The Fire will be another fantastic book by a friend of mine who is the best-selling author Katherine Neville. I spoke to Katherine about what it is like to be a female in chess and some other similar issues. Here is some info about this book:
Katherine Neville’s groundbreaking novel, The Eight, dazzled audiences more than twenty years ago and set the literary stage for the epic thriller. A quest for a mystical chess service that once belonged to Charlemagne, it spans two centuries and three continents, and intertwines historic and modern plots, archaeological treasure hunts, esoteric riddles, and puzzles encrypted with clues from the ancient past. Now the electrifying global adventure continues, in Neville’s long anticipated sequel: THE FIRE
2003, Colorado: Alexandra Solarin is summoned home to her family’s ancestral Rocky Mountain hideaway for her mother’s birthday. Thirty years ago, her parents, Cat Velis and Alexander Solarin, believed that they had scattered the pieces of the Montglane Service around the world, burying with them the secrets of the power that comes with possessing it. But Alexandra arrives to find that her mother is missing and that a series of strategically placed clues, followed swiftly by the unexpected arrival of a mysterious assortment of houseguests, indicates that something sinister is afoot.
When she inadvertently discovers from her aunt, the chess grandmaster Lily Rad, that the most powerful piece of Charlemagne’s service has suddenly resurfaced and the Game has begun again, Alexandra is swept into a journey that takes her from Colorado to the Russian wilderness and at last into the heart of her own hometown: Washington D.C.
1822, Albania: Thirty years after the French Revolution, when the chess service was unearthed, all of Europe hovers on the brink of the War of Greek Independence. Ali Pasha, the most powerful ruler in the Ottoman Empire, has angered the sultan and is about to be attacked by Turkish forces. Now he sends the only person he can rely upon–his young daughter, Haidee–on a dangerous mission to smuggle a valuable relic out of Albania, through the mountains and over the sea, to the hands of the one man who might be able to save it.
Haidee’s journey from Albania to Morocco to Rome to Greece, and into the very heart of the Game, will result in revelations about the powerful chess set and its history that will lead at last to the spot where the service was first created more than one thousand years before: Baghdad.
Blending exquisite prose and captivating history with nonstop suspense, Neville again weaves an unforgettable story of peril, action, and intrigue.
http://www.katherineneville.com/
I read the eight many years ago and it’s good. Can’t wait for this new one.
I read the eight some years ago. I think that it is the definition of the word “predictable”.
Are there are any mating scenes in the books?
I love a passionate chess novel to share with my mom!
I don’t think it’s predictable. I give a 4 star out of 5.
Opinions will vary, but “The Eight” was ineffective in holding my interest. At first days, later weeks and even months would pass before I returned to the book.
Upon reading this blog entry I searched for and found my copy of the book. My bookmark is still firmly planted between pages 496 and 497.
Sorry, but “The Eight” was nowhere even remotely comparable to “The Da Vinci Code” — contrary to the statement on the cover of my copy.
I’ll hold off on purchasing “The Fire” — at least for now.
Dear Anonymous on June 19th at 5:54:00: The Da Vinci Code doesn’t hold a candle to Katherine Neville’s “The Eight.” It is a MAGNIFICENT work expertly and intricately intertwining historical and fictional threads. It was “The Eight” that got me involved in chess in 1998, years after I’d read it (when it first went into paperback, I believe that was around 1984). Da Vinci Code is entertaining, but old news for history buffs. If anyone didn’t know about the alleged Jesus-Mary Magdalene connection long before, they weren’t paying attention. Neville broke original and still virtually untrod ground with her premise for “The Eight,” as well as presenting two certified female heroines utterly different than Nancy Drew. I cannot wait to read the sequel. KN has garnered so much more experience and knowledge in the intervening years, I just know the novel will be first rate and uniquely satisfying – and I hope the beginning of a series!
Jan Newton
http://www.goddesschess.com
I love The Eight, didn’t think it was predictable, it had one heck of a plot. I just hope the sequel can live up to how great the previous book was, because sometimes they don’t.
I loved 8. It was good as 5, 6, and 7. 8 is still my favorite integer!
The Eight was a good book, for me though the Da Vinci code was much better, not because of the “known” story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but due to the fact that you cannot really distinguish fact from fiction – often I needed to search if what was written was true and up to which point. On the contrary, the Eight had too much fiction for me. However, it was a good book, it kept me focused till the end, and I am looking forward to reading the sequel, especially to see what she writes about the Greek Revolution.
hmmmmm,
I think we were talking about the Eight, not the Da Vinci Code!
Let’s start talking about the “Three men in a boat” then.
“The Eight” is absolutely one of the best books that I have ever read. The blending of history’s greatest figures with the age old game of chess was expertly accomplished.
I eagerly await the October release of “The Fire”.
She’s an awesome author. I love the eight. Thanks Susan for letting us know about the Fire.
El ocho es un buenisimo libro, esta muy bien documentado, hace que el lector quede maravillado por la historia y las relaciones entre los personajes.
katherine neville es maravillosa!!!!
y por el amor de dios,
el codigo da vinci, ya quisiera dan brown, llegar a la suela de los zapatos de katherine!!
por su bien, que katherine le de algunas clases de escribir.
Dan Brown no escribe buenos libros.
I have just finished reading the 8 and it has been adictive. It hapenned to me the same with The Da Vinci Code, so it´s not a competition between the 2 novels. Both of them are about the secrets that many of us want to know and seem lost or kept by secret logias, so they push you to read further about that. Pedro (Spain)
I’ve read the Eight at least four times. Each time i read it i find something else to enjoy about it. But what I liked most was the chance KN gave the reader to try to solve the clues along with Cat.
I also found myself casting what I dream will someday be a miniseries, every time I read it. One recurring character has gone from Ava Gardner-Liz Taylor- Lola Falana -Shirley MaClaine
One of my all time favorite books! Have read it several times and am currently about to read it again in order to enhance the pleasure of reading The Fire right after that.