http://www.bloggernews.net/116516 High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:51:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 http://www.bloggernews.net/116516#comment-685946 joel tibbetts Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:40:54 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/116516#comment-685946 I am not sure if you want replies to your review or to the book. I have looked here and there for a chance to respond to PALACE COUNCIL and find only noisy though it seems superficial praise. I just finished the novel a few minutes ago. Reading it was an ordeal. I had thoroughly enjoyed EMPEROR and moderately enjoyed WHITE but PALACE leaves me wondering why I bothered. Mr. Carter doesn't toy with history; he trivializes history on behalf of his plot and fills it with unremarkable characters who interact with real people and we are the poorer for the contrast. Perhaps the least memorable is Eddie, the protagonist, who takes up so much space. But weirder than all the other inventions is Lanning Frost, a nonexistent candidate for president in 1976 who provides the fulcrum for the plot. I guess it's pointless to disagree with the majority of reviews. I persevered to read PALACE only because I kept hoping something would happen, but it never really did. I am not sure if you want replies to your review or to the book. I have looked here and there for a chance to respond to PALACE COUNCIL and find only noisy though it seems superficial praise. I just finished the novel a few minutes ago. Reading it was an ordeal. I had thoroughly enjoyed EMPEROR and moderately enjoyed WHITE but PALACE leaves me wondering why I bothered. Mr. Carter doesn’t toy with history; he trivializes history on behalf of his plot and fills it with unremarkable characters who interact with real people and we are the poorer for the contrast. Perhaps the least memorable is Eddie, the protagonist, who takes up so much space. But weirder than all the other inventions is Lanning Frost, a nonexistent candidate for president in 1976 who provides the fulcrum for the plot. I guess it’s pointless to disagree with the majority of reviews. I persevered to read PALACE only because I kept hoping something would happen, but it never really did.

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