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Lara, Canto II.XXV (end):
“Her eye shot forth with all living fire
That haunts the tigress in her helpless ire;
But left to waste her weary moments there
Such as the busy brain of sorrow paints
And woos to listen to her fond complaints”

Kaled was Lara’s page. Hiding her femininity beneath a turban, following the man she loved into battle, remaining by his side even to her own death. He never knew.

Gulpepper Curios(end):
Okay, I recently got into a 1970s Brit series called Thriller.
That’s where I am with this story in particular. Same flavor, weird vibe, and unshakable sense of “oh Lord that smarts”❣️❣️❣️

Love how Follett deliberately keeps the language simple. The people…characters…live in the time before Stonehenge was established. Simple people. Care given to the language used.

“So I have a problem with creepy, dead, poisonous things. So sue me.” — Harry Dresden

Excerpt From
Storm Front, end of Chapter 4, By Jim Butcher

I read a couple of Dresden Files books way-way back and decided I needed that nostalgic revisit. It’s the quaint, predictable, and giggly-grasping of the books that make them fun to read.

Lara, Canto I.XIII:
“One hope survives, the frontier is not far,
And thence they may escape from native war;
And bear within them to the neighboring state
An exile’s sorrows, or an outlaw’s hate:
Hard is the task their father-land to quit,
But harder still to perish or submit.”

Yes, Count Lara has gone to war against Otho, over a misconception, a mere confusion, an error in judgement.

Gulpepper Curios (cont): that little bit made me shudder

Love books that make me smile just two chapters in.

“Glad for a while to heave unconscious breath,
Yet wake to wrestle with the dread of death “
— Lara, Canto I.XXIX

Count Lara faces a difficult rest only to face Ezzelin’s insults and accusations in the morning.

Gulpepper Curios (cont):
More details about The Gulp, like how it’s laid out and names of specific locations, ingeniously and kindly introduced. Still getting that Goosebumps vibe I had with the original set of The Gulp stories but a bit of Rod Serling creeping around the edges of this new book.

Finally, Follett tackles Stonehenge

Lara, Canto I.XVIII:
“His madness was not of the head, but heart”

“…“mysterious things and stuff not so easily explained”
Excerpt From The Fall, “Gulpepper Curios”
By Alan Baxter

His own words so appropriately describe the story so far.

The trap is laid, but who falls into it? Who pays the highest price? So far I’ve enjoyed this book, with few issues or complaints. Waiting to see how Lauren Bear bring it to its close.

And finally we get a view into who Rhea’s twins are.
The war-like Remus and Romulus the planner.

The Corsair, Canto III.XXIV (end):
“He left a Corsair’s name to other times,
Link’d with one virtue, and a thousand crimes.’

Poignantly simple poetry. That is Byron’s gift.

Rock Fisher: another one that gives me the creeps like those old Goosebumps stories☠️🤢😳

A murderer undone!

Lovely transitions, bringing Numitor back into the circle as mentor for Ezio, Antho’s son, as Rhea seeks out her father Numitor for a last time.

The Corsair, Canto III.XI:
“Her hurrying hand had left—‘t was but a spot—
It’s hue was all he saw, and scarce withstood—
Oh! slight but certain pledge of crime—‘t is blood!”

Gulnare has done the deed as promised. How will Conrad respond?

48 To Go (end):
Best so far! Love the connect-the-dots play that Alan Baxter created. Can’t wait to see how the final story ties in.

“Dash it all, Poirot, have you got something up your sleeve, or haven’t you?”
— a frustrated Weston knows that Poirot’s on a different scent

Chapter 11 and that’s as much as Agatha Christie will give Weston or us. Oh, and a picnic.🥰

“Be fearless in your kindness,” she instructed him. “And keep asking questions.”
— Antho’s words to her young son as she leaves to face her father’s wrath

Excerpt From
Mother of Rome, Chapter LII
Lauren J. A. Bear

“She press’d his fetter’d fingers to her heart,
And bow’d her head, and turn’d to depart.
And noiseless as a lovely dream is gone.
And was she here? and is he now alone?”

The Corsair, Canto II.XV
Conrad wonders if the visit and promise made by Gulnare was all part of a raving dream.

48 To Go (cont): I do wonder how Alan Baxter sleeps at night.

“Will you trust me, my child, to do the best I can for you in your bitter troubles?”
— Poirot to young Linda Marshall, Chapter 10

I’ve read enough Poirot mysteries now to know that he really has a unique way of reading young people.

“The mirage faded; he fell out of the dream and back into the din of war.”
— about Leandros, another wonderful character woven into being by Bear’s craft

Excerpt From
Mother of Rome, Chapter L
Lauren J. A. Bear

The Corsair, Canto II.VI:
“Till the blade glimmers in the grasp of death,”

The trick to infiltrate Seyd’s palace worked and now Conrad seeks vengeance on Seyd, but first what to do with the lovely Gulnare.

48 To Go (cont): Guinea pigs whistle? Who knew?