The Sultan of Monte Cristo had me hooked from the beginning to the very last word. It is a brilliant piece of living art that jumps off the page. This book is written so well, and the description is so vivid I felt like I belonged in that day and age. If there is a book to read and re-read over and over again, The Sultan of Monte Cristo is a story wherein you can do just that.
The author brings absolute magic to the reader and I couldn't think of anyone else who could have written this sequel other than Holy Ghost Writer.
Epic Reviews
The Sultan of
Monte Cristo
The First Sequel to
The Count of Monte Cristo
By the Holy Ghost Writer
~~~
Copyright © 2012 Holy Ghost Writer
All rights reserved.
License Notes
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
For further information and bulk orders, email:
Illuminated Publications Limited (UK) [email protected].
This is a work of fiction.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, or locales is entirely coincidental.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Book II Count I: SINBAD THE SAILOR
Book II Count II: CAPTAIN MEDUSALOCKS AND HIS BLACK STYGIAN IBLIS
Book II Count III: ADMIRAL JARRE OF THE FRENCH NAVY
Book II Count IV: MERCEDES’ DISCOVERY
Book II Count V: HOUSE OF AUTEUIL
Book II Count VI: COUNTESS G
Book II Count VII: DANTES WAXES ELOQUENT
Book II Count VIII: THE INIMITABLE RAYMEE
Book II Count IX: DESERT OASIS HOT SPRINGS
Book II Count X: RAYMEE’S REVENGE
Preview: Enters Sherlock Holmes
About the Author
Introduction
It felt sad. It was like saying “goodbye” to a dear friend, when reading the last words, “wait and hope,” of the 1,243-page book, The Count of Monte Cristo.
How long is the reader willing to wait and hope, to learn what became of Edmond Dantes, Haydee, Mercedes, the Morrels, the Danglars or the Villeforts, after putting down the book?
One need wonder no longer, as The Sultan of Monte Cristo unfolds in the spirit of Alexandre Dumas — the spirit that creates in its readers a hunger and a thirst for literature.
This sequel picks up in the 1840s, when Dumas is working as an investigative reporter, and publishes The Count of Monte Cristo. Like a true account of a real-life Edmond Dantes, that book serves as a point of reference for both original and new characters in the ongoing saga.
While new characters are introduced in the second chapter, the first significant new character is not introduced until the eighth chapter, in the person of Raymee.
Raymee’s introduction is similar to that of Vampa early in The Count of Monte Cristo, but Raymee plays a more significant role.
The Count of Monte Cristo is one of history's best-known stories, and reading or re-familiarizing oneself with the original text, or a good translation thereof, will bring about the best result in understanding the references and characters developed in this sequel. However, this sequel (and subsequent sequels) can be enjoyed without a familiarity with the original work.
Countless readers over many generations have found the drama of a man unjustly imprisoned and emerging unrecognized, only to stealthily take revenge, to be a compelling and relevant story. Knowledge of a hidden treasure, provided to the Count of Monte Cristo by an elderly, long-bearded prisoner, makes the original a story that is entirely appropriate and exciting for even young children. However, The Sultan of Monte Cristo is a little too risqué for a very young audience, and is recommended for those at least 18 years of age.
This sequel, based on a true story, is made that much more compelling in this age when one considers that 65 million Americans, according to a recent article in USA Today, have already been convicted of a crime. One can easily imagine that some percentage of those are innocent and suffer as equally as Edmond Dantes did; they may even be experiencing their own thoughts and plans of revenge.
However, the fruits of revenge are not what we expect them to be. In future sequels, Edmond Dantes, deeply repentant for the unintended consequences of his revenge in the original story, will realize as the poet Milton observed, that revenge — though sweet at first — will before long recoil on its victor.
Readers may speculate that the Holy Ghost Writer qualifies as a true successor to Dumas; yet concomitantly, it has been inferred that he is an individual who has emerged from prison as a type of adventurous character in his own life, perhaps wishing to conceal his true identity by writing under the ghostly pen name. The true identity of the HGW will become known, once he interacts under his real name with the fictitious characters in one of the final books leading up to Book Ten. The publisher will give a prize to the first person who can discover, from the clues that will be planted throughout the ten books, his/her true identity. To submit your guess, email [email protected].
Since the Count of Monte Cristo saw himself as divine providence, we speculate that the word “holy” in the Ghost Writer name was inspired by this fact; yet there are some unexpected twists in this sequel that may also contribute to the pseudonymous moniker.
Although plot shifts come unexpectedly in this sequel, they fit seamlessly and grow out of some small seeds planted in the original story that never took root therein. One of those small seeds is the word “hemp”, found in the first chapters of the original story by Dumas. “Merovingian” is another one of those seeds, as Dumas referred to the youngest of those Merovingians as the “do nothing kings.”
We call the original book by Dumas “Book I,” and this first sequel, “Book II,” with each chapter distinguished as “Count I,” “Count II,” etc.
There are ten counts, or chapters, in Book II, which will soon be followed by twelve more books (the sixth to be published next, entitled That Girl Started Her Own Country) that will continue into the twenty-first century, and then into the future (The Boy Who Played with Dark Matter, the eleventh book), featuring offspring of the Count of Monte Cristo. These sequels will take you places Dumas could have logically gone, but likely did not imagine.
Book II Count I:
SINBAD THE SAILOR
The Sultan of Monte Cristo: First Sequel to The Count of Monte Cristo Page 1