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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Definitely not the best classic mystery I've read, but interesting and engaging enough. Peter Wimsey, the lead detective, didn't seem to have much character but that could just be because this is the only book with him I've ever read. Also, the solution to the mystery was a bit anticlimactic. Other than that, it was fine.
mysterious
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Dorothy Sayers, I think, is a terrific writer who just got better and better. She could have chosen to write anything, but she specialized in mysteries ... sort of like Kate Atkinson, say, for a modern example.
Great swathes of the book are absolutely whatever the opposite of riveting is, as the conceit is that Wimsey's in a town renowned for its bell-ringing changes, which he happens to be good at, and if you don't know about bell-ringing changes, look it up, it's insane. In a nutshell: if you have more than 1 bell, there are a number of different sequences you can ring. For instance, with 2 bells (A & B) you can ring AB, or you could ring BA. With three, you can ABC, BAC, ACB, CBA, and as you grow in number of bells the number of sequences grow exponentially.
And people literally devotes hours of their lives to ringing the bells in all the different orders. And you know what it sounds like? A bunch of bells ringing at once, over and over again. I dare you to pick out the individual tones and go "ah, I like the 782nd sequence best" ...
Anyway, all that stuff is maddening, but you can skim, like when Tolkein spends a little too much time on topography and walking. By the time of the great event in the later chapters (no spoilers) I was well and truly caught, and there was a section of writing that was so beautiful (like listening to a good Handel's Messiah) that tears came to my eyes. In a mystery novel!
Because she's just a splendid writer.
4 stars, because it took a while to get to the good stuff, and change-ringing is irksome.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
Great swathes of the book are absolutely whatever the opposite of riveting is, as the conceit is that Wimsey's in a town renowned for its bell-ringing changes, which he happens to be good at, and if you don't know about bell-ringing changes, look it up, it's insane. In a nutshell: if you have more than 1 bell, there are a number of different sequences you can ring. For instance, with 2 bells (A & B) you can ring AB, or you could ring BA. With three, you can ABC, BAC, ACB, CBA, and as you grow in number of bells the number of sequences grow exponentially.
And people literally devotes hours of their lives to ringing the bells in all the different orders. And you know what it sounds like? A bunch of bells ringing at once, over and over again. I dare you to pick out the individual tones and go "ah, I like the 782nd sequence best" ...
Anyway, all that stuff is maddening, but you can skim, like when Tolkein spends a little too much time on topography and walking. By the time of the great event in the later chapters (no spoilers) I was well and truly caught, and there was a section of writing that was so beautiful (like listening to a good Handel's Messiah) that tears came to my eyes. In a mystery novel!
Because she's just a splendid writer.
4 stars, because it took a while to get to the good stuff, and change-ringing is irksome.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've learnt a lot about bells.
adventurous
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder