Brooklyn Knight by C.J. Henderson – review

New York City is one magical place, but the part of it known as Brooklyn might just have the most magic in it per square foot of all the boroughs of the Big Apple. That’s because it is the home of Professor Piers Knight, the esteemed curator of the renowned Brooklyn Museum. He’s an expert in lost civilizations and magical artifacts, a forty-three-year-old combination of Indiana Jones and Nicholas Cage:  an engaging dude who doesn’t realize the extent of the charm he exerts on the fairer sex, such as his summer intern, the redhead Bridget Elkins. Even when “It’s the end of the world, as we know it,” to quote an REM song, Knight proves to be up to the challenge. Whether it be in love or in magic, the sparks begin to fly in Brooklyn Knight, the first in a series of planned books featuring the debonair professor.

I personally liked Brooklyn Knight by C.J. Henderson, and I’m looking forward to reading its sequel, Central Park Knight. But, before I go into some of the reasons why I liked it, I’ll go into some of the reasons why the novel’s been SLAMMED by many critics. I agree with them in certain respects, but not to the extent that I wouldn’t recommend this book to others…albeit, with a couple of caveats.

1.) CAVEAT Number One:

Professor Piers Knight is what non-New Yorkers, like myself, often think of as being a stuck-up, arrogant SOB who thinks that New York in general is the greatest city in the world and that, specifically, Brooklyn is the greatest borough in the greatest city in the world. He also has an equally high opinion of his intelligence, telling Bridget while showing her New York and its environs from the Emipre State Building:

“I probably know far more about everything than anyone else you’ve ever met.”

Yes, Professor Piers Knight can be a smug SOB. But, he is definitely intelligent and knowledgeable, and can also be somewhat self-effacing, realizing that he really does not know close to everything that it is possible to know, despite what he may tell people. That’s why I mentioned the comparison to Nicholas Cage, who would probably be a good choice to play Knight in a movie. They both can seem at first blush to be stuck-up jerks, but later on do things to alter this initial impression of themselves. Maybe to other reviewers/critics, this wasn’t pulled off successfully in their opinions, hence their negative reviews of the book; but I thought C.J. Henderson did a good job reversing the initial negative impressions I had of Knight’s inflated opinions about himself, and that the book turned out the better for this about-face.

2.) CAVEAT Number Two:

Another criticism of the novel is that its plot is “thin” and “boring” after having a fairly promising beginning, and that there’s too much “rehashing.” This is true only to an extent. Like sex, it depends on your definition of the terms.

What is the story about? In a nutshell, it’s about an important archeological discovery–that of the oldest relatively major city in the world, and the city’s fate (all of its inhabitants mysteriously disappearing). Was it due to a combination of factors such as, oh, I don’t know, the overweening pride of the city’s people and an unfortunate alliance they unwittingly made with an evil god-like alien from another dimension?

I would argue (and do) that the plot is not really thin, though the general gist of it can be summarized in just a few brief sentences. This can even be done with a classic of American literature, like Moby Dick: Man hates whale for almost killing him, and eating his leg, which has been replaced with ivory, which comes from a whale, the object of his hatred. He has an obsessive desire to kill the whale who did this to him, and chases after him for a few hundred pages, alternately thinking of the whale as a god or a devil.

Is this a simplification? Yes–any summary is one, or it would be as long as the original book, if not longer–at least, if an analysis was done of every page or chapter of it. But, IMHO, the plot of Brooklyn Knight is anything but thin. It has a taut, suspenseful storyline that kept me wanting to read it until its satisfying conclusion, and I am immensely looking forward to reading its sequel, Central Park Knight.

I honestly think it’s well worth spending a few hours of your time immersed in reading this book. I especially liked the scenes where magic-using robbers break into the Brooklyn Museum and try to steal the Dream Stone, which is like the Roseta Stone in that it has different languages written on it. One is still untranslated, and is known as the Dream Language in the novel.

I also really liked the scene later in the novel when a gigantic fiery demon attempts to retrieve the Dream Stone from Fort Drum. It explodes the Sherman and Abram tanks sent out to kill it, and nothing seems able to even slow it down. I won’t tell you what solution is thought up to destroy the demon, but I thought it was pretty cool. Terrorists are the explanation given for why the FBI and CIA are interested in what’s going on, and for why the Dream stone needs such extreme protection. After all, it would probably be difficult to explain that the real reason for the protective actions has more to be with beings from an alternate dimension wanting to destroy humankind and eat their souls than with terrorists trying to make a statement and demonstrate their power.

Brooklyn Knight is a promising start to C.J. Henderson’s series. If this is any indication of what’s to come, I am looking forward to reading more magic-filled adventures of Professor Piers Knight and his lovely red-headed intern, Bridget Elkins. Is this novel perfect? No, it has its share of flaws. Still, it’s a book that had me on the edge of my seat, wanting to find out what plans Knight would come up with to save the day and keep the Dream Stone out of the hands of evil demonic entities from another universe bent on mankind’s demise. Check it out today!