Graveyard Dust

The great writing just keeps coming! Time travel back to one of the most interesting cities in a once in a lifetime Era and read yourself to another place far far away...lol...

I've been taking a break from the Benjamin January series after reading Fever Season a few years ago. It wasn't necessarily intentional, but I just never got around to picking up the next books.I finally rectified that by taking the next three out of the library recently. Graveyard Dust, the first of those, is another great book in the series. The plot is very intriguing, taking many twists and turns before coming to a resolution that is logical, even if you didn't see it coming.The writing is very dense. Hambly is not one for those light novels that you can breeze through, skipping whole passages because they don't have anything to do with anything. To get full value out of this book, you have to read everything. There were times I had to re-read passages to figure out where January came to one of his conclusions. It was there, I had just missed it.Hambly also handles atmosphere beautifully. So many passages of description set the mood of New Orleans. Some say that she does too much of it, but I love atmosphere in a novel. It can be overdone when written badly, but Hambly does it well here, never making it boring. She really sets the tone of the city, making it beautiful and horrible all at the same time. She doesn't shy away from anything. The society is so well-drawn, with all the relationships between various factions within the society. I haven't really talked about the mystery much. It is very intriguing, taking off in a couple directions that I didn't predict. The front cover is definitely true when it says "a novel of suspense." Who is trying to prevent Ben from finding out what really happened and clearing his sister from murder charges? Who really did it? And, ever-present in a novel about the south before the Civil War, will Ben be able to find anything out in a society where blacks are treated like chattel?I'm glad I decided to come back to this series. I love Hambly's fantasy stories, and I'm glad that she's got another two ready for publication next year, but I also treasure this series as well.

I have read and re-read Graveyard Dust and found it as entralling the second time as it was on the first reading. I was especially happy to see that Barbara Hambly has included all the characters that have become important in Benjamin Janvier's life and that they do not "disappear" with the completion of the previous novel. With each book, Barbara Hambly enriches the fabric of the life of Benjamin Janvier. She maintains the family relationships and a circle of friends that make you want to know more about this fascinating man of her creation.I was happy to see the relationship between Benjamin and Hannibal grow with the ease of witty remarks passed back and forth and to see the inclusion of Herr and Madame Mayerling, Rose Vitrac and Abishag Shaw. What makes Barbara Hambly's books so much better is her attention to details of the real world. One may look at a map of New Orleans and identify the streets named in the book. One may study history and see the names of real people woven into her story with consummate skill. You may scent the air, hear the clip-clop of horses hooves in the street, feel the humidity and see the afternoon light. You are immersed in the setting and have a sense that you could walk the streets where they once walked.Here, in Graveyard Dust, Barbara Hambly gives us a detailed view of the practice of voodoo with Hollywood glamourizing. It was, (and still is), much a part of the daily lives of the people of New Orleans. While Benjamin Janvier may not agree with his sister Olympe`'s praticing of voodoo, he will still risk all to clear the charges of conspiracy to murder and to bring his somewhat fragmented family back to a whole. He will look beyond the surface of what things appear to be and fight the contraints of "custom". While it may not be the focus of the book, I enjoyed the under underlying theme of bringing a family closer together, of getting to know each other again and of honor and loyalty to the diverse group of friends she has stitched together. Benjamin's patient, budding relationship with Rose makes a reader hopeful for them.Barbara Hambly's goal may be to entertain, but with this series of stories about Benjamin Janvier, I have found my self returned to a slower pace and educated about a landmark time in American history, a place where good manners and grammar were observed in public and the world didn't move at the speed of a telephone cable. Time to move over and retire Anne Rice, Barbara Hambly is the new reigning Queen of New Orleans.

I happened to pick up this third book about Ben January without having read the first two books or knowing the author. Ms. Hambley has a new fan in me! Her charachterizations drew me to the New Orleans of 1834 and kept me there through the last line of the book.

I have been reading Barbara Hambly's science fiction for years. When I saw that she had written a series of books based on a free man of color, as an African American I was skeptical of what her view would be. I have been pleasantly surprised. I could not put Fever Season down and anxiously waited for Graveyard Dust. Both books are meals which should be slowly savored, with new tastes and smells to entice the palate on every page. I think the characterizations are on the money, with Benjamin's mother an excellent case in point. I like Rose Vitrac the best, but I have known Dominique's and the rest of the crowd in my life, as well as Olympe's and Benjamin's. I think Olympe's character could be better developed but I'm sure this is something the author will work on.I suggest readers sit back and read slowly. The reward is great.

Being a fan of both mystery and history (as well as the science fiction genre), I have been reading the Benjamin January series from the very beginning - and enjoyed the historical atmosphere (and research...) as well as the charactors, personal dilema and odd mysteries that January has had to deal with. It has also been a pleasure to see the charactors develop more personality over last two books, as the author becomes more comfortable with the era and city she is bringing us into. January and his friends, family, and colleages (as well as his antagonists, historical and otherwise) seem to become more a part of New Orleans in the 1830's, and sometimes (especially in this latest)I can almost feel that if I were to go there and check the records of that time, I would find references to the Levesque house and the Corbier upholstry business alongside the records of Judge Canonge, Bras-Croupe (Cut-Arm), Marie Laveau and the other actual historical figures Ms. Hambly uses. Besides that, she always spins a good yarn, a little rough occasionally, but always human and enjoyable. And at least in this story, as we watch him recovering from the events in Fever Season, we see that poor Ben finally gets a *little* time to himself and his friends between dodging assassins and yellow fever while he helps to do the footwork the police can't due to "the custom of the country" and social restrictions. A pleasure to see, and makes him (and them) far more real.