In truth I didn't manage to finish the book. However by 60% the way through all of my patience was worn out.

This is by far the worst book I have ever read.

It started off good with normal bram stoker Gothic flare. The ghosts were introduced far far earlier than I expected.

Then came Marjory... The Mary sue from hell.

At this point the book's plot grinds to a halt as the main characters just go full stupid.

Absolutely NOTHING Marjory does makes a bit of sense. She has the most inappropriate reactions to situations and has the depth of a single sheet of rice-paper.

The next part will be a synopses of the story up until I finally decided I had enough.









Marjorie introduction:
Her and her friend mrs james finds themselves stuck on a rock in the middle of rock while the tide is coming in and a nasty storm. The main hero, Archie Hunter, swims out and saves both girls by tying a rope to them and swimming back.

They go back to the inn to rest after their near death experience. The storm raging, wind howling ect ect. After maybe an hour mrs james falls asleep and Marjory decided she would like to take a stroll on the beach near where she was almost killed while the storm is still present.

The main character decides to spill the beans of whats been happening up to now to Marjory.
She was informed that: he has second sight, recently followed a bunch of ghosts while caring a dieing man, after seeing the dead man's ghost drops him into a well, and that several of the ghosts are guarding a treasure who took notice and acted menacingly towards him.

She takes this entirely too well. Her response was pretty much "oooooh treasure!? Where? We should go find it!"

At this point Archie goes full stupid:
On the second meeting he takes her to the well mentioned above so the can look around. The whole time walking to the well he is thinking to himself "I'm sure people have proposed and knew each other for a shorter period of time. It works out well for them right? oh heck I'm going to go for it!" He at this point proposes to her. She turns him down. (This is one of Marjorie's more sane moments.) He then goes back to tried to win his girls love with deciphering a cryptograph. Because the lades love those cryptographs.

Later a government agent, by the name of Sam Adams, informs Archie of who the girl he is stalking truly is. Apparently she is a heiress of the largest fortune in America, so large in fact she bought a battleship for the US on a whim and gave it to them so they could kill the Spanish. By the way shes very racist towards Spanish people. Her parents have also recently died so she is an orphan millionaire. (How convenient for the main character)

So Archie confronts her. She admits she left America to avoid all those awful love letters and people proposing. At the end of this conversation she proposes to Archie.
Apparently 2 days is too soon but 3 days is just right. Especially when you flee a country to avoid marriage >.
She also goes on about how she is independent but needs a man to make decisions for her and this makes her just like Joan of arc. I kid you not she compares herself to herself to THE Joan of arc.
She also claims that the secret service knows nothing because they are getting information from their supervisors, the only way to find out about international affairs is by consulting the hired help that mops your floors.

She manages to get stupider as it goes on.

It is then revealed that there is a plot by some Spanish people to kidnap her to hold her for ransom. When Archie explains this her reaction is "ooh what good fun. Tell me more, we can play a prank on them." When she realizes he is being serious and is worried she blows him off and then laments that she would be engaged to someone who would burden her with not getting herself killed. After this... for no good reason at all she throws herself at the hero and begs for sex. I guess the thought of being murdered and kidnapped turns her on.

Next day they marry and then try to keep everyone else from every knowing.

At this point I was so aghast at Marjory's behavior I started to wonder if this was a strange satire. I don't believe it is, the other characters take themselves so seriously and actually plan things out so it's hard to imagine it being a satire or parody. Marjory is the only one that acts completely out of place.

Marjory continues her crusade of being stupid. Once they survived the rising tide of the cave with a kiss I just decided I had enough.

I really can't believe bram stoker wrote this. This is so absolutely atrocious it's beyond belief. I may eventually try to finish it to see just how deep a whole it digs itself but for now I am done with this horrible book.
( )

What a page turner this is. Stoker, known for Dracula mostly, does not get the credit he deserves. This story, like his others are vastly different from Dracula. Stoker puts you head first down the path to some sort of supernatural ending all the while keeping your imagination at full tilt. The Mystery of the sea is politics, a love story, and a ghost story. Those are pretty good elements if you can dance around the politics, read between the lines and focus on the story. I could not turn the pages on this one fast enough. Every word was followed by some dreadful idea of what was going to happen. Kind of fizzled out. But a real brain tickler. ( )

I've read the other reviews and I agree with many of them that state that this book dragged a bit (particularly in the middle) and the ending wasn't the best ever, however in spite of this, I liked it. That's probably due to the fact that I really enjoy Bram Stoker's writing style. I've read just about every book he wrote and this one is near the bottom of the list, but it's still enjoyable if you're a fan of his and have a bit of patience. ( )

In truth I didn't manage to finish the book. However by 60% the way through all of my patience was worn out.

This is by far the worst book I have ever read.

It started off good with normal bram stoker Gothic flare. The ghosts were introduced far far earlier than I expected.

Then came Marjory... The Mary sue from hell.

At this point the book's plot grinds to a halt as the main characters just go full stupid.

Absolutely NOTHING Marjory does makes a bit of sense. She has the most inappropriate reactions to situations and has the depth of a single sheet of rice-paper.

The next part will be a synopses of the story up until I finally decided I had enough.









Marjorie introduction:
Her and her friend mrs james finds themselves stuck on a rock in the middle of rock while the tide is coming in and a nasty storm. The main hero, Archie Hunter, swims out and saves both girls by tying a rope to them and swimming back.

They go back to the inn to rest after their near death experience. The storm raging, wind howling ect ect. After maybe an hour mrs james falls asleep and Marjory decided she would like to take a stroll on the beach near where she was almost killed while the storm is still present.

The main character decides to spill the beans of whats been happening up to now to Marjory.
She was informed that: he has second sight, recently followed a bunch of ghosts while caring a dieing man, after seeing the dead man's ghost drops him into a well, and that several of the ghosts are guarding a treasure who took notice and acted menacingly towards him.

She takes this entirely too well. Her response was pretty much "oooooh treasure!? Where? We should go find it!"

At this point Archie goes full stupid:
On the second meeting he takes her to the well mentioned above so the can look around. The whole time walking to the well he is thinking to himself "I'm sure people have proposed and knew each other for a shorter period of time. It works out well for them right? oh heck I'm going to go for it!" He at this point proposes to her. She turns him down. (This is one of Marjorie's more sane moments.) He then goes back to tried to win his girls love with deciphering a cryptograph. Because the lades love those cryptographs.

Later a government agent, by the name of Sam Adams, informs Archie of who the girl he is stalking truly is. Apparently she is a heiress of the largest fortune in America, so large in fact she bought a battleship for the US on a whim and gave it to them so they could kill the Spanish. By the way shes very racist towards Spanish people. Her parents have also recently died so she is an orphan millionaire. (How convenient for the main character)

So Archie confronts her. She admits she left America to avoid all those awful love letters and people proposing. At the end of this conversation she proposes to Archie.
Apparently 2 days is too soon but 3 days is just right. Especially when you flee a country to avoid marriage >.
She also goes on about how she is independent but needs a man to make decisions for her and this makes her just like Joan of arc. I kid you not she compares herself to herself to THE Joan of arc.
She also claims that the secret service knows nothing because they are getting information from their supervisors, the only way to find out about international affairs is by consulting the hired help that mops your floors.

She manages to get stupider as it goes on.

It is then revealed that there is a plot by some Spanish people to kidnap her to hold her for ransom. When Archie explains this her reaction is "ooh what good fun. Tell me more, we can play a prank on them." When she realizes he is being serious and is worried she blows him off and then laments that she would be engaged to someone who would burden her with not getting herself killed. After this... for no good reason at all she throws herself at the hero and begs for sex. I guess the thought of being murdered and kidnapped turns her on.

Next day they marry and then try to keep everyone else from every knowing.

At this point I was so aghast at Marjory's behavior I started to wonder if this was a strange satire. I don't believe it is, the other characters take themselves so seriously and actually plan things out so it's hard to imagine it being a satire or parody. Marjory is the only one that acts completely out of place.

Marjory continues her crusade of being stupid. Once they survived the rising tide of the cave with a kiss I just decided I had enough.

I really can't believe bram stoker wrote this. This is so absolutely atrocious it's beyond belief. I may eventually try to finish it to see just how deep a whole it digs itself but for now I am done with this horrible book.
( )

Good old-fashioned adventure/gothic, marred by gratuitous racism at the end. ( )