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Sanctuary #4
Waterloo Sunset
Tehv, the son of the assassinated king, has survived a potentially fatal car crash and is determined more than ever to foil the political plans of his relatives and control his own life. For a start, he wants to find a real job and marry someone he likes. It won't be easy. Tehv's Little Mother is suspected of poisoning girls she disapproves of and the country is facing an economic meltdown. An exiled uncle has taken control of a large section of a neighboring country, but promises that he won't try to bomb them again. Tehv's occasionally reliable cousin, Prince Bahd, has problems of his own but insists on helping him in his pursuit of happiness. In this fourth and final book of the Sanctuary series, the cousins investigate the death of a young woman, cross international borders to rescue family members, and try to convince the women they love not to annoy them, but not to leave them either.
1033 pages, ebook
First published November 30, 2011
4 people want to read
About the author
P.J. O'Brien
4 books72 followersO'Brien, a somewhat optimistic rurally-raised resident of a northeastern US city infamous for its gritty hopelessness, is primarily a reader.
She was challenged to write a genre-bending mystery after losing an argument with ducks about the inevitability of violence. She dreamed up a country founded upon the ideals of fairness and peace, and then added characters that had to abide by the framework of their culture. They were given the traditional provocations to fighting (e.g. limited resources, invasions, religious & ideological differences) as well as some natural horrors that plague people. The characters were allowed to evolve on their own and respond to crises as they saw fit. They had only to be true to their culture, retain essential elements of modern humanity, and be charming when not dealing with threats that could potentially end the world as they knew it.
After four books, they felt they had fully addressed the most essential questions of suffering, violence, love, and happiness, and still retain their sense of humor. And did they? That’s for you and the ducks to decide. The author has turned back to reading, which is what she’s happiest doing.
You can find the books at any digital bookstore that supports the standard epub format, e.g. Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Nobles, Smashwords, etc. (You can download a free 70% excerpt of each book from Smashwords.) Because of some philosophical differences with 'Zon, they're not sold via Kindle but they could be read on one if gotten from booksellers that offer a compatible mobi format version.
She was challenged to write a genre-bending mystery after losing an argument with ducks about the inevitability of violence. She dreamed up a country founded upon the ideals of fairness and peace, and then added characters that had to abide by the framework of their culture. They were given the traditional provocations to fighting (e.g. limited resources, invasions, religious & ideological differences) as well as some natural horrors that plague people. The characters were allowed to evolve on their own and respond to crises as they saw fit. They had only to be true to their culture, retain essential elements of modern humanity, and be charming when not dealing with threats that could potentially end the world as they knew it.
After four books, they felt they had fully addressed the most essential questions of suffering, violence, love, and happiness, and still retain their sense of humor. And did they? That’s for you and the ducks to decide. The author has turned back to reading, which is what she’s happiest doing.
You can find the books at any digital bookstore that supports the standard epub format, e.g. Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Nobles, Smashwords, etc. (You can download a free 70% excerpt of each book from Smashwords.) Because of some philosophical differences with 'Zon, they're not sold via Kindle but they could be read on one if gotten from booksellers that offer a compatible mobi format version.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 5, 2024
A fitting conclusion to the Sanctuary saga. There are two main plot lines in this book. First, the incredible complications of getting married and forming a House in accordance with Sanctuary's laws and customs. A whole group of young people struggles to get it done and then to get along with one another. Parallel to this is a civil war in the country on the southern border, with hostile inputs from countries on either side. Things are complicated by the fact that a couple of players in the southern country's situation are related to Sanctuary's Royals. A host of new characters is introduced. The life stories of some of them are related in detail, which I found sometimes took me away from what was happening to characters I already knew. Sometimes a gripping situation is presented, but the next chapter jumps away in space or time, leaving the resolution to be figured out by the reader from passing references to it later.
Unlike the preceding three books, this one contains a fair bit of sex. Not many sex scenes as such, and not graphic or obscene, but definitely frank discussions, including details about the rather grim lives of sex workers in the country undergoing the civil war.
Ultimately, the book stitches together momentous events and highly personal ones into a narrative that held my interest to the end. I now say a fond farewell to Sanctuary and its people, and imagine their lives continuing into the second and third decades of this century.
Unlike the preceding three books, this one contains a fair bit of sex. Not many sex scenes as such, and not graphic or obscene, but definitely frank discussions, including details about the rather grim lives of sex workers in the country undergoing the civil war.
Ultimately, the book stitches together momentous events and highly personal ones into a narrative that held my interest to the end. I now say a fond farewell to Sanctuary and its people, and imagine their lives continuing into the second and third decades of this century.
March 16, 2019
The four-volume Sanctuary series really is one of the huggiest "page-huggers" I've ever read; firmly in that class of books that one could take when retiring to a desert island with a limited suitcase.
After finishing Waterloo Sunset, I'm more than ever convinced that the Sanctuary tetralogy is a single towering novel that has been conveniently chopped into four hefty pieces. At approximately 1.9 million words, if published on paper the whole novel would probably require more than eight physical volumes to be handled comfortably. It's certainly in the heavyweight class in terms of sheer size.
I won't recapitulate any of the story-line here—the book is too vast and sweeping in scope. You can read the blurb for each of the volumes to get a sense of the events.
Somewhere in the four volumes, the work contains some of just about every ingredient you could think of. The story follows the lives and interactions of a huge cast over a time period from the early 1980s through 2009. This involves every topic from massacres and wars to love polygons, mythology, comparative religion, mysticism, and lively philosophical discussions of all sorts. The world-building is very complex, very human, and very "real" in all the senses for which we look to literature.
Full disclosure: At this point, having been on the journey through Sanctuary since January 2014, I do know the author personally, so I'm probably what you'd call a slightly biased reviewer. I obtained a copy of this work directly from the source.
After finishing Waterloo Sunset, I'm more than ever convinced that the Sanctuary tetralogy is a single towering novel that has been conveniently chopped into four hefty pieces. At approximately 1.9 million words, if published on paper the whole novel would probably require more than eight physical volumes to be handled comfortably. It's certainly in the heavyweight class in terms of sheer size.
I won't recapitulate any of the story-line here—the book is too vast and sweeping in scope. You can read the blurb for each of the volumes to get a sense of the events.
Somewhere in the four volumes, the work contains some of just about every ingredient you could think of. The story follows the lives and interactions of a huge cast over a time period from the early 1980s through 2009. This involves every topic from massacres and wars to love polygons, mythology, comparative religion, mysticism, and lively philosophical discussions of all sorts. The world-building is very complex, very human, and very "real" in all the senses for which we look to literature.
Full disclosure: At this point, having been on the journey through Sanctuary since January 2014, I do know the author personally, so I'm probably what you'd call a slightly biased reviewer. I obtained a copy of this work directly from the source.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews