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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » The Kingdom of Ohio

The Kingdom of Ohio

1 rating: 3.0

A book by Matthew Flaming

Flaming's debut mixes time travel, historical grit and an alternate history of the American frontier in a romance with a fantastic bent. A contemporary antiques dealer, after coming across an old photo, unspools the story of Peter Force, newly arrived … see full wiki

Tags: Books

Author: Matthew Flaming

Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam

1 review about The Kingdom of Ohio

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Very strange book

Oct 29, 2009

by frankiethek
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

Rating:

It's quite difficult to catagorize this book: is it a love story, a mystery, a thriller, or a science fiction work? At times it is all of these, and that's what makes it so confusing for the average reader.

We begin with an old man finding a photograph taken a century before, and it leads him to do research and write the background to the taking of that photo. Along the way, many famous names are tossed at us, such as Nicola Testa, Thomas Edison, and J. P. Morgan, but they are only bit players, and often it's difficult to discern their purpose in the book. The building of the subway system in New York is also part of the book, and initially the author appears to indicate that there is something ominous about the work, but never really comes up with anything that supports that approach.

Too many unusual things happen, such as soldiers in 1894 using muskets instead of rifles (are we in an alternate world? who knows), and the demeanor of the main protagonist and a mysterious woman don't seem to mesh with what's going on around them.

Finally, the ending appeared to be very contrived and unbelieveable. Don't get me wrong, the book isn't half bad, but it needs more grounding to make it truly interesting to read.

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