Nov 28, 2012 01:48 PM
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Before I wrote this review I had to think twice, not because of laziness (well partly because of laziness) but because I had signed a binding contract (signed by blood! Well not exactly – ketchup worked equally good!) and had sworn to secrecy, hence I was afraid that The Terces Society might come and get me, but here I am and here is the review, so no harm no foul.
When I saw this book, the title intrigued me. It was different, as it wasn’t about the story. The back page showed the reluctance of the author to pen the book and suggesting us not to read it. Whether he is genuinely concerned or is playing with our curiosity, in my case he definitely killed the cat!
The Story
Cass and Max-Earnest are two newly recruited members of “The Terces Society”. They get their first mission of stopping the Midnight Sun (another secret society) from finding the homunculus (i.e. a man-made man). Because the grave of the creator of the homunculus contains the Secret (which is after all a Secret) for which the Midnight Sun will do anything to obtain it.
There are two main secret societies in this story – The Terces Society and the Midnight Sun.
The Terces Society – (Terces is Secret spelled backwards). There are many members in the society. But the author has changed their names for their protection. They are:
Cass : A die hard survivor who is ready to take up any challenge. Newly recruited. Has protected the secret from Midnight Sun earlier. Her main quality because of which she was chosen to be a member of Terces Society is she never gives up. Intelligent and smart thinker.
Max – Earnest : Cass’s Enthusiastic side kick, who wants to be a stand-up comedian, and tries to kill you with his PJ’s throughout the book. Always saves or mostly gets saved by Cass in sticky situations.
Pietro Burgamo : A magician suspected to be the leader of The Terces Society. Sworn to protect the secret from his mortal enemies including his deranged twin brother Dr. L
The Midnight Sun – A secret society that will stop at nothing to learn about the secret. There are only two well defined members in this society :
Dr.L : Twin of Burgamo, Suspected leader of Midnight Sun. Evil, merciless & sinful.
Miss Mauvais : (Mauvais in French means Ugly) Ironically a very beautiful woman, also suspected leader. Her beauty was superficial, but her gloves bore ugly things. Whenever she wore them, something bad happened.
Other than above, there is also :
Homunculus : To most people it is just a small man or dwarf, but to an alchemist the word has a very special meaning : A manmade man. In the middle ages and later many alchemists believe that if they could find the right ingredients, they could create a miniature human in a bottle. Many notorious alchemists even claimed to have succeeded. (Exact definition)
So, as we see, one alchemist, who calls himself Lord Pharaoh works for years and years and succeeded in making a homunculus. He ill-treated and tortured him so badly that one day it ran off and when alchemist found him the homunculus killed him. Then he dug up his grave, buried him and all his leftover experiments and research with him, assumingly also the secret.
I have read the whole book, but have no clue about the secret. There is one chapter which is supposed to tell us about it but according to the author he has lost that chapter! (Very Annoying).
About the author
Pseudomynous Bosch : First name is combination of Pseudo+Anonymous=False anonymity. According to Wikipedia his assumed real name is Rapheal Simon (disputed by author). The secret series is a pentalogy based on five senses : Sound, smell, touch, sight and taste.
My take
This book is nearly 400 pages thick. The font size is standard and is easy to read. The language is very fluid. It flows on and on and there are no boring or “not-required” paragraphs or chapters in the book, which makes the book completely irresistible. The language is easy to understand. It is easy to identify the characters. The cover page is very exciting and illustrations are done nicely by Abigail Brown. The chapters are numbered backwards, just the chapters and not the story. Author has given many footnotes to explain his intentions about the work, at times stirring our excitement and curiosity levels. In all the author has not only written a good thriller but also taken a lot of effort to create and keep the curiosity levels high in different ways. This book is very secretive and lures the reader by its negative perception. It triggers our curiosity and compels us to read the book. It is very interesting and worthwhile. But a buzz kill for those who want the secret to be revealed in the end. My recommendation for all the friends of my age, as it the language which I can relate at my age. Enjoy!
Happy Reading
MJ
