great race with original, intriguing variations. The Wyoming setting and references to Jackson, Laramie and Yellowstone suffused with alien worlds and technology entice the imagination. Even though there are only a few scenes where the romance is sexually explicit, Knight creates a wild, hot passion that far surpasses earthly romance. Her writing style itself romances the reader by slowly and seductively adding pleasure upon pleasure. Just when the reader thinks they have reached the height of reading pleasure, she gives more... humor, a perfect unexpected twist that opens the heart and imagination, a unique shift, and an addition to the familiar paradigms of the great literary classics.... Although alien and different, the great Refarian king recalls to the reader the legend of great earthly king Arthur. A stunning debut novel!

Deidre Knight's Parallel Attraction will capture the heart and soul of anyone whose imagination has ever paused at the shores of Avalon and wondered what could have happened to the greatest king and queen in history.

Rating: On a scale of 1-5, I would rate this book as a 7.
Grade: A++ on another scale.
It reached me down to the very soul. Unforgettable. I could read it and teach it every year and never tire of it.

The next Parallel books are as follows in order: Parallel Heat (2006), Parallel Seduction (April 2007); Parallel Desire (Dec. 2007). Also an Amazon short Parallel Heat


Personal reflections on Parallel Attraction

I can't help write more than a review of this book. It stunned me that much!

We all know what a good book is. It captivates a reader. Pages flip and the reader races to the ending because the book is just that good. Once in a rare while, the reader encounters a truly great book and it's different. The reader slows down, pausing over each page, exclaiming "Oh my!" and reads even more slowly, intoxicated by the very language and imagery. Even though I am an avid reader, this has only happened a couple times for me. Marcel Proust comes to mind. Deidre Knight's novel is one of those books for me. It took me forever to finish this book --- I loved it that much!

What is it with me and discovering my very favorite books and authors so unexpectedly??? First, Merging with Monsters by Joseph Eugene Green, then Erica Orloff/Tess Hudson and now this book. I discovered Deidre Knight's book on the internet and liked the cover. I thought "Why not?" and entered an author-sponsored contest on a whim and won.

Deidre Knight's Parallel Attraction almost makes me regret not finishing my dissertation and not teaching. While reading this book, I started imagining how very much I would like to teach this book. Teaching a book allows a teacher to read the book over and over, always seeing more each time a book is taught. I even imagined a syllabus of the course: Deidre Knight's Parallel Series, Sir Thomas Malory's Arthurian works, some of the finest French Arthurian romances, particularly selections from the Medieval Vulgate cycle, Gottfried Von Strassburg's Tristan, Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon, CS Lewis' Out of This Silent Planet..... This would be a syllabus that would inspire not only me but my students!

Technically, the Parallel Series is not an Arthurian romance but it develops all the great themes and romance in Arthurian literature. It stirs the imagination by developing all the unsaid details. I think this book will appeal to anyone whose heart and soul has been stirred by the King Arthur legend, from the general enthusiast all the way to crazy King Arthur scholars like I was and my graduate school colleagues and professors.

Lest someone think our kind are all a bunch of stuffed shirts, let me tell you the story of one of my professors. At an international conference of Arthurian scholars, a huge Celtic man stood up after all the academic lectures and belted out, "That's all very fine and good but what I want to know, is do you believe, do you really believe?" The history speaker went on about historial records, another went on with this and that, but MY professor said in this quiet voice, "I believe, I believe!"

I have a unique reading history with the Arthurian romance. I have read more Arthurian romance and chronicles --- and mostly in the original languages --- than any normal person. I spent 10 years in graduate school studying only medieval literature and mostly Arthurian literature. I have even read some unpublished ones from photostats of Medieval manuscripts on microfilm. On the modern front, I have read TH White, Mary Stewart, Marion Zimmer Bradley and much more....

With all this reading history, you would think it would be very hard to make me gasp "Oh my!" while reading a book with any hint of the Arthurian legend. Not so! Of all the modern books in this vein that have I have read, Deidre Knight's is the best. Despite my focused education, I believe this book would appeal to any reader whose heart is stirred by the themes of tragic love, deep eternal love, freedom and exile, betrayal and honor, and the thought of great royalty nearing extinction.

I have the second book in the Parallel Series and have the third on pre-order but I want to linger more on this book. The next couple of book blogs (an Amanda Stevens thriller and a mystery or two) will be completely different so I can do just that. The aftertaste of Parallel Attraction is exquisite.

My question for you as readers: What are the great books that you have read and loved, that have shades of the Arthurian legend, overt shades or more subtle, historical fiction, epics, paranormal fiction, science fiction/fantasy, romance or anything else?





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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Merrimon Crawford

Arvada , CO

Merrimon Crawford has posted 65 blog entries and 17 comments since joining on 12/15/2006. Merrimon Crawford 's average blog rating is 4.82.
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