 | Title: Central Park Knight
 Sexual Content: Kissing. References to sex. Rating:
Okay – A few good points, but with significant flaws. Library/swap/borrow if you want. |
Description
Professor Piers Knight is the Brooklyn Museum’s very own Indiana Jones. His specialties include lost civilizations, arcane cultures, and more than a little bit of the history of magic and mysticism. What his contemporaries don't know is that in addition to being a scholar of all these topics, he is also proficient in the uses of magical artifacts.
Knight receives a chilling message from Tian Lu, a former lover and an agent for the Chinese government. Years ago, they made a frightening discovery at an archeological dig when out of the depths rose… a living, fire-breathing dragon. Now, the dragons are waking from their slumber before their scheduled time. And one particularly diabolical dragon is set on eliminating the others and taking over the world.
As civilization plunges into panic, Knight, Lu, Knight’s seventeen-year-old techie intern George Rainert, and an untrustworthy dragon ally must use all their resources— magical and otherwise—to stop the destruction before it’s too late.
Review
Did you experience a sense of déjà vu while reading the first two chapters of CENTRAL PARK KNIGHT? That’s because those chapters were originally written as a stand alone short story, An Excess of Joy, included in the 2009 anthology, SPELLS OF THE CITY. It introduced us to a mild mannered curator for the Brooklyn Museum who, unbeknownst to those around him, faces down otherworldly threats like dragons and interdimensional monsters capable of destroying the world.
After reading the first line of the description, I got that warm happy feeling that usually indicates I’m about to read something really good: “Professor Piers Knight is the Brooklyn Museum’s very own Indiana Jones.” The rest of the description just increased that feeling. I guess it just goes to show that you can’t always trust descriptions. Piers Knight is a far, far cry from Indiana Jones. Did anyone else watch those Librarian TV movies on TNT starring Noah Wyle? They were campy archeological adventures. Well cross those with Howard the Duck and you have a better comparison for CENTRAL PARK KNIGHT than Indiana Jones.
The book opens with several excerpts from a century old (fictional?) lecture on the mythology and potential historical veracity of dragons. As a history buff, I found this extended intro fascinating. But once the actual narrative started, my interest plummeted. Despite an arsenal of magical artifacts that he wielded against various foes in CENTRAL PARK KNIGHT, and the numerous New York City landmarks he visited, the character of Piers Knight never came to life for me. He was just a flat character with an annoying habit of audibly talking to himself that I guess was supposed to make him seem eccentric. It didn’t. I never once found myself invested in him, which is a sad statement to make about any protagonist.
I did thaw a little when Piers Knight’s pudgy, prodigy intern, George Rainert showed up. He had fun dialog and injected some much needed life into any scene he shared. The dragons too were a highlight. They were reminiscent of Smaug from THE HOBBIT in terms of sly wisdom. Henderson did create an interesting mythology that pulled from the dragon lore of several cultures, but by that point it was too little, too late.
Overall, CENTRAL PARK KNIGHT was sadly a dull read that didn’t come close to living up to it’s description. Clearly the librarian/professor who moonlights as an adventurer battling supernatural forces is a formula that has seen well deserved success in the Indiana Jones franchise, but Piers Knight is no Indiana Jones. He lacks the charisma, passion, and intensity to be a leading man. The plot doesn’t help as it is basically a long drawn out showdown that failed to generate even the smallest amount of excitement for me.
