Book Review — Requiem, Changing Times by R. J. Parker #YoungAdult #scific @RJParke90987826

Requiem, Changing Times

By R. J. Parker

Clint and Corbin are having a weird day. Best friends for life, things are getting a little strange around their town, and at school. When they're followed by a strange man looking for Clint and later attacked by an imp, it makes sense to retreat to the safety of home. But when strangers from another world, Banks and O'Neil, arrive with their medley of allies, things get even weirder. Why are they here? What do they want? And what is The Requiem that everyone keeps talking about? As Clint and his friends and family are drawn deeper into a thrilling adventure, only one thing is for sure. They may not be getting out alive. And class with Mrs Christenson will seem like a walk in the park after this.

"Have you ever had a bad idea that you dismiss at once because it was a terrible idea?" Corbin asked Clint. "Well this was one of those ideas that I should have dismissed."

Up until the moment a very intense stranger stopped them, the only thing Clint "Staeli" Holden and Corbin Jenkins had to fear was their teacher, Mrs Christenson, and principle Miller's office. Oh, and Amber — who every boy wanted to date apart from Clint who had the misfortune of catching Amber's eye. But then Clint's mother and step-father went on an unexpected cruise, and now Clint and Corbin are being chased by Furies, Orcs, and Imps. Not to mention that Clint's house has been taken over by members of the Salvation Alliance. If that were not bad enough, Clint and Corbin have yet to decide who they are going to take to their school's Halloween dance!

Whoever said seventh-grade was fun, was clearly out of their mind.

With an elegant turn of phrase and a narrative that is as enthralling as it is addictive, Requiem, Changing Times by R. J. Parker is, in all ways, a Young Adult, Science Fiction / Dystopian triumph.

With an impressive sweep and brilliance, Parker has penned a book that is filled to bursting with cliff-hanger tension and characters that a reader can get behind. The protagonists are fun, refreshing, and very relatable for their intended audience. The antagonists are cruelly evil, determined in their goal, and seemingly unstoppable. The plot is tautly gripping — the non-stop excitement and the witty one-liners made this book compulsively readable and laugh-out-loud funny. This book has it all and then some.

One cannot help but be bewitched by the cinematic quality of this story. There is an essence of Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes about this novel, especially in the opening chapters — Parker uses short sharp sentences to great effect. Likewise, the slowing down of the battle scenes by the use of long sentences enables the reader to experience the battles, rather than simply imagine. This approach to writing is incredibly hard to pull off, but Parker has seemingly mastered the art. Parker's innovative approach to his writing is refreshing, and it makes for a delightful read. This constant change in pace also makes a very long book seem somehow shorter.

This story is about two friends as their seemingly mundane life is torn asunder by the invasion of an alien mythological species which are determined to find the Requiem. The Requiem, an ancient relic, can either restore peace across the universe or cause chaos and suffering, so it mustn't fall into the wrong hands. Unfortunately for Clint, his name is somehow connected to the Requiem, and is, therefore, a target for those who want to use the Requiem for ill purposes. The friendship between Clint and Corbin is steadfast, and where one goes, the other is not far behind. Clint is the hero of this story — the invading army, is determined to kill him, but it was Corbin who really closed the deal on this book for me. Corbin is incredibly witty and provides much of the humour in this story, which for a dystopian novel is something that is, at times, desperately needed.

There are many mythical characters in this book — from the cold and wicked Spell Binder to the frightening Furies — that are determined to find the prize. Parker has crafted some genuinely frightful characters, whose intentions and vile threats are demonstrated through their actions rather than by long explanations. Like Clint, when his questions about these creatures are brushed aside and not answered, I felt frustrated. Clint is going into battle blind — he only knows that his life and that of his family and friends are in mortal danger, he really deserves to know whom he is fighting and why. However, the cleverly crafted use of word-building over the length of this novel conveys these monstrous characters in all their frightful depiction.

Clint also has to keep up a facade that nothing is going on — which seems to be a common theme in books such as this. The scenes at school are incredibly entertaining — especially as Clint desperately tries to hide from Amber, the prima-donna of his year. And his inability to form a sentence whenever Melanie, the girl he has feelings for, crosses his path is incredibly sweet. Clint may be trying to save the world, but he is a fumbling buffoon when it comes to romance!

Knights of the Salvation Alliance — Commander Banks and his second in command, O'Neil — are an alien species who are sent to earth to protect Clint and find the Requiem. These characters are introduced very early on in the story, and we are given a glimpse of the world in which these two inhabit. They are hardened warriors who are formidable opponents for the dangerous creatures who are now stalking the earth. I thought the portrayal of both Banks and O'Neil was sublime. Parker captured the very essence of these two characters remarkably well.

Fans of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson will find something endlessly fascinating about R. J. Parker's Requiem, Changing Times. I look forward to reading Book 2 of what promises to be a fabulous series.

I Highly Recommend.

Review by Mary Anne Yarde.

The Coffee Pot Book Club.

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Requiem, Changing Times

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R. J. Parker

Russell Parker was born in Bountiful, Utah. As his father was safety manager he had to move around until his senior year of high school, when he came to Cache Valley, Utah to stay. He married the most wonderful woman in the world and they are the parents of four fantastic kids, with one crazy dog. Russell played all kinds of sports and was an outdoors man until an accident brought him to writing. A writer since high school, encouragement brought his stories to life.

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Join Mercedes Rochelle, as she explores usury in Medieval England. Mercedes’ fabulous book — A King Under Siege — is Free on Amazon Kindle for a Limited Time #History #Medieval #HistFic @authorrochelle

Usury in Medieval England: 

Lending Money to the King

By Mercedes Rochelle

Detail from Death and the Miser by Hieronymus Bosch, National Gallery of Art, Source: Wikipedia.

It's pretty much a given that usury was considered a sin by almost all Christians; even Dante put usurers in the seventh circle of hell. However, the degrees of sinning and the exact definition of usury is debated to this day, so I am merely a novice dipping my big toe into the ocean of discourse. Nonetheless, I always wondered how people got away with it. After all, no one would take the risk of lending money without some sort of recompense, would they?

Since medieval Christians were forbidden to practice usury, it fell upon the Jews to engage in this unsavory profession—as long as they didn't lend to other Jews. After all, in England Jews were not allowed traditional trades; they were marginalized into socially inferior professions like tax or rent collection or money changing. Unfortunately for them, their practice made the Jewish moneylender the first victim whenever it was convenient for those in authority—or mobs—to rid themselves of their pesky creditors. Again and again we hear tales of their murder, arrest, torture, or expulsion, and I wonder how that behavior could possibly encourage the next generation to continue lending?

But in this article, I'm interested in how the crown got its loans. After all, war was an expensive business and the taxes approved by Parliament took months to collect—and they usually didn't cover all the bills. In fact, it is widely believed that Edward III was responsible for giving Parliament the idea that they could force their agenda on the king in exchange for the next round of taxes—first one, then the other. My research tells me that the money needed by the king was collected in advance, with the provision that the lenders would be paid off with the proceeds from the next tax collection, or sometimes "on the customs of the ports".

BL Add. 27695, f.8. Cocharelli of Genoa. Bankers in an Italian counting house in the 14th cent. Source: Wikipedia.

The first three Edwards borrowed money from Italian banking-houses, but they were notorious for not paying back their loans. At first, the bankers were motivated by profit, but soon they needed to keep lending money to ensure they didn't lose what they had already invested. The two largest bankers, the Peruzzi and the Bardi, collapsed in the 1340s, and most historians believe that Edward III's nonpayment of colossal loans was the main contributing factor.

Some of the wealthier magnates, bishops, merchants, or corporations were tapped again and again for royal loans. They were issued tallies by the king's commissioner that they could later redeem when the exchequer was solvent—in theory. It was more reliable to advance loans to be credited against their own future taxation. Coercion was not unheard of: according to K.B. McFarlane, a contemporary writer told us that in Henry V's day, "Italian merchants had been given a choice between lending and going to prison and had in some cases preferred prison".  (Richard II wasn't the only king guilty of "forced loans"! But that's another story.)

It's an outside possibility that people lent money to the crown out of the kindness of their hearts—expecting no return—anxious to serve their country. It's more likely that at the very least, the creditor stood to gain trading concessions or licenses, or some kind of preference. But the most convincing explanation of all, considering everyone wanted to skirt the illegality of usury, was that they were compensated, but in a way that made it difficult to prove. Fortunately, some evidence has survived that has enabled historians to track the clever devices used to conceal usury. For instance, in the case of royal tallies, they were often taken at a large discount: it was recorded that "one Robert Worsley, mercer of London, took two royal tallies for a total of £500 in settlement of a debt of £400 owed him by John, Duke of Bedford"¹. That's a pretty hefty markup!

The Usurers by Quentin Metsys, Galleria Doria Pamphilj (Rome) Source: Wikipedia.

Enter the word chevisance or chevance: essentially a form of disguised usury. This term was used regardless of the size of the loan. Contemporary literature is full of rebukes concerning this damnable practice, which they often referred to as bastard usury. To leave no trace, the sum recorded in the exchequer was the amount that was to be repaid, not what was loaned (the loan was known as mutuum). Often, the money that was loaned did not even go to the treasurer; he was only responsible for paying the debt and nothing more. Rarely was the documentation more precise than that. However, there was one incident that demonstrated how ruinous the rate could be. In 1376, the London merchant Richard Lyons was impeached with the charge that he took a 50% markup against the exchequer. It was said that he lent 20,000 marks and received back £20,000; a mark was 2/3 of a pound (not exactly 50%, but who knows?). John of Gaunt defended him, saying "that the rate was nothing out of the ordinary for a royal loan".² No wonder the exchequer was always broke! Cardinal Beaufort—one of the wealthiest men of his time—is said to have lent the crown an excess of £200,000 during his career (he survived well in to Henry VI's reign); there were times he was the only bulwark between the country and bankruptcy. It can only be assumed he didn't get rich on his benefices alone, and he was accordingly castigated by his detractors.

Although the official ban on usury wasn't lifted until the eighteenth century, in practice everyone pretty much looked the other way. After all, even the pope needed to borrow money. As long as it was for a good cause, usury could be rationalized...somehow.

References:

¹ McFarlane, K.B., Loans to the Lancastrian Kings, the Problem of Inducement, from England in the Fifteenth Century, Collected Essays, The Hambledon Press, 1981, p.72
² ibid, p.77

Read about life in the 14th century...

A KING UNDER SIEGE 

Book 1 of The Plantagenet Legacy

By Mercedes Rochelle

Richard II found himself under siege not once, but twice in his minority. Crowned king at age ten, he was only fourteen when the Peasants' Revolt terrorized London. But he proved himself every bit the Plantagenet successor, facing Wat Tyler and the rebels when all seemed lost. Alas, his triumph was short-lived, and for the next ten years he struggled to assert himself against his uncles and increasingly hostile nobles. Just like in the days of his great-grandfather Edward II, vengeful magnates strove to separate him from his friends and advisors, and even threatened to depose him if he refused to do their bidding. The Lords Appellant, as they came to be known, purged the royal household with the help of the Merciless Parliament. They murdered his closest allies, leaving the King alone and defenseless. He would never forget his humiliation at the hands of his subjects. Richard's inability to protect his adherents would haunt him for the rest of his life, and he vowed that next time, retribution would be his.

Pick up your copy of

A King Under Siege
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Mercedes Rochelle

Born in St. Louis MO with a degree from University of Missouri, Mercedes Rochelle learned about living history as a re-enactor and has been enamored with historical fiction ever since. A move to New York to do research and two careers ensued, but writing fiction remains her primary vocation. She lives in Sergeantsville, NJ with her husband in a log home they had built themselves.

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