The Chamber of Ten is an interesting combination of historical thriller and supernatural horror. Easily, the basic idea could have been plucked from any number of Dan Brown-clones, but the addition of magical elements at the story’s earliest stages create a more substantial and original work.
American archaeologist Geena Hodge works in the slowly sinking city of Venice, racing against time and tides to save the city’s vast untold history. In The Chamber of Ten Hodge’s chore is to reveal the lost library of Renaissance humanist Petrarch. However, when the team of experts led by Hodge probes a subterranean secret vault, a series of surreal moments lead to a greater series of calamities that propel The Chamber of Ten forward.
While Hodge receives top billing, the real star of The Chamber of Ten is her colleague and lover, Nico Lombardi. He is the tragic puppet that makes everything happen in the story. His internal battles are perfectly confusing in the first pages after the vault catastrophe, yet with each strange thought he realizes something even more disturbing is developing inside him.
Interestingly, Hodge’s braininess is overly effusive, seeming out of place as she reads more of average intelligence. She is playing catch up emotionally and physically through most of The Chamber of Ten; and when Hodge takes the initiative it’s unproductive to the plot. It’s a minor beef and doesn’t slow the story at all.
Hang up the logic when trying to think through the scheming of centuries old Venetian political functionaries and how their plots would pan out in the 21st century. Just roll with it folks. Think of it this way, when you are riding a roller coaster you aren’t busy calculating g-forces? No, you buckle in and let your gut lead you.
Hodge’s archeological team are minor players in the overall story but fill in blanks when needed and provide some diversity in the early narrative. If we were linked solely to the metaphysical mushiness of Hodge and Nico for the entire book, it would be a bit too much.
However, that very well established erotic-psychic connection is perfectly foiled by a very mysterious third-party, a ghost if you will, of Venice’s past. And that’s all we say about that.
We race around Venice, amid assassinations, building collapses, strange rituals and magical duels. You hop along with the authors and their cast waiting eagerly for that mystical two-fisted conclusion.
The Chamber of Ten snaps along with magical shock and awe. Grab a beverage, a beach chair and enjoy the macabre machinations.
The Chamber of Ten by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon was purchased by the Boston Book Bums.
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