The God Jar

I enjoyed this tale going back to the beginning of time. Following the jar through a portion of time and where it ended up currently, was an interesting tale of good and evil.

The God Jar by Phill Featherstone is a hard book to characterize. There are elements of mystery, science fiction, sorcery, magic, and historical fiction. The author does a nice job of blending them. It makes for an interesting story. Some parts being more interesting than others.

Very briefly, the story opens in Corwall last year. Amy and Jack are enjoying a final scuba dive on the last day of their honeymoon and when Amy spots an object on the sea bed. She dives for it, gets in trouble, and she believes the object saves her life. She is determined to hole onto to the object but many other want it because it is believed to have many powers, hence the God Jar of the title. The story in the present (or last year) is a bit of a thriller and mystery with several well-done action scenes. Periodically the story alternates with the story of the God Jar in the 1500s where its powers are considered almost magical.

It is an interesting book. I did enjoy it but did get a bit bored in the 1500s. I enjoyed the present day part of the book much more.

As usual my thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this before publication.

My thanks to Books Go Social for making available a digital edition of Phil Featherstone’s ‘The God Jar’ in exchange for an honest review.

Again, I was pleased to also have the opportunity to join with other readers in The Pigeonhole to comment on and discuss this novel on a daily basis.

Amy, a young woman on her honeymoon in Cornwall, is diving with her husband, Jack. She notices an object on the sea floor. However, as she picks it up, she gets tangled in a net lying hidden on the seabed and almost drowns. It’s a dramatic opening to this intriguing novel that moves between two time periods.

Amy quickly becomes very attached to the small jar, which exerts an unusual influence. It soon transpires that a number of people are interested in the jar and will take extreme measures to obtain it.
Parallel to these modern day events is a more sedate story set in the late 16th Century featuring Dr. John Dee, who is seeking a legendary object named the God Jar.

The modern day chapters were action packed while the historical chapters were unhurried and took place over a number of years. This did create a bit of an unevenness in the pacing, though this didn’t really bother me.

My long interest in John Dee and his work initially drew me to this novel. I felt that Featherstone was respectful in his portrayal of Dee and his beliefs.

Garvey, who was Jack’s best friend, was a very enigmatic supporting character and certainly I would welcome more adventures from Featherstone perhaps featuring Garvey as he seems very knowledgeable and the sort of man who thrives on mystery.

This was a different genre of book for me but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the historical and modern day aspects of the story particularly as the historical part featured John Dee who I was aware of but after finishing the book I was keen to find out more about him. A good mix of history, adventure and skull duggery and a satisfying ending.

A kind of historical mystery, which is a suspenseful page turner. Interesting characters and plot made this a good read. The ending wasn't great but it was still fun.

I really appreciate the advanced copy for review!!

The God Jar by Phill Featherstone tells the modern-day story of honeymooning couple, Amy and Jack, who go diving in Cornwall and discover an unusual object, which everyone seems to be desperate to get hold of.

In another time period (Tudor England), we learn about John Dee (English/Welsh mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occult philosopher and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I) and his family, and his exciting search for a similar object.

Gripping read and I loved the two contrasting time periods. Not my usual type of book but very glad that I came across it. I especially enjoyed the action scenes and the intrigue! It was a fun historical mystery/modern thriller novel. Will be Googling the history to learn more about John Dee as he sounds very interesting.

I really enjoyed this book from its historical and supernatural points of view, and found the characters to be very real and engaging. I did feel slightly underwhelmed by the ending however, which is why I have marked it down slightly. Overall however, I would recommend it.