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Ashes to Ashes: The Dragon's Flame (Blackstone Chronicles, Part 3)
by John Saul
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Fawcett (1997-03-02)
ISBN: 0449227863
EAN: 9780449227862
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Mass Market Paperback: 86 pages
Edition: 1st
Release Date: 1997-03-02
SKU: 9586
Condition: Very Good
Comments: Binding: Softcover. Condition: Very Good.
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Customer Reviews
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A Lighter Touch
Rating  (3)
Date: 2006-07-24
Part three of this serial novel concerns the Ward family. Andrea, the black sheep of the family, returns to her home broke and pregnant. Her religious aunt decides to put the baby up for adoption after its birth. Andrea's cousin buys her a cigarette lighter in the shape of a dragon's head from a flea market. The lighter had been the instrument by which an inmate at the asylum systematically burned herself to death. Now Andrea tries the very same stunt and almost burns down the house. Andrea does die from the burns she sustained.
Now her aunt has the lighter and she has decided to purify everything by setting the family on fire. Well, aunt and mansion are consumed in the flame but the niece manages to escape.
Now we must wait another month to find out what happens next. The series is interesting in that a month goes by between parts, both in the story and in the real world. So stay tuned and find out what happens with a certain handkerchief next month.
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"You have to stop it before it kills us all."
Rating  (4)
Date: 2006-01-08
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
The citizens of Blackstone, N.H., do not realize that a "dark figure" has returned to the old Blackstone Asylum, long closed, and has found the trove of personal articles once belonging to the inmates. With a need to wreak vengeance on certain people in the town, he starts giving out some of these old objects, then watches as people's lives are changed forever, each "gift" leading to a tale of horror. This is the third volume in the Saul's Blackstone Chronicles, and the "dark figure" is about to bestow the third object.
(No spoilers.) Rebecca Morrison, a young woman who has suffered minor brain damage after a terrible accident, is living with her aunt, Martha Ward, a religious fanatic. When Martha's alienated daughter Andrea returns home to live, pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend, Rebecca unwittingly sets in motion the events which the "dark figure" has planned. While on a trip to the local Flea Market with Oliver Metcalf, editor of the local newspaper, Rebecca finds and buys a gold cigarette lighter with red eyes, the "perfect present" for her cousin Andrea, a present which changes all their lives.
In this volume, Rebecca comes closer to being a real character than are the main characters of Saul's previous novels, allowing the reader to empathize with her, to some extent. Her friend Oliver Metcalf, who ties together all the novels, also grows as the reader gains additional knowledge of him and the town and begins to feel as if real people, rather than cardboard cutouts, inhabit this community. The Gothic horror continues, with the kind of over-the-top melodrama and clichéd action that makes horror novels fun to read--entertaining, rather than terrifying.
Here the religious fanaticism of Aunt Martha Ward and her ultimate fate begin to suggest that Saul will further develop this series into a confrontation between God and the devil, rather than simply an accumulation of gory horror stories. The story moves quickly when the dragon-lighter is introduced into the lives of the characters, and the author offers broader hints than usual about the reasons that a particular character has been chosen as a gift recipient. n Mary Whipple
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Different yet the Same
Rating (4)
Date: 2000-06-25
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Once again, the basic plot line in "The Dragon's Flame" is almost identical to the first two installments. The main character is Rebecca, a quiet, friendly young woman who lives her strict aunt. When Rebecca's rebellious cousin comes home, chaos mounts. This extremely dysfunctional family makes the story very interesting, and difficult to put down.
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Very good
Rating (4)
Date: 2000-06-07
3 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have read the entire installment of the Blackstone chronicles but this one stands out the most. Sweet simple minded Rebecca is pleased when her cousin has decided to return to live with her fanatical mother. A well-meaning Rebecca buys her a fancy lighter at a flea market, but like the other objects from the Asylum it carries a deadly curse. The whole series pulls you and gets you involved it is reminiscent of the old series Friday the 13th, definately one you won't want to miss
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Slightly better
Rating  (2)
Date: 1997-08-05
2 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is EXACTLY the same as the first two parts, but centers on one of the more interesting characters (like another reader already stated), Rebecca, and is therefore a little bit more readable. The structure of this serial reminded me of the early works of James Herbert (SPOILER AHEAD!): Someone gets introduced - and killed off. After that, someone gets introduced... - you get the point
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