City on Clouds edition by Marco Peel Literature Fiction eBooks
Download As PDF : City on Clouds edition by Marco Peel Literature Fiction eBooks 
When Alisha chose to write her thesis on the Children’s Crusade, it was just an adventure on paper. She never expected to become part of something similar. Stuck on a blank page, she tries her luck with a clean slate, only to get more than she bargained for. Two stories instead of one. With all the dark magical realism of a medieval tale. Only, one of them isn’t medieval.
1212 - three crusades, three people, a forbidden love.
Born together, Azemar and Alazais share an uncommon bond. One that can only lead to unpardonable sin. When they secretly follow older brother Duran out of childish curiosity on a war against heresy, all three enter a nightmare that will define their lives. While Duran goes on to fight with the crusaders, Azemar and Alazais are forced to flee from them. Joining a Crusade of Innocents to the Promised Land, they are separated at sea, only to end up on the slave markets of the east...
2002 - those who aren’t against us, are with us.
Some mortals are born with a guardian angel, but Alisha has reasons to believe hers plays on the other team. She always seems to loose her shoes, and only survives 9/11 because she is mugged on the subway. When she volunteers to teach English in a remote village in Sudan, she’s about to put this to the test as never before. But a dusty village without water, a genocidal civil war, a 2000 mile barefoot trek across the desert, and a precarious illegal crossing into Europe on a rubber dinghy, pale in comparison to what awaits her there...
City on Clouds edition by Marco Peel Literature Fiction eBooks
"City on Clouds" is a remarkable novel by indie author Marco Peel, who has also authored "A Parallel Path." The novel is "two for one," as it contains two storylines separated by almost 800 years. Story 1 tells the tale of Alisha, a young American woman who travels to Africa to teach English, but becomes immersed in the violent strife that plagued Darfur in 2003. Story 2 is the tale of Azemar and Alazais, two young European orphans with a frequently absent older brother named Duran. The three of them are swept up in the incessant violence plaguing the land during the time, primarily the Crusades waged against the Cathar heresy.I am agonizing between awarding the book four or five stars. The writing is beautiful and Mr. Peel is a tremendously talented author. I absolutely love the theme and the style: No matter the continent or era, our lives are too often defined by cruelty, violence, terror and inhumanity, usually perpetrated in the name of religion. Manhattan in the year 2001? Appalling terror in the name of religion. Beziers, France in the thirteenth century? Unspeakable violence and inhumanity. Sudan in 2003? Depravity and hatred. You get the picture.
The author frequently recounts the same event from two or three different and independent perspectives. When combined with the "two for one" approach, some readers will find the feel of the novel tedious and excessive. I, however, found it to be brilliant, and I think most readers agree.
There were frequently moments in which I was convinced the author had penned a complete and utter masterpiece, but by the end of the book several detractors had dampened my enthusiasm:
- Plausibility: The main character takes on a bit of a "Forrest Gump" quality, as she tragically and miraculously stumbles from one appalling catastrophe to another. If a real person endured what she did over a brief three-year span, I’m pretty confident they would be hospitalized and incapacitated by PTSD.
Additionally, the manner in which all the characters in the book are constantly being reunited in the face of disaster strained believability. Imagine two or three people at Disney World trying to find each other without a cell phone or a pre-arranged rendezvous. Pretty tough, huh? Now imagine characters being constantly and miraculously reunited across different continents, no matter what disaster or adversity befalls them. This storyline consistently strained belief.
- What are the author's obsessions with bare feet and hatred of shoes? Seriously, it is excessive and a major distraction. Every five minutes someone is losing their shoes, breaking their shoes, gleefully discarding their shoes or extolling the virtues of going barefoot and how good the earth feels beneath their feet. A major theme in Mr. Peel's other novel (A Parallel Path) concerns…wait for it…yep. Going barefoot.
- I loved the premise of Alisha writing her thesis about the Children’s Crusade, but it was scarcely mentioned until the end (but tied together nicely). I thought it would have been even better if Alisha ruminated about it with a mental narrative during her ordeals, and kept the “two novels” consistently intertwined.
- A key component of the author’s style seems to be, “whenever possible, characters in a novel should have sex with each other.” Some may heartily approve, but I thought by the end it was getting a little tedious and gratuitous.
- There are still some typos that need to be scrubbed. Certainly, not a tremendous cause for distraction, but the novel would benefit from one more edit.
- Sometimes the action in the European crusades is a little tough to follow, and it gets tricky figuring out who is fighting whom and why. After a few chapters I went online and read an article about the conflict, which helped quite a bit.
OK I’ve been wallowing in the negatives. Let’s get back to the positives.
- These characters are fantastic. I loved Rafiq’s development. Alisha was phenomenal and her inner monologue sparkled with wit and insight. Alazais was a grand slam.
- I loved the depictions of resiliency, spiritual evolution, and goodness in the face of evil.
- The author had plenty of opportunities to sugarcoat things and fall prey to inaccurate revisionism. He didn’t. He tells it like it is (and was).
- The descriptive prose is frequently beautiful. Marco Peel knows how to write!
- I love novels taking on serious and often unpleasant topics that ultimately enrich the reader.
Bottom line, 4.5 stars. A gripping tale (two tales!) woven by a very talented author.
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City on Clouds edition by Marco Peel Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
This book was a huge step outside my genre norm. With that being said I loved it! The concept was brilliantly executed, and the book as a whole was very well written.
In City Of Clouds we have a story told between a parallel timeline. Crusades of the 13th Century, the 911 bombings, and Darfur. Each timeline/story has different characters with their own unique depth and personality. The author did a good job making sure each voice was distinct.
The emotions seemed real, and the story flows at a pace that makes you want to continue. I recommend this to anyone as I think it's worth it.
This was a difficult read in various ways, but worth the effort. The story is really two separate, but interwoven, stories. One takes place in the modern age, and one in the thirteen century. Both stories are told in first person, but the voices are different, and the chapter titles indicate who is speaking, so I didn't have a lot of trouble with it.
This book raises a lot of interesting questions about religion, but I think at times the story is slowed down or burdened by a sense of its own importance...if that makes sense. So much of the book is exposition, thought, and description. There is almost no dialogue. It's a long time to spend in the characters heads, but even so, I'm not sure how close the reader truly gets to the character. It's more the situation--the outside events happening to the character--that seems to be of utmost importance, which is a little odd for first person narration.
That being said, the author truly has a beautiful way with words. It is wonderfully written, and while I never felt like I couldn't put it down, I was always happy to pick it back up again.
City on Clouds by Marco Peel is a fictional collection of stories with intersection of characters within the two time periods of recent and past in the 1200s. Contemporary characters include Alisha, Carlos, Rafig, and Nadine. Characters in during the Crusades follow Alazais, Asemar, Duran, and Saissa, a type of nun. A character writes from his or her first person in the past tense. City of Clouds is fiction with authentic historical backgrounds, beginning with mixed-race Alisha who witnesses the destruction of the World Trade Towers after a messy event of her own. She hoped to one day write about the Children’s Crusade of 1212. This terrible day of 9/11 shocks her into a deep understanding of hate leading to genocide. Alisha is spotlighted in seven chapters, and the book ends with her looking at a white ceiling of a hospital with awakened senses and understanding. Did she dream the events?
Alazais and Asemar believe they are sister-brother twins with an older brother, Duran. All are French orphans cared for by Parfaits who are similar to nuns. All characters are fleshed out with personalities unique to them as they experience the crusades from idealistic to opportunistic. Duran seeks a career and obtains it. The twins observe the groups within the crusades. The Ribauds are thieves who kill for booty, but the knights steal from them. A monk who is supposed to have taken vows of poverty wears velvet slippers. Children who defect can be crucified. It appears rules are used when convenient. Duran of the White Brotherhood (collectors of overdue taxes and rents) defends the Holy Cause but is not welcome everywhere in Toulouse.
Modern day characters come together from various perspectives. Physician Carlos is a doctor across borders in Sudan. Carlos is Spanish and knows about hatred toward the Moors and Basques. Rafig is Muslim and lost his pregnant wife during a Clinton-era bombing of a factory where she worked. Rafig feels people of the West think everyone else is second class. He detests Jews for stealing their land 2,000 years ago. In Northern Africa two Muslim groups fight each other, and one that rapes women and takes children as slaves is sanctioned by the government. Nadine, a French nurse, and Alisha, a teacher, join Carlos and Rafig. There are romantic associations between Nadine and Alisha, and also between Carlos and Nadine, and Carlos and Alisha who is fluid.
Talented writer Marco Peel writes from deep historical knowledge with a multi-cultural perspective. I highly recommend City on Clouds to all who wish to gain knowledge about roots of genocide.
"City on Clouds" is a remarkable novel by indie author Marco Peel, who has also authored "A Parallel Path." The novel is "two for one," as it contains two storylines separated by almost 800 years. Story 1 tells the tale of Alisha, a young American woman who travels to Africa to teach English, but becomes immersed in the violent strife that plagued Darfur in 2003. Story 2 is the tale of Azemar and Alazais, two young European orphans with a frequently absent older brother named Duran. The three of them are swept up in the incessant violence plaguing the land during the time, primarily the Crusades waged against the Cathar heresy.
I am agonizing between awarding the book four or five stars. The writing is beautiful and Mr. Peel is a tremendously talented author. I absolutely love the theme and the style No matter the continent or era, our lives are too often defined by cruelty, violence, terror and inhumanity, usually perpetrated in the name of religion. Manhattan in the year 2001? Appalling terror in the name of religion. Beziers, France in the thirteenth century? Unspeakable violence and inhumanity. Sudan in 2003? Depravity and hatred. You get the picture.
The author frequently recounts the same event from two or three different and independent perspectives. When combined with the "two for one" approach, some readers will find the feel of the novel tedious and excessive. I, however, found it to be brilliant, and I think most readers agree.
There were frequently moments in which I was convinced the author had penned a complete and utter masterpiece, but by the end of the book several detractors had dampened my enthusiasm
- Plausibility The main character takes on a bit of a "Forrest Gump" quality, as she tragically and miraculously stumbles from one appalling catastrophe to another. If a real person endured what she did over a brief three-year span, I’m pretty confident they would be hospitalized and incapacitated by PTSD.
Additionally, the manner in which all the characters in the book are constantly being reunited in the face of disaster strained believability. Imagine two or three people at Disney World trying to find each other without a cell phone or a pre-arranged rendezvous. Pretty tough, huh? Now imagine characters being constantly and miraculously reunited across different continents, no matter what disaster or adversity befalls them. This storyline consistently strained belief.
- What are the author's obsessions with bare feet and hatred of shoes? Seriously, it is excessive and a major distraction. Every five minutes someone is losing their shoes, breaking their shoes, gleefully discarding their shoes or extolling the virtues of going barefoot and how good the earth feels beneath their feet. A major theme in Mr. Peel's other novel (A Parallel Path) concerns…wait for it…yep. Going barefoot.
- I loved the premise of Alisha writing her thesis about the Children’s Crusade, but it was scarcely mentioned until the end (but tied together nicely). I thought it would have been even better if Alisha ruminated about it with a mental narrative during her ordeals, and kept the “two novels” consistently intertwined.
- A key component of the author’s style seems to be, “whenever possible, characters in a novel should have sex with each other.” Some may heartily approve, but I thought by the end it was getting a little tedious and gratuitous.
- There are still some typos that need to be scrubbed. Certainly, not a tremendous cause for distraction, but the novel would benefit from one more edit.
- Sometimes the action in the European crusades is a little tough to follow, and it gets tricky figuring out who is fighting whom and why. After a few chapters I went online and read an article about the conflict, which helped quite a bit.
OK I’ve been wallowing in the negatives. Let’s get back to the positives.
- These characters are fantastic. I loved Rafiq’s development. Alisha was phenomenal and her inner monologue sparkled with wit and insight. Alazais was a grand slam.
- I loved the depictions of resiliency, spiritual evolution, and goodness in the face of evil.
- The author had plenty of opportunities to sugarcoat things and fall prey to inaccurate revisionism. He didn’t. He tells it like it is (and was).
- The descriptive prose is frequently beautiful. Marco Peel knows how to write!
- I love novels taking on serious and often unpleasant topics that ultimately enrich the reader.
Bottom line, 4.5 stars. A gripping tale (two tales!) woven by a very talented author.
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