Journey to the Flame

by Richard Monaco

In the days before the Great War, forces of light clashed against the dark order of Thule in a war of shadows.Darkness covered the land, and the kingdom fell into the annals of time.Inspired by H. Rider Haggard’s novel SHE , Richard Monaco weaves a tale of a young aviator who rediscovers the lost kingdom that belonged to the mystic and immortal goddess Ayesha.He and the beautiful goddess must defend her home and its secrets from evil men, whose ideas would help found the Nazi regime.The world may not know it, but the war has begun, and it is coming for us all.A unique merger of historical fact and imaginative fiction, Richard Monaco’s Journey to the Flame is a gripping historical fantasy adventure.“Captivating…” – Associated Press“Epic scope…” – Los Angeles Sunday Times“Monaco’s dialogue and meditations are often salty and fresh … a restless, strenuous rumination on civilization’s death and resurrection…” – Kirkus Reviews“Worth waiting for. Often bawdy and raw…” – Publishers Weekly“Monaco recreates the taste, touch, smell and sound of the knightly world in reality, not romance … he succeeds brilliantly…” – Library Journal“Monaco presents dark, tormented tales … not for the weak-hearted.” – Fantasy Newsletter“an instant classic.” – Salisbury Times“… unbelievably talented … a literary miracle…” – Drogin Book Column“… offers a worthy inclusion in the enduring and ever-expanding Arthurian literature.” – King Features SyndicateRichard Monaco wrote the best-selling Parsival novels, 1977-2012, two of which were Pulitzer finalists. In addition he wrote over a dozen other books, plays, and screenplays. Monaco studied musical composition at Columbia, edited a national student newspaper and a poetry magazine, and had a radio talk show based on his textbook The Logic of Poetry. In 1979 he co-founded a NYC literary agency and the online journal, Grand Central Review, in 2015.

Genres: Fantasy

264 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1985

About the author

Born in NYC, Monaco studied musical composition at Columbia University, helped create a national student newspaper, The University Review and had many works performed in concert; wrote screenplays for Warner Brothers, other studios and independents; reviewed film and books; hosted a talk radio show for five years on WNYC/FM; taught and lectured at various colleges including Columbia, NYU, and Mercy College; had plays produced in various venues off-Broadway; published poetry in anthologies and periodicals. He has published ten novels and several works of non-fiction including a poetry textbook. Two of his novels, Parsival, or a Knight's Tale and The Final Quest, were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in literature. He is planning to soon release Dead Blossoms, a ninja detective adventure set in 16th century Japan and re-release the previous Parsival books.

Reviews

[John Purvis · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Journey to the Flame” eBook was published in 2016 (original paper edition published in 1985) and was written by Richard Monaco. Mr. Monaco has published 9 books.

I received an free copy of this novel through Amazon while it was being promoted by the publisher. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Situations. The story takes place at the beginning of World War I. The primary character is American pilot Woody Shea.

Shea, his uncle and a few others get involved with an adventure to Africa in search of the lost city of Kor and King Soloman’s mines. It is a race between the British with Shea, and German agents.

As they get closer to the fabled Kor, most of the party begins to be affected. They are possessed from time to time by personalities from an early age.

So I suffered through 7.5 hours to finish this 261 page Fantasy Adventure. I say suffered because I thought the story was chaotic and difficult to read. I liked the overall plot, but the constant switching of personalities, and philosophizing made enjoying the novel difficult. The cover art is OK, but I think it could have been more closely tied to the story. I give this novel a 2.5 (rounded up to a 3) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

[Gregg Chamberlain · Rating 2 out of 5]

A low rating for this book, even if it is by an award-winning literary author. The book takes the premise that H. Rider Haggard's classic novel, She, and its sequels, may not have been just works of fiction but actual, and accidental, descriptions of an existing lost civilization, complete to the near-immortal Ayesha. Using Haggard as an actual character in the novel, Monaco then mixes in pre-Nazi era Thule Society conspirators seeking The Flame as the realization of their own twisted prophecies of social superiority based on ancient superscience and sorcery. In the end, the book is rather pedestrian reading, with too much overwritten, and often confusing "dream" imagery; the characters are not well developed, and while She makes an appearance towards the end, it is just for the one chapter, and the epilogue conclusion is both unsatisfying and feels tacked on at best.

[AndrewP · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I was looking this one up I remembered I bought this book because of it's cover! Nice cover, not so nice story.