On the whole I like what I've read by J. Blaylock. In this case I'd be more likely to characterize my feelings on this book as "not disliking it".This is the third of the books usually grouped together as Blaylock's Christian books. This one has what I think is a "hook" or "basic idea" that would catch a lot of reader's interest. We're looking at a story built around the 30 pieces of silver payed to Judas to betray Jesus. These coins have been used by others as plot points and they are usually seen to carry a curse. Here it's in the "legend" that they can confer some kind of power...(though this could include a curse).Sounds interesting. I've found that (I'm a Christian pastor) that there are certain verses in the Bible that "grab reader's interest" even though they aren't basic to any teaching and the Bible doesn't go into detail about them. Note the interest so many have in Hell as a main point. No where did Jesus sit down and say, "this is what Hell is and what it's like." No He and the apostles simply referenced it. Or the verse that says Jesus preached to the souls in Hell... Read past that and anyone listening will completely lose interest in the rest of the passage. The same is true here. The Bible says nothing about these coins beyond the fact that Judas threw them back at the ones who'd paid him and that they used the money to buy a "potter's field" to be used as graves for criminals. That's it.But we humans build legends around "stuff"...same here.All that's okay, even good. The problem comes with the story telling and the characters. The story telling is (as I've said about other books) yawn worthy. I almost rambles along. There's a set up for our villain and he gives us a look at his plan...to (obviously) obtain the coins (the ones he doesn't have). The book goes on attempting some humor which "sort of works". Sadly it often comes across as a little more silly that I think it was meant.Then there's our protagonist. He is also a bit silly. Of course he's meant to be so, I didn't miss that. If he weren't there wouldn't be any growth, but it can actually be a little hard to read the guy who so often comes across as a bit of an idiot.So...okay but not what I was hoping for nor (I think) what it could have been.Decide for yourself. I think most will find it...okay...also.
Andrew and Rose Vanbergen have recently purchased a California inn which they are fixing up and getting ready for guests. They live in the inn along with aging Aunt Naomi, her numerous cats, and her companion, Mrs. Gummage. The Vanbergens have only one real guest so far — the mysterious Pepto-drinking Mr. Pennyman.Andrew has grand plans for the inn. Unfortunately, he’s also a bit of a slacker and he’s always managing to find excuses for doing anything but the actual work that needs to get done. While his good-natured and industrious wife is cleaning or sewing linens, he’s daydreaming about a gourmet kitchen and purchasing luxury items that aren’t really necessary. (He fancies himself an epicure).Andrew also tends to have crazy ideas that sometimes border on delusional. Sometimes he acts on these. He knows he’s being silly and that it upsets his wife, so he’s in the habit of .. Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
What do You think about The Last Coin (1996)?
Jules Pennyman is searching for the last of a set of thirty magical coins: the thirty pieces of silver Judas received to betray Jesus. Unbeknownst to himself, eccentric innkeeper and would-be restaurateur Andrew Vanbergen owns the last coin, which must be kept out of Pennyman's hands. I've loved Blaylock's first couple of books, The Elfin Ship and The Disappearing Dwarf, for many years; they're set in a fantasy world but show Blaylock's remarkable ability to intertwine the mundane and the fantastic. The Last Coin is even better at this: the book is set squarely on the California coast, peopled with seemingly ordinary people and animals, yet even the ordinary becomes the extraordinary. I'm also fond of Blaylock's oddball characters; Andrew especially is endearing in spite of (or maybe because of) his maddening vagaries and laziness.
—Margaret
One of my favorite books. The pacing is just right and the book is charming and funny. It's a contemporary fantasy -- not sure if the urban paranormal label fits it just right. Here is the Publisher's Weekly summary of the book:"In Blaylock's contemporary fantasy, the fate of the world falls into the hands of a daydreaming eccentric named Andrew Vanbergen. This quick-tempered Californian is muddling through the conversion of his rambling home into an inn and cafe when he unwittingly becomes one of the Caretakers who have kept the world safe for nearly two millennia. The danger is that someone like Andrew's mysterious guest Jules Pennyman will gather together Judas Iscariot's original 30 pieces of silver, thereby summoning up an apocalyptic magic. Against a lyric vision of the Southern California coast, cosmic conspiracy theories bump heads in a gleeful farce to produce another strange and wonderful book from the idiosyncratic author of Homunculus and Land of Dreams."It is just a delightful book.
—Asher Macdonald
