An Excellent Mystery

This is the 11th in the Cadfael series by Ellis Peters. The title, An Excellent Mystery, is actually very appropriate.

This book is set at a point in the 12th century civil war in England when the city of Winchester is burned. Two monks from an abbey that was destroyed there make their way to the abbey at Shrewsbury where Brother Cadfael lives. One is a former crusader who is gradually dying from wounds he got in battle; the other is much younger and mute and cares for the elder.

The former crusader was engaged to a young girl from near Shrewsbury, but because of his wounds, he releases her and becomes Br. Humilis. She apparently goes off to a nunnery, but it is discovered as the book goes on that she never got there and may have been murdered. This possible murder is (at least the main) mystery in the book.

Leaving out details so as not to ruin the book for future readers, there is a storm and Br. Humilis is drowned on the River Severn after a lighting strike knocks a tree into the boat he is in at the time. His mute caregiver, Br. Fidelis, is presumed lost and dead from this accident. As the story moves on, the missing girl is found and returns to her home. There is a surprise ending rolled into all this.

There are some subplots as well to keep things interesting. One might seem a little shocking to some actually, but it seems to turn out OK in the end.

The book really held my interest. I really wanted to see how this one came out. It did seem that Cadfael was less involved here than might be expected, but the story was still a very good one.

If you would like to read an excellent mystery, give this one a try.

Mansions of the Soul

This book is by the late H. Spencer Lewis, once head of the Rosicrucian Order (AMORC). The title probably derives from a comment by Jesus regarding the "many mansions" in the Kingdom.

Overall, I liked the book. In it, Mr. Lewis attempted to explain reincarnation (and major ramifications) and using logical argument in large part, to support its existence. I think he was successful in many respects, even though his logical development did have a few holes in spots, and he may be slightly faulted for being a bit too "wordy" at the start.

Perhaps to set Western readers at ease (realize that this book was written in about 1930), he presents evidence early on that the concept of reincarnation was at least not an alien one to Jews at the time of Christ. One major feature of his argument in support of reincarnation is simple justice seems to require it, in the sense that getting only one chance to get things right seems, if nothing else, very unfair. Lewis also takes up "practical" topics such as the nature and origin of the soul (and Oversoul), what happens at transition (death), between lives and around birth, how Karma fits in and others - how he knows these things is unclear, however.

Interested readers may also want to see his related book entitled (as I recall), A Thousand Years of Yesterdays.

The Players of Null-A

This book is the second in the Null-A series by A. E. van Vogt.

In my opinion, it was a very good book and much better than the first. The present book had a tighter storyline than the first and came to a more "satisfying" conclusion - one that explained a lot and only left the reader hanging a little. The technology and "special effects" in this second book do not seem "outdated" and "quaint" as in the first and should be more "believable" for readers of the present time - the book was written in the 1940's. There is better explanation of General Semantics/Null-A in this book as well, including information on the "pause"; readers don't have to take quite so much about it on faith (so to speak) as they might have to if all they knew was as given in the first book.

I have read that the third book in the series was written much later and was inconsistent with the previous ones and not well liked. It has been said that maybe van Vogt was already ill when he wrote it. There is "another" third book in the series, Null-A Continuum I think it is called, written by someone else that follows the first two better apparently - this is the one I plan to go to next.

Not to give too much away, but in this the second book, a very shadowy character called the Follower appears and creates havoc. Gosseyn's mind is shuttled back and forth without his consent between his body and that of a Prince Ashargin who is closely connected to Enro - the latter mentioned in the first book as the head of a great interstellar empire. We meet the race of the Predictors. Gosseyn discovers new abilities like prediction of the future and hones others. On Enro's home world, there is a strange religion involving the Sleeping God which plays a very important part in the book as revealed towards the end - this is tied up with the origin of humans in the galaxy no less! Crang and Patricia from the first book reappear.

If you liked the first book, you should really like this one. If you didn't care for the first, you may still find this one worthwhile. It seems to be out of print, but used copies are available. Give it a try.