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A Distant Magic (Guardians #3)
Mary Jo Putney’s passionate, vivid characters and captivating stories have earned enthusiastic acclaim from reviewers and readers everywhere. Now the New York Times bestselling author weaves a new tale in the Guardian series–a dazzling romantic fantasy that takes readers not only from the elegant streets of London to a dangerously tempting Mediterranean island but across t...more
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published
July 17th 2007
by Del Rey
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What an interesting and ambitious novel.
Mixing historical romance with magical fantasy, time travel with the story of the abolition of the slave trade, it's a complex tale that ignores genre boundaries and brings together the stories of two couples, African and European who use magic to support the growth of the abolition movement. The historical elements are handled well and most readers will learn something about the history of slavery - thankfully the subject is handled seriously and wi...more
Mixing historical romance with magical fantasy, time travel with the story of the abolition of the slave trade, it's a complex tale that ignores genre boundaries and brings together the stories of two couples, African and European who use magic to support the growth of the abolition movement. The historical elements are handled well and most readers will learn something about the history of slavery - thankfully the subject is handled seriously and wi...more
La Putney ha uno stile chiaro e scorrevole, ma questo secondo romanzo della saga dei Guardiani, ha confermato l'impressione del primo: uno storico "travestito" da paranormale, nel senso che su una trama di tipo storico l'autrice inserisce alcuni elementi paranormali per spostare il piano della narrazione, per es. in questo libro i due protagonisti seguono l'evoluzione del movimento abolizionista inglese da metà '700 fino al 1807 e l'elemento paranormale è dato solo dal fatto che i due ...more
** "A Distant Magic" sends Jean and Nikolai across time to key incidents when the fight against slavery needs their help. Mary Jo Putney clouds a ripping pirate kidnap yarn with factual clutter, attempting to fit in too much history. The couple are dynamite in balmy tropics and foggy London. Primitive physical voodoo spells contrast with calm aristocratic cerebral magic. Both characters stubbornly resist growing together, to finally combust sexually. I would probably read more Putney, ...more
Captain Nikolai Gregorio blames Jean Macrae's father for not rescuing him when he was kidnapped by pirates as a boy and sold as a slave. When he runs into Jean, he kidnaps her for revenge. However, Jean saves first his life and then those of his whole crew. He is in the process of releasing her when they get drawn into a quest to end slavery. The quest draws them forward in time and utilizes all their powers as mages.
This is a great paranormal romance with a good blend of historical fic...more
This is a great paranormal romance with a good blend of historical fic...more
Mary Jo Putney is one of my favorite romance novelists, and this is the 3rd book in her Guardians series, which puts a magical spin on historical events, although the 2nd book is more magical romance than history. Still, I picked this book up expecting a romance novel and was surprised to discover it's really more about the history of the abolitionist movement in Britain. The romance is a distant second to the main plot about traveling through time to safeguard key abolitionists & their growin...more
This book almost felt like two different books stuck together. The romance was in the first part, and the second part was a history of the British abolition movement with a little story mixed in. Some of Putney's books are my favorites in the whole world, but there are a few in which she forgets the story and commences to preaching. This is one of them. It's not a bad story. The beginning is very promising with the hero kidnapping the heroine to get revenge on her father. Even his initiation int...more
When I picked up this book I expected it to be a romance novel, and it was...kind of. It started okay, I got hooked really fast. There was quite a bit of action, and an element of fantasy (which I love), but half way through the book it turned into a distorted view of abolitionism in England complete with demons and time travel. I felt like it took a very important topic and turned it into something bizarre. Not a book I would recommend.
Couldn't even finish! Terrible characterization! Nikolai and Jean are one-dimensional and far-fetched. Dismisses a lifetime of hate in less than a week. How many times do I have to listen to Jean being described as "fragile-looking" yet she has so much untapped "power." WTF, who cares.
This is the third in a trilogy about the Guardians, and this time involves time travel, which I do notbelieve in, but was still vwry enjoyable. The hero and heroine, Jean and Nicholai get involved with fighting to have slavery abolished. Good book. Recommended.
Me Lin
rated it
I really enjoyed the first two Guardian novels and I fully expected to enjoy this one just as much. But the truth is, it was far too serious for my taste. The main characters take on slavery...a topic that is just far too "much" for a romantic novel. I loved Jean and Nicholai but would have enjoyed the book more if they hadn't time-traveled for abolition.
I did not like this book as much as the first two books in the Guardian trilogy. While they were essentially love stories with suspense elements in the plot, this is a thinly disguised preachy history lesson with romance elements in the plot.
The plot seemed contrived. The love story was lacking. I was disappointed as I have read her historical romances and loved them very much. The character development was lacking somewhat. It could have been better.
Not worth the time reading it. I liked the first two books in this series, and I like Jeanne as a character, but there was too much going on between time travel, slavery, and the romance
This was a lot different than other Putney books I've read. It gets off to a very fast and interesting start. The plot is about magic, and the characters put it to use to assist the abolition movement in Great Britain. It was pretty good, and the emphasis really wasn't on the romance angle.
It had a promising begining, but by the end of the book I was board to tears. I wanted to read a fun book, not a historical fiction.
I gave it 4 but it was closer to 3.5. I liked it for the most part but the author got bogged down in trying to do too much with the story.
Interesting look into the beginnings of the abolition of slavery - in a facinating time-travel-love-story tale. Totally enjoyable.
Got about two thirds through and stopped because I realized I didn't give a jot about what happened in the rest of the book.
I enjoyed this very much to bad it's the last in this series. I'll have to read more of her books.
part of the Guardian series, which I love, but this book was just so-so
guilty pleasure, romance isnt realy my genera, but Putney is engaging....
So far i can tell that this is a fiction novel. It is about love and hate and a little somin somin if you know what i mean. lol there is some gross things and some things i really dont understand. I think Mary Jo Putney is the best author for adult/teens. Try reading one of her novels. After I am done with this book, I am moving on to her other book A Kiss of Fate. All of her books look so good! The novel of the gardians is a very interesting one. Hopefully you check one of these books out. If y...more
Michelle Rahn
rated it
It is a very well spun tale that adds magic and the abolishionist movement. You learn something and feel things that you were not ready for.
Was interesting
Interesting blend of romance, fantasy, history and diatribe on slavery. I generally don't like historical romances, but have been reading the series because the author is doing a pretty good job of creating interesting characters and system of magic. Unlike some people who've reviewed this book, the secondary plots and characters didn't bother me, nor did the bits about slavery. The history lessons, however, left me cold and made it harder for me to keep an interest in the book.
Although I have not really gotten into this Guardian series, I have read them anyway because it's Mary Jo Putney. In this book, however, Ms. Putney has used the Guardian theme to write an in-depth and workable story about the history of abolition in England, skimming through time to hit the highlights without getting into the usual time-travel paradoxes, although she certainly mentions a few. I enjoyed this one more than the other two combined.
Lots of information regarding the horrors of slavery. The romance played second fiddle in this story. By the end I was kind of ready for it to be over.
I liked this and thought it was historically interesting. The inclusion of slavery and the abolitionist movement was compelling and accurate but the romance lacked something. The ah-ha moment (that moment when you "see" the characters fall for each other) wasn't there for me. I liked the two preceding books much better.
Mary Jo Putney wrote incredibly good romances. She writes fantasy that's "Meh" at best. Her magic systems are boring and awkwardly written, though the romance parts of these novels are still pretty good. I wish she'd give up the fantasy and go back to what she's good at!
I really enjoyed the character of Nikolai Gregorio. His raw power mixed with Jean Macrae's was a magical couple. The only problem being that it took them so long into the book to get together. The chemistry is awesome.
I thought the story was great...
I thought the story was great...
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She writes young adult fiction as M.J. Putney.
Mary Jo Putney was born in Upstate New York with a reading addiction, a condition for which there is no known cure. After earning degrees in English Literature and Industrial Design at Syracuse University, she did various forms of design work in California and England before inertia took over in Baltimore, Maryland, where she has lived ver...more
More about Mary Jo Putney...
Mary Jo Putney was born in Upstate New York with a reading addiction, a condition for which there is no known cure. After earning degrees in English Literature and Industrial Design at Syracuse University, she did various forms of design work in California and England before inertia took over in Baltimore, Maryland, where she has lived ver...more
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