time travel

As a long-time fan of Linda Howard and an avid reader, I consider "Son of the Morning" to be one of the best books I've ever read. In fact, I've reread the book numerous times for the simple pleasure of enjoying a truly great story.

"Son of the Morning" crosses a number of romance genre boundary lines in a single story to give the reader a little of everything. The time-travel segments are utterly unique (as well as potentially hazardous <g>). The suspense is edge-of-your-seat category typical of Ms. Howard work. The paranormal elements (dare I say, character?) are surprising and unlike any I've read. The historic settings and events are well researched, highly informative and richly illustrated. It's here we meet the main male protagonist, Black Niall, a larger-than-life character and former Templar who's not your typical hero.

In the contemporary setting, Ms. Howard's main female character, Grace St. John, a rather unassuming academic, must run from and continuously evade the bad guys while learning how to live "on the lam" after her husband and brother are murdered. Some of her best lessons come from a street-wise bad boy and a former prostitute who teach her how to "disappear", how to get a false ID and great tips on how to protect herself from attackers (I took notes here).

Howard's characters are so richly characterized they live in your mind and become real. I found myself rooting for the good guys, hoping the bad guys meet a very ugly end, and was surprised by a few. And I'm very hard to surprise. The romance between the main protagonists grabs your heart and you pray they'll find a way to be together forever. And finally, you just wish the book didn't have to end...or there would be a true sequel.

I hadn"t read a Linda Howard for ages, since Sarah's Child, but Son of the Morning was well worth the wait. The plot was great and the character development (mainly Grace's but even, to a certain extent Niall"s was wonderful. Grace shows us how a housewife come academic can survive on the run to outwit her pursuers. The book did make me a bit worried about the possibility of manipulating ATMs though.

LH did borrow a few ideas - mainlt, I think, from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Iris Johansen"s The Lion King but neither were as sexy and as informative as Son of the Morning . And the manipulation of the Time travel theme creating a sort of circle in time was also great (even though the Hitler idea which crops up in the end seems a bit of an afterthought). One thing which this book has left me with is a hunger to know more about the Knight Templars. I'm Maltese and have heard a lot about hte Knights of St. John (a.k.a. the Knights of Malta) but I have to admit that I used to believe that the Knights Templar was just another name for the Knights of Malta

I liked this book because it had both romance, adventure, suspense... a kind of female Indiana Jones. The problem, in my humble opinion, resides in the fact the LH spent too long on the introduction and Graces' escape. Only about 1/4 of the book is dedicated to romance with Niall.