The Blessing Stone: A Novel

I have not completed the book yet. It is interesting the way it advances the reader through history, and gives in depth mention to a few time periods on our planet, delving into a narrative that focuses on one persons' possession of the blessing stone and how its meaning is interpreted by the people who encounter it. The story is fragmented, and takes lots of liberties of course with very ancient history. It is interesting, but I just don't feel totally engaged, although I'm not sure this is just me or the author. It is pretty ambitious to cover 100,000 years of history in a few hundred pages and really keep people into the story. Looking forward to the book club discussion to see what others' impressions are.

I have to admit I expected more from this book. The idea of a precious stone connecting stories throuhg the history of mankind was most remarkable but the result did not deliver. Maybe its the format of shorter stoies that did not allow for the full dvelopment of characters. Maybe its that sometimes the historical setting was not quite right - for example when Ms.Wood puts both wine and beer creations within one generation and in the precisely same location. Maybe its the interim pages that were a bit distracting and did not add to the continuity of the book. I found the later stories more engaging than the prehistorical ones but all in all I preffer the regular lenght novels by Ms.Wood.

I love historical fiction and this really quenched my thirst for it! The book is comprised of eight short stories, each taking place in a different time and place in human history, from prehistoric through to the American Pioneers journeying west in the mid 19th century. The stories were rich with details and fascinating glimpses into history. Very well written and seemingly well-researched although I have not checked many facts. Most of it seemed very realistic, in any case. I also appreciate that this book is not a romantic love story (although a couple of the stories contain very tangential love stories), as all too many historical novels turn out to be. What I particularly loved is that it gave me a little piece of many different times in history, rather than just one setting. Like eight mini-historical novels in one!

Loved this book, especially the first half.

It was more like a collection of short stories with a central theme. I particularly liked the ones about primitive people and their beliefs. Some of the later ones were a little difficult to believe and the stones passage through time was sometimes difficult to follow.

Best author on earth! Under her real name and her fake name...Kathryn Harvey!

I love this book. Barbara Wood is one of my favorite writers. This book will take you on a magical journey through time and history; from the creation of civilization to the old west it is a great read. I lost this book and I looked for it online but could not find it. Thank goodness Amazon had it.

Barbara Wood can tell an epic story very proficiently, but her writing still leaves me a little flat for some reason. This book is not really one long novel but more like 7 or 8 loosely connected novellas.