Review: The Midnight of Eights by Justin Newland
Today, I'm delighted to welcome back author and broadcaster, Justin Newland. I'm sharing my review of his riveting new historical fantasy adventure, The Midnight of Eights. Have a look!
I previously reviewed the first book in this series, The Mark of the Salamander, which I highly recommended. Read my review HERE!
The Midnight of Eights is currently on blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club. Discover enticing excerpts, fascinating historical background articles, reviews, and more HERE!
The Midnight of Eights
The Island of Angels, Book #2
Justin Newland
Having read the first book in this 2-book series, The Mark of the Salamander, I was keen to see how Nelan Michaels’ journey continues.
Nelan has landed after a lenghty journey on The Golden Hind with Francis Drake. Paid handsomely for services rendered in exploring the New World, Nelan returns to London to find his love, Eleanor. All he wants now is marry her and settle down.
He previously fled after having been accused of murder, of which he was innocent, and he feels confident with the written pardon by Drake.
Sent to Queen Elizabeth I's spy master, Walsingham, with an important message from Drake, Nelan expects to be sent on his way afterwards, but the wily Walsingham has other plans for him when he hears about Nelan's latest vision, which reveals a Papist traitor. The lord blackmails him into service, and Nelan has no choice other to become the spy master's eyes and ears, seeking out Catholics amongst the population.
Frustrated that he's unable to find Eleanor – a secret message she left him was undecipherable – he tries to retrace her steps. Thereby, he receives help from a group of Gyptians.
Will Nelan find Eleanor for a happy-ever-after in the English countryside? Or are darker forces at work, trying to destroy their lives? What is the Midnight of Eights? And just how does he manage to influence the approaching threat of the Spanish Armada? Well, read the novel – and you'll be surprised!
The Midnight of Eights is a riveting Tudor adventure, looking deep into the dark shadows of everyday life in the reign of Elizabeth I. As with Elizabeth's predecessors, religious differences lead to secret plots, involving not only the troubled Mary Stuart, the queen's cousin, incarcerated until her execution in 1587, but also prominent members of the English nobility.
No one is safe from accusations, and life becomes precarious, as Nelan finds out in the course of the story, when danger arrives too close to home. Nelan's gift is much sought-after, and his accusation of murder hangs over him all the time, like a noose.
He must do Walsingham's bidding, or risk certain death.
Ambitions, jealousy, and religious and personal rivalries ensure that the story moves along at a thrilling pace. We sense Nelan's continuing frustration, and he is aware of the danger that follows him.
Nelan is a likeable character with the a special gift of vision. This makes him the prime target of powerful men, and as he grows into his own, he becomes more and more aware of the fact that those men will stop at nothing; not even fabricated accusations that endanger those close to him.
Machiavellian Walsingham was cleverly portrayed, I thought. A ruthless politician, his ambitions know no limits. (Geoffrey Rush's great performance in Elizabeth the movie springs to mind.) He doesn't shy away from using blackmail, false accusations, and even murder, to get what he wants.
The Midnight of Eights is a chilling reminder of what life under the Tudor queens and kings was really like, away from the fancy portrayal of life at court and the much-touted discoveries of new lands with untold riches.
The population was under constant observation; religious dissent was rife in the underground, leading to secret plots against enemies and monarchs alike; personal ambitions and betrayal by the nobility; and the fear of the population of defamation and often made-up accusations that could take anyone to the scaffold. The novel shows up this dark side extremely well.
You should read The Mark of the Salamander first, in order to understand Nelan's full journey. Whilst the author drops details of his past regularly in the second book, I would recommend to read both novels in sequence. Then you will be able to enjoy The Midnight of Eights even more.
Highly recommended.
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Blurb:
1580.
Nelan Michaels docks at Plymouth after sailing around the world aboard the Golden Hind. He seeks only to master his mystical powers – the mark of the salamander, that mysterious spirit of fire – and reunite with his beloved Eleanor.After delivering a message to Francis Walsingham, he’s recruited into the service of the Queen’s spymaster, where his astral abilities help him to predict and thwart future plots against the realm.
But in 1588, the Spanish Armada threatens England’s shores.
So how could the fledgling navy of a small, misty isle on the edge of mainland Europe repulse the greatest fleet in the world?
Was the Queen right when she claimed it was divine intervention, saying, ‘He blew with His winds, and they were scattered!’?
Or was it an entirely different intervention – the extraordinary conjunction of coincidences that Nelan’s astral powers brought to bear on that fateful Midnight of Eights?
Author, speaker and broadcaster Justin Newland writes novels that blend thrilling historical adventure with elements of crime, magical realism, speculative fiction and supernatural quality.
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About the Author:
Justin Newland
Justin Newland’s novels represent an innovative blend of genres from historical adventure to supernatural thriller and magical realism.
Undeterred by the award of a Maths Doctorate, he conceived his debut novel, The Genes of Isis (ISBN 9781789014860, Matador, 2018), an epic fantasy set under Ancient Egyptian skies.
His second book, The Old Dragon’s Head (ISBN 9781789015829, Matador, 2018), and is set in Ming Dynasty China in the shadows of the Great Wall.
Set during the Great Enlightenment, The Coronation (ISBN 9781838591885, Matador, 2019) speculates on the genesis of the most important event in the modern world – the Industrial Revolution.
The Abdication (ISBN 9781800463950, Matador, 2021) is a mystery thriller in which a young woman confronts her faith in a higher purpose and what it means to abdicate that faith.
The Mark of the Salamander (ISBN 9781915853271, Book Guild, 2023), is the first in a two-book series, The Island of Angels. Set in the Elizabethan era, it tells the epic tale of England’s coming of age.
The latest is The Midnight of Eights (ISBN 9781835740 330, Book Guild, 2024), the second in The Island of Angels series, which charts the uncanny coincidences of time and tide that culminated in the repulse of the Spanish Armada.
His work in progress is The Spirit of the Times which explores the events of the 14th Century featuring an unlikely cast of the Silk Road, Genghis Khan, the Black Plague, and a nursery rhyme that begins ‘Ring a-ring a-roses’.
Author, speaker and broadcaster, Justin gives talks to historical associations and libraries, appears on LitFest panels, and enjoys giving radio interviews. He lives with his partner in plain sight of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England.
Connect with Justin:
Website • Twitter • Facebook • LinkedIn • Instagram
Amazon Author Page • BookBub • Goodreads
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