Review: Lord of the Far Island by Victoria Holt

Ellen Kellaway has lived her whole life through the charity of others and her aunt never lets her forget it.  Her mother is dead and she hasn't seen her father since she was a baby.  Ellen is spunky, smart, and talkative, so when she realizes that she's going to be forced to be a governess, she feels like her freedom is running out.  Then as luck would have it, she finds a way out through marriage to a wealthy young man she has known all her life.  However, Ellen starts to feel doubtful about her choice in a husband.  Then Ellen gets a letter from her father's family.  They want her to come live with them on a remote island off of England's coast.  Ellen jumps at the chance.  Once there though, she can't shake the feeling that something terrible is going to happen.  Someone wants her dead, but who?

While I enjoyed the first Victoria Holt novel I read, The Bride of Pendorric, I really enjoyed Lord of the Far Island.  I got into the story right away and read it quickly.  I felt that the relationship that Ellen developes in this book is so much more believable than Favel's relationship with Roc.  She knows the man for a while and can really develope feelings for him.  It feels more real.  The story was a bit predictable and ran a bit like the Pendorric book, but the development of the relationship as well as the main character herself made the story so much better.  This story, and even its ending, seemed so much more natural.  I also prefered Ellen over Favel.  She is more likeable.  She doesn't just fall in love with the first man who swoons over her.  Ellen is intelligent, witty, and opinionated, and likes it to be known.  She is very adventurous and can stand on her own two feet.  My kind of gal if you know what I mean.  I liked Favel in the Pendorric book, but she got on my nerves at times because of her dependence on her husband.

I loved the characters and the setting.  Holt is able to mesh a scary gothic-esque setting with a beautiful setting.  Ellen loves the house and the island because of its beauty but it can also seem foreboding at times because of its isolation.  The characters were extremely well written.  Slack was my personal favorite.  The villagers call him "dumb", but he is so kind and actually very smart.  He is brilliant with birds and soon becomes a close friend of Ellen.  Holt makes certain characters suspicious to both Ellen and the reader because of subtle little details.  The way a person responds to a question or comment, or certain circumstances that are hinted at before something bad happens, makes you start suspecting characters that you thought were good.  Unlike the Pendorric book, I had no idea in Lord of the Far Island what was going on or who was up to no good.  Bride of Pendorric was suspenseful, but this book was even more so. 

I definitely recommend this book.  If you read the Pendorric book and weren't super fond of it, you should read Lord of the Far Island.  It can be predictable if you've read the other one, but not so predictable that you can't enjoy it and guess what's going to happen. 

And now some favorite quotes to showcase Victoria Holt's fabulous writing:
Page 40: I tried not to think about it, but my habit of thrusting aside the unpleasant and deluding myself into the belief that it would never happen was not quite so successful as usual.
Page 156: When a house has stood for seven hundred years much must have happened within its walls.  If those stones could speak what tales they would have to tell!  And in houses such as this there would have been gaiety and sorrow, comedy and tragedy.  I have the feeling sometimes that these emotions have been captured and held within stone walls and that there are times when they cannot keep them secret.

Title: Lord of the Far Island
Author: Victoria Holt
Date of Publication: 1975 (original)
Number of Pages: 336
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Romance
Source: Personal Copy

Review: Bride of Pendorric by Victoria Holt

Bride of Pendorric is one of those classic romantic suspense novels that my mom and grandma read years ago and loved.  I love these kinds of books.  I really, really do.  More for the entertainment value that the writing.  These books to me are very comforting, much in the same way I love and reread Jamaica Inn by Daphne DuMaurier whenever I need a no-brainer read and am in a downer mood. 

This is the story of Favel, an English girl who has spent her life (except for some years in school) on an island near Italy.  Her father is an artist.  Her mother died a few years ago and Favel has taken her place ever since.  The family isn't doing well financially.  The a handsome, mysterious man comes to the island and takes an interest not only in her father's artwork, but in Favel herself.  Soon, they are married.  Right before Roc Pendorric and Favel are to leave for Cornwall, English, where the family estate is located, Favel's father dies.  She is devastated, and a little bit nervous about the weird events surrounding his death.  When Favel arrives at Pendorric, she is met by an eccentric but loving family.  Soon though, weird things start happening.  Is the story about the Pendorric ghost true?  And if so, is she the next Pendorric bride to fall victim to the famly curse?  As her new husband becomes more and more distant and creepier things start to happen, Favel realizes that her life is in danger.  Someone is trying to kill her, and not a ghost. 

For pure entertainment value this book is pretty awesome.  It had me captivated through most of it, though in the beginning I was really annoyed with how quickly Favel was swept off her feet and suddenly in love with Roc.  While it's nice to daydream about, I don't really like the whol idea of falling in love as soon as you set eyes on someone and marrying them.  Because seriously, you don't know them.  Heck I've been with Boyfriend for 4 years now and I can't fathom marrying him yet.  So that part of it was kind of annoying, but the rest was great.  The writing was pretty good too.  The descriptions of the Pendorric estate and the moors were beautiful and really thorough.  I could easily imagine all the locations in this story because of Holt's descriptions.

As for the story itself, it was a lot of fun to guess who the ghost really is.  I thought for a long time that is was one certain person (who I shall not name because I don't want to give things away), and then I thought, "hmm, maybe it's this other person.."  And then all of a sudden it all came together, and I knew who it was before Favel did and I was like, "Favel!  This person is trying to kill you!!". It was intense towards the end, let me tell you.

I do wish that I had been warned about the twin stuff in the book.  I have a twin sis and I try not to read anything where one twin is dead.  However, this book actually is an exception to that rule because of the great way that they were portrayed.  The living sister was so sentimental about her dead twin and for some reason because of it I felt okay with it. 

Despite a few flaws (or maybe just my feminist beliefs on relationships and marriage, lol), I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the other book I have by Victoria Holt soon.  I had a few qualms with the very end of the story, but if I explain them, I'll give a lot away.  If you want to chat about it, I'm on Twitter ;)



Title: Bride of Pendorric
Author: Victoria Holt
Date of Publication: 1963 (original)
Number of Pages: 336
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Romance
Source: Personal Copy