Review of The Forbidden Man
Posted: 04 Jan 2022, 12:21
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Forbidden Man" by Gerald R Knight.]
The Forbidden Man:The Legends of Lainjin by Gerald R Knight is a fascinating story written in the third person narrative.
Our heroe Lainjin must leave his comfortable existence with his twin grandfathers and venture into sea and the unknown in an ambitious quest to find a mother that he never had a chance to know beyond remembering "her smell"(page 19 paragraph 1)
He must use his intellect,strength and sheer determination to overcome insurmountable challenges along the way including uncooperative ocean tides,finding fresh water to drink,a language barrier to communicate and find clues and guidance from the natives that he encounters as he seeks to unravel his mother's story.
The Forbidden Man takes you on an adventure with Lainjin across dangerous waters as he uses his wit,skill and adaptability to sustain himself,make friendships with all sorts of people along the way while doing his best not to get sidetracked from his mission by his ever present weakness in the feminine form.
The narrative is quite engaging on occasions,l found Knight's Lainjin's relationship with his translator and friend Ewalt to be very warm if not charming,often bringing an enjoyable touch to the story,as when Ewalt educates Lainjin on the rules of trade
"Its simple.Just meet your commitments...also remember this one rule of trading:no recast!Once you agree on a trade,that's it...keep that in mind and you will have no problem.He and i have the problem "(page 142 chapter 3)
Nonetheless,l found the story itself to be unnecessarily long,the need to keep looking up footnotes and the glossary to explain the liberal use of hard to pronounce non English names and words with hyphens 'Lobwilnawa' 'the Lojkaan' 'Nahn Samohl' 'idedh' 'the Kajokwa' a bit overwhelming.
Some characters in the story appeared to be underdeveloped for instance the twin grandfathers of Lainjin introduced earlier in the story lack any real depth and connection to our heroe,considering their role in raising and inspiring Lainjin,we could have gotten more character than the few echoes of advice from them in the Dialogue(paragraph 13)
' "Expect an unpredictable ocean current.."this from one of the pair who had taught his famous mother to navigate'
'"Expect thirst!" he heard one grandfather advise'
Both grandfathers are sadly nameless throughout the story.
I found reasons not to like the story
A character bemoans the unjust treatment of menstruating women telling Lainjin,himself a man "they think we are witches who will pollute them when we bleed...told day after day that everything down there is poison"(page 485 paragraph 4) inserted perhaps merely to keep the reader's waning interest,in the same vein a woman employed by the protagonist's love interest of the moment is made to suffer the humiliation of cleaning up(literally)after her employer and Lainjin have enjoyed intimacy(page 378)only putting up a half hearted protest about it.
Sexual episodes are abundant here,
particularly in the earlier parts of the book,l was left feeling the intermissions in between were strategically placed to offer the reader a break before our heroe's next sexual encounter.l recommend it to a mature audience and for these reasons i give the book 2 out of 4 stars
Likely fans of tribal islands and sea voyages may find intrigue,the story is very long,i felt the 916 pages would have benefited from trimming without significantly harming the story
******
The Forbidden Man
View: on Bookshelves
The Forbidden Man:The Legends of Lainjin by Gerald R Knight is a fascinating story written in the third person narrative.
Our heroe Lainjin must leave his comfortable existence with his twin grandfathers and venture into sea and the unknown in an ambitious quest to find a mother that he never had a chance to know beyond remembering "her smell"(page 19 paragraph 1)
He must use his intellect,strength and sheer determination to overcome insurmountable challenges along the way including uncooperative ocean tides,finding fresh water to drink,a language barrier to communicate and find clues and guidance from the natives that he encounters as he seeks to unravel his mother's story.
The Forbidden Man takes you on an adventure with Lainjin across dangerous waters as he uses his wit,skill and adaptability to sustain himself,make friendships with all sorts of people along the way while doing his best not to get sidetracked from his mission by his ever present weakness in the feminine form.
The narrative is quite engaging on occasions,l found Knight's Lainjin's relationship with his translator and friend Ewalt to be very warm if not charming,often bringing an enjoyable touch to the story,as when Ewalt educates Lainjin on the rules of trade
"Its simple.Just meet your commitments...also remember this one rule of trading:no recast!Once you agree on a trade,that's it...keep that in mind and you will have no problem.He and i have the problem "(page 142 chapter 3)
Nonetheless,l found the story itself to be unnecessarily long,the need to keep looking up footnotes and the glossary to explain the liberal use of hard to pronounce non English names and words with hyphens 'Lobwilnawa' 'the Lojkaan' 'Nahn Samohl' 'idedh' 'the Kajokwa' a bit overwhelming.
Some characters in the story appeared to be underdeveloped for instance the twin grandfathers of Lainjin introduced earlier in the story lack any real depth and connection to our heroe,considering their role in raising and inspiring Lainjin,we could have gotten more character than the few echoes of advice from them in the Dialogue(paragraph 13)
' "Expect an unpredictable ocean current.."this from one of the pair who had taught his famous mother to navigate'
'"Expect thirst!" he heard one grandfather advise'
Both grandfathers are sadly nameless throughout the story.
I found reasons not to like the story
A character bemoans the unjust treatment of menstruating women telling Lainjin,himself a man "they think we are witches who will pollute them when we bleed...told day after day that everything down there is poison"(page 485 paragraph 4) inserted perhaps merely to keep the reader's waning interest,in the same vein a woman employed by the protagonist's love interest of the moment is made to suffer the humiliation of cleaning up(literally)after her employer and Lainjin have enjoyed intimacy(page 378)only putting up a half hearted protest about it.
Sexual episodes are abundant here,
particularly in the earlier parts of the book,l was left feeling the intermissions in between were strategically placed to offer the reader a break before our heroe's next sexual encounter.l recommend it to a mature audience and for these reasons i give the book 2 out of 4 stars
Likely fans of tribal islands and sea voyages may find intrigue,the story is very long,i felt the 916 pages would have benefited from trimming without significantly harming the story
******
The Forbidden Man
View: on Bookshelves