I just read the Betrayal a few months ago, and am hoping to read The Outcast over Sukkos.
One question: The Betrayal ended like there would be a sequel. Does The Outcast have a firmer ending or do we need to wait a few years for the next 500-page installment?
Soo let's just say that I know the publisher very very well. I myself caught a handful of mistakes and I sent them along to the publisher. Believe it or not, they do appreciate us "eagle-eyed" folks pointing these errors out to them and they get fixed in the next printing.
let me know if you rmbr any and I'll pass them along. you'll be doing future readers a big favor.
anyone know if there is another book in the series in Hebrew?
I just read the Betrayal a few months ago, and am hoping to read The Outcast over Sukkos.
One question: The Betrayal ended like there would be a sequel. Does The Outcast have a firmer ending or do we need to wait a few years for the next 500-page installment?
The Betrayal does have more of a sense of "finality" to it, but in no way is the story over. I am wondering if M. Kenan wrote another book yet.
Oh, boy. DH bought The Betrayal last year, and I never got myself in the mood of reading it. It looked so complicated and uninteresting for some reason. I guess now I'll have something good to read over Succos. (And I am suvh a bookworm, I usually don't leave anything unread. WHo'd have thought I'd misjudge so badly...)
Oh, boy. DH bought The Betrayal last year, and I never got myself in the mood of reading it. It looked so complicated and uninteresting for some reason. I guess now I'll have something good to read over Succos. (And I am suvh a bookworm, I usually don't leave anything unread. WHo'd have thought I'd misjudge so badly...)
These books are a little complicated; you can't just skim through them, you must read carefully and pay attention to details and the unusual names in order not to miss something, but that is very worthwhile doing.
I just finished the Outcast and now plan to reread both.
Oh, boy. DH bought The Betrayal last year, and I never got myself in the mood of reading it. It looked so complicated and uninteresting for some reason. I guess now I'll have something good to read over Succos. (And I am suvh a bookworm, I usually don't leave anything unread. WHo'd have thought I'd misjudge so badly...)
These books are a little complicated; you can't just skim through them, you must read carefully and pay attention to details and the unusual names in order not to miss something, but that is very worthwhile doing.
I just finished the Outcast and now plan to reread both.
Maybe that's why I didn't read it. He bought it Pesach time when I was too tired to see straight, never mind think and pay attention.
It depends what you call "prevail"
The book continues 5 years after the first one ends where in the interim the land of the kingdom and the sovereignty is split between the two kings. You see that Istrak has grown tremendously and commands a lot of respect, but this book also leaves us without resolution to the entire crisis, though the threads are all there ready to be tied up in a 3rd book (I hope she doesn't just leave it like this to our imagination) with Istrak and the "True Kazar" as it is called in this book victorious.
The translator for both books is Libby Lazewnik. I found the translation of The Betrayal to be very smooth, not at all stiff. But the number of characters and complexities of plot are daunting. B"H there's a character list to help keep the players straight.
I also found a few typos and grammatical errors, but since I wasn't in a position to correct it, I just glanced over it so I don't remember where they are (and to go through 780 pages to find it is a lot of work! lol).
I'm in the middle of the first book now, and I thought it was funny that they translated distance and weight to lbs and feet. That's not a very commonly used measurement anywhere, and I doubt they measured that way back then either. I guess it was more for the reader's comprehension. But then why in the second book does it use khazar weight measurements?
I am on page 100.. not finding it so interesting actually. I so wanted to love this book like you guys. I have read many giant books and did not find them hard to follow at all..it seems like with this one every few pages there are more characters added it's so confusing (yes I know about the list of characters at the beginning) and also makes it difficult to get invested into any characters when there are sooo many, with their own stories. I will keep reading..but I did put it down and read a different book all in one night. So please tell me it picks up and gets much much better!?
I am very much looking forward to this, though I'm a bit fuzzy on the first book, it's been a while since I read it and I wasn't 100% keeping track of everyone after a point. I wish there would have been a section with some historical info, like what was true, what wasn't.
I finished The Outcast over Sukkos. Really excellent writing. Worth rereading -- my copy was borrowed; I'll have to purchase one.
As far as it being historical fiction, let's just say that it's a lot more fiction than historical. The Khazar kingdom setting is more of a jumping off point than anything else. I especially enjoyed how the author was able to weave mussardik themes into the plot without being overbearing, and also that
Hidden:
she was willing to kill off "good guy" characters, which is uncommon in frum novels.
edited to create a spoiler alert. I don't really think it's necessary but PinkFridge does and I respect her opinion.
Last edited by Rubber Ducky on Tue, Oct 01 2013, 8:35 am; edited 1 time in total
I finished The Outcast over Sukkos. Really excellent writing. Worth rereading -- my copy was borrowed; I'll have to purchase one.
As far as it being historical fiction, let's just say that it's a lot more fiction than historical. The Khazar kingdom setting is more of a jumping off point than anything else. I especially enjoyed how the author was able to weave mussardik themes into the plot without being overbearing, and also that
I snipped your quote. This doesn't warrant a spoiler alert, does it?
ETA: I'm flattered.
Last edited by PinkFridge on Tue, Oct 01 2013, 5:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
I finished The Outcast over Sukkos. Really excellent writing. Worth rereading -- my copy was borrowed; I'll have to purchase one.
As far as it being historical fiction, let's just say that it's a lot more fiction than historical. The Khazar kingdom setting is more of a jumping off point than anything else. I especially enjoyed how the author was able to weave mussardik themes into the plot without being overbearing, and also that
Hidden:
she was willing to kill off "good guy" characters, which is uncommon in frum novels.
edited to create a spoiler alert. I don't really think it's necessary but PinkFridge does and I respect her opinion.
It was necessary. Now I wanna know who it was. I'm 3/4 through.
I bought both books duting Artscroll's Chanukah sale, from www.lehmanns.co.uk. (They have free shipping across Europe. Both books arrived the next day.)
I was going to keep them till I have my baby, in Adar, but seeing that I have absolutely no self control, I read The Betrayal over last Shabbos (my kids were NOT pleased with me). Then I started reading The Outcast on Sunday night and ended up staying up till 6am Monday morning to finish it. (My body and brain were REALLY NOT pleased with me - but it was such a pleasure to read something from start to finish without anyone interupting me!)
Anyway, suffice to say, I really enjoyed both of them.
There are a lot of characters, and while the first book lists all the characters and how they are all related, the second book only lists the most prominant ones, leaving me to wonder if the others were killed off sometime between the two books. (They weren't).
The only things that really annoyed me, was
1. The names. Why the does the author use Jewish names half the time and then make up the rest of the names? I don't read names properly if I don't recognize them and it made it really hard for me to remember who everyone is.
2. Each chapter switches between 3 or 4 scenes, which makes it really hard to follow the individual storylines.
The author must be planning a sequel; there is a lot of unfinished business at the end of The Outcast. Does anyone know if another book has come out in Hebrew yet?
