The Jewel of Seven Stars

 

It's time to get literary since just last night I finished The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker, who is of course most famous for his 1897 novel Dracula. The Jewel of Seven Stars, was written in 1903 with a revised edition published in 1912.

The version I found free and legal on Project Gutenberg is the 1912 edition, which apparently is missing a pointless chapter and has a happier ending than the 1903 version. Otherwise the editions are the same.

Mild Spoilers ahead.

In a nutshell the hero, Malcolm Ross is summoned by a young woman, Margaret, who he is sweet on as her father Abel Trelawney, a famous Egyptologist has been attacked by a mysterious assailant in the middle of the night. Mr. Trelawney is in a trance and has left very strange instructions for what to do in just such a case.

Other characters like the young Doctor Winchester are pulled in to the mystery as they try to understand what has happened while struggling with unseen forces. This is the first part of the book.

In the second part, Mr. Trelawney and his associate Eugene Corbeck explain how they found the tomb of the sorcerer queen Tera and how the whole sequence of events came to be.

In the third, the small group of main characters go to a small house in Cornwall to investigate whether Queen Tera's knowledge of mystic powers are truly real.

Mild Spoilers end.

The whole novel was a bit tough to read, as the language and grammar is very old school. A modern editor would probably have a fit trying to get the sentence structure to make sense. Quote; No one, not accustomed to packing, could have the slightest idea of the amount of the amount of work involved in such a task”. I did get used to it after a while, but it is a bit rough.

That said, part one is in my opinion very good. The mystery is interesting and is what I'd say the only part of the book that could be classified as horror. The story moved along at a good pace.

Part two is interesting but a bit slow. A lot of talking, exposition and flashbacks with nothing really happening. Still captivating enough, especially if you have an interest in Egyptology. Since Howard Carter, the man who found the tomb of Tutankhamen also discovered the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut in 1903, it is likely that Stoker was inspired by these events. I myself have a love for the subject matter, which helped me with part two of the book.

It is however in part three that the book falls apart. Once the group gets to the house in Cornwall, I had a devil of a time following the narrative. Again we get a lot of talking, arguing and explanations of things we already know. I also had a hard time with locations. Mr. Trelawney shows the group a cave under the house and I got the impression they want to hold a ceremony there, but then all of a sudden they hold the ceremony in a room in the house. The actual ending was anti-climactic and felt incredibly rushed, as if Stoker had half an hour to finish the story and simply ended it.

The Jewel of Seven Stars is a gothic novel with its supernatural elements coupled with romance and mystery. I liked it, and would recommend it to fans of such literature. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to a casual reader just looking for something to read. It's good but not great.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week. Stay safe!