Valerie Ogden

This is a story about a dog that is rescued in a War zone, the dog is believed to have stepped on a landmine. It's a sad story, Apollo goes through a lot of neglect, The story is being told by Apollo, I liked the story, but, I had to read it with out thinking about the fact that Apollo was the one telling the story, because that part didn't make since, A Dog could never think about some of the things he thought about throughout the story, I am a Dog lover and I was so sad for Apollo, all he wanted was a Family, someone to talk to him and love him, I was so hoping for a different ending of the story. All in all, I think the Idea in the story was very good, you just have to get past the fact that Apollo is telling it. I was given this book to read and give an honest Review, Through Library Thing. I am so happy to be a part of the early Reviewers Team… (mehr)

I was given this book in exchange to honest review through LibraryThing member giveaways.

I really wanted to like this book, I really did. Potentiallyh there are so many things I like such as the dog (my favourite breed nonetheless!), the true story, journey, the message. And yet I didn't enjoy it.
The story is told by the dog, as how he saw it. It probably would work... if the story wouldn't end up being bunch of details of politics, history, culture and whatnot - things that dogs unlikely to know, understand or have a slightest interest to. To a point that it didn't even look believable.
Also, comparing post-sugery cone, boots and other protective gear worn by the animal to a knight's armor and feeling of being part of Spanish inquisition... Really?
I'll stop here because I still appreciate the general message of it, the intention behind it, the people who devote their lifes to helping dogs and other animals, as this, making ther life better and get them out of their misery.
Maybe, if all those rather odd looking details (through the dog's eyes) of politics and history were so necessary, the story should have been narrated by the third person instead?..… (mehr)

Bluebeard is a famous 15th Century psychopath that I only heard of through a fairy tale. The man actually existed and he was much worse than the Brothers Grime tale. Bluebeard, a.k.a Baron Gilles de Rais lost his parents when he was only 11. His grandfather, a rather unscrupulous man, made himself custodian of Gilles and his younger brother and all the property that they owned, which was quite considerable. Gilles was raised as the epitome of the rich spoiled and entitled brat. He was a bit of a bully and the only person who could tell him no was his grandfather, and that was fairly rare. Gilles excelled at arms training and it came to serve him well.

So after Gilles grandfather died and he became Baron, he went and spent time in the French court begging the Dauphine to let him lead an assault against invaders. He got his chance when a little waif peasant girl showed up in court claiming she was sent by angels to lead French troops into battle and win against the English. He became a Hero fighting alongside Joan de Arc. But after her trial and sentence, Gilles spirals into madness. He spends several years brutally raping, torturing, murdering and mutilating children. Mostly young boys, but girls as well.

The books is meant to be a historical look at Gilles de Rais, and an attempt was made to make it a story. It certainly read much better than a history book, but it was a long way from a nice well told story. It jumped around a lot, as if the author was telling you the story, not a nice narrative well thought out in advance. It could get a little irritating when she was just getting on a role and we jump to another scene with no immediate connection. It wasn’t until near the end when Gilles was facing the court before we really started learning what depraved acts them man had committed. But for all that, I still learned A LOT about France at the time of the 100 years war, the atrocities committed on all sides and I found it very interesting. I just think the author could have done a little better job putting it all together.… (mehr)