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_readers_alley's review
3.0
Sequel to The Forgers, Forger's daughter is a novel which surrounds the rare, not much talked about Edgar Allen Poe work, Tamerlane. Just like the title, it is the story of Will, once an expert in the field of forgery and his daughter Nicole, an art student.
Will had long since abandoned his craft resulting from a confrontation by the police and an attempted murder by a man called Slader, but is forced to return to his career when Slader reappears, coaxing him to produce a fake copy of the author's own copy of the Tamerlane. Will could not decline his need, as Slader had with him important photographs which could prove Will's involvement in a pretty big crime; proofs which could land him in prison. The novel progresses with how Will, with the help of Nicole produces the copy, and the horrors that wait for them in the course of the process.
Though it is a good book, I didn't find it much interesting. I had many confusions regarding a character named Adam (because I haven't read the prequel I hope), which remains uncleared. Also, I had problems with the POVs; I found it hard to understand which is whose, as there were no indications. Still, I loved the fact that the book contain many informative things about rare editions of famous books and also about the fake copies of the same.
If you are a bibliophile and a book hoarder (especially rare first editions) I am pretty sure you will love this book. And if you are a Poe fan, no doubt you will love it more!
Will had long since abandoned his craft resulting from a confrontation by the police and an attempted murder by a man called Slader, but is forced to return to his career when Slader reappears, coaxing him to produce a fake copy of the author's own copy of the Tamerlane. Will could not decline his need, as Slader had with him important photographs which could prove Will's involvement in a pretty big crime; proofs which could land him in prison. The novel progresses with how Will, with the help of Nicole produces the copy, and the horrors that wait for them in the course of the process.
Though it is a good book, I didn't find it much interesting. I had many confusions regarding a character named Adam (because I haven't read the prequel I hope), which remains uncleared. Also, I had problems with the POVs; I found it hard to understand which is whose, as there were no indications. Still, I loved the fact that the book contain many informative things about rare editions of famous books and also about the fake copies of the same.
If you are a bibliophile and a book hoarder (especially rare first editions) I am pretty sure you will love this book. And if you are a Poe fan, no doubt you will love it more!
blackgoddessreviews's review
1.0
I didn’t realise that this was a sequel to another book, and so when I started reading it I was extremely confused. I decided not to finish it at this time, and will come back after I’ve read the first novel. .
gretel7's review
2.0
I received this from Netgalley.com.
"After twenty years of living life on the straight and narrow, Will finds himself drawn back to forgery, ensnared in a plot to counterfeit the rarest book in American literature: Edgar Allan Poe’s first,Tamerlane."
A rather slow and agonizing read. I never connected with the plot or the characters.
2☆
"After twenty years of living life on the straight and narrow, Will finds himself drawn back to forgery, ensnared in a plot to counterfeit the rarest book in American literature: Edgar Allan Poe’s first,Tamerlane."
A rather slow and agonizing read. I never connected with the plot or the characters.
2☆
sabrinarenee's review against another edition
Writing was good, but the plot hinged on caring about the art "world" and it just felt a bit pretentious to me. No fault of the book itself, it just wasn't written for me. Also didn't realize that this is technically a sequel and I didn't read the first one.
fictionmajorette's review against another edition
2.0
My favorite thing about this book was the amount of detail that went into the history of these various famous books. Unless Morrow is an avid bibliophile, a whole lot of research went into this book and it paid off. I loved how easily the facts and stories of different authors and their works flowed out of Will and how convincing the writing was that Will loves these books and documents. The writing in these sections was absolutely wonderful and reminded me of The Da Vinci Code when Robert Langdon would similarly go into these long explanation of the history and backstory of the different works he encounters. There's a real reverence that comes through in Will's character that really enhances the overall tone of the book and I can't emphasize how much I loved it.
My first, and probably largest complaint, is the character development (or lack thereof) of Meghan. The book is split between alternating chapters of her and Will's POV. While I got a really good sense of Will's character, his motivations, and his thought process for his decisions, I could not tell you one of those same aspects about Meghan. About halfway through the book, there's an event that happens that is related to Slader. Now Meghan knows who Will is, who Slader is, she knows the general story of their past and relationship, and she knows about the current forgery project. So I have no idea why she didn't tell Will about the event she witnessed. She does eventually tell Will and the reason she hid it gets hand-waved away in the last few pages of the book. In my opinion, she had no real point of being in the book other than to have a different character to be doing stuff while Will was working on the forgery in the other room. And that 'doing stuff' was running errands or picking vegetables out of the garden. If all of her chapters were deleted, the book would be half as long and twice as good.
Another major complaint I had was the general lack of agency that Will seemed to have. Based on the summary, I expected Will would have to go out and find the materials in order to forge this document. However, Slader gives him everything he needs and gives him a somewhat shorter time table than he would like but the document gets finished on time just fine. Then, in the third act, Will gets surprised with how the document gets back in his hands, but he seems to just shrug it off and go with the flow. It felt like there were 2 Wills in the book. The first was the knowledgeable forger who has a love for old manuscripts and the second was just a cog in the forging machine and didn't have much personality. I had such a hard time seeing these two as the same person. In the forging process, I was much more interested in Will's daughter Nicole. Afterall, with a title like The Forger's Daughter, I expected her character to be a bit more developed than it was. But she also took some agency away from Will by just telling him that she was coming with him a few different times when he went out to various meetings. And although Will does protest a tiny bit, he generally just shrugs it off again and takes her with him.
Finally, the ending to this book is fantastic but comes a little out of left field. The last 5% or so of the book has 10 times the suspense and action that the rest of the book does. The ending also does a lot of heavy lifting in regards to characterization. I really think if the climax of the ending was maybe moved to the first third of the book and the rest of the book would be characters dealing with the fall out of that decision, the overall story would be so much more engaging.
My first, and probably largest complaint, is the character development (or lack thereof) of Meghan. The book is split between alternating chapters of her and Will's POV. While I got a really good sense of Will's character, his motivations, and his thought process for his decisions, I could not tell you one of those same aspects about Meghan. About halfway through the book, there's an event that happens that is related to Slader. Now Meghan knows who Will is, who Slader is, she knows the general story of their past and relationship, and she knows about the current forgery project. So I have no idea why she didn't tell Will about the event she witnessed. She does eventually tell Will and the reason she hid it gets hand-waved away in the last few pages of the book. In my opinion, she had no real point of being in the book other than to have a different character to be doing stuff while Will was working on the forgery in the other room. And that 'doing stuff' was running errands or picking vegetables out of the garden. If all of her chapters were deleted, the book would be half as long and twice as good.
Another major complaint I had was the general lack of agency that Will seemed to have. Based on the summary, I expected Will would have to go out and find the materials in order to forge this document. However, Slader gives him everything he needs and gives him a somewhat shorter time table than he would like but the document gets finished on time just fine. Then, in the third act, Will gets surprised with how the document gets back in his hands, but he seems to just shrug it off and go with the flow. It felt like there were 2 Wills in the book. The first was the knowledgeable forger who has a love for old manuscripts and the second was just a cog in the forging machine and didn't have much personality. I had such a hard time seeing these two as the same person. In the forging process, I was much more interested in Will's daughter Nicole. Afterall, with a title like The Forger's Daughter, I expected her character to be a bit more developed than it was. But she also took some agency away from Will by just telling him that she was coming with him a few different times when he went out to various meetings. And although Will does protest a tiny bit, he generally just shrugs it off again and takes her with him.
Finally, the ending to this book is fantastic but comes a little out of left field. The last 5% or so of the book has 10 times the suspense and action that the rest of the book does. The ending also does a lot of heavy lifting in regards to characterization. I really think if the climax of the ending was maybe moved to the first third of the book and the rest of the book would be characters dealing with the fall out of that decision, the overall story would be so much more engaging.
kathygeorge's review against another edition
4.0
I finished the book feeling glad that I do not know any of these people! Scary! Still, The Forger's Daughter is a fascinating book and I learned a lot about forgery, printing, and rare book sales. The characters, except for adopted daughter Maisie, are extremely complex. My reaction was frequently, now, why did you have to go and do THAT!
The book was extremely enjoyable to read and hard to put down. It was one of those "just one more page" kinds of books and I am glad I read it. At one point it reminded me a bit of "The Weight of Ink," by Rachel Kadish, another book I found captivating.
Will and Meg, the parents of Nicole (the forger's daughter) and Maisie, live a secluded life. They seem to have more money than I would expect them to have (the cabin in the woods, the apartment in the City, the trip to Ireland, the printing equipment). The book raises a lot of questions (who killed Meg's brother?) and doesn't answer all of them.
I don't know if a sequel is planned. The forger's daughter could strike out on her own. And we could get the answers to those niggling questions!
The book was extremely enjoyable to read and hard to put down. It was one of those "just one more page" kinds of books and I am glad I read it. At one point it reminded me a bit of "The Weight of Ink," by Rachel Kadish, another book I found captivating.
Will and Meg, the parents of Nicole (the forger's daughter) and Maisie, live a secluded life. They seem to have more money than I would expect them to have (the cabin in the woods, the apartment in the City, the trip to Ireland, the printing equipment). The book raises a lot of questions (who killed Meg's brother?) and doesn't answer all of them.
I don't know if a sequel is planned. The forger's daughter could strike out on her own. And we could get the answers to those niggling questions!
melissadeemcdaniel's review against another edition
3.0
“The Forger’s Daughter” is a heist novel set in the overlap of the world of book collection and book forgery. The family dynamic between Megan and Will, and their daughters Maisie and Nicole is somewhat odd. Although the family is extraordinarily close, they hide very big, potentially life-shattering secrets from each other. Much of that secrecy continues all the way through to the end of the story, and the lack of resolution was disturbing.
The highly technical details of antique book production are central to the story, and it will appeal to bibliophiles.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The highly technical details of antique book production are central to the story, and it will appeal to bibliophiles.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
tonstantweader's review against another edition
4.0
You know how you fall in love with an author and read everything for a while but lose track now that you no longer go to a physical bookstore and wander the aisles, your fingers trailing along the spines, seeing the old favorites, and excitedly spying new title next to it. I have lost track of Bradford Morrow, reading his first five books and so when I saw his name, I remembered Trinity Fields and Giovanni’s Gift and was excited to read a new book from someone who never failed me yet.
The Forger’s Daughter is a sequel to a book I have not read, The Forgers that did not impede my understanding or enjoyment of the story. The narrative shifts between Will and Meghan, a married couple with two children, Nicole and Maisie. He is a reformed forger and currently a printer. She is a bookseller. When Will is extorted into helping a nemesis from his past with a forgery, his daughter Nicole helps. She is the forger’s daughter of the title. She has a minder of her own.
The Forger’s Daughter is a mix of family drama and thriller. The dynamics between Will, Meghan, and the children shifts and changes and clearly there is a big secret that Meghan does not know so I presume there will be another novel, perhaps one that highlights Nicole.
But I remember his earlier works with such fondness and The Forger’s Daughter does not match them. For some reason, although he is working with a murderous man who chopped off some of his fingers years ago, there is no real sense of menace, perhaps it’s because he brings his daughter along. I know she insists against his better judgment, but a parent can refuse a child’s help.
And yes, there are real moments of jeopardy, but it seems certain that they will be fine. There are also threads left hanging, I hope they will be picked up in the next book.
The Forger’s Daughter will be released on September 4th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/the-forgers-daughter-by-bradford-morrow/
The Forger’s Daughter is a sequel to a book I have not read, The Forgers that did not impede my understanding or enjoyment of the story. The narrative shifts between Will and Meghan, a married couple with two children, Nicole and Maisie. He is a reformed forger and currently a printer. She is a bookseller. When Will is extorted into helping a nemesis from his past with a forgery, his daughter Nicole helps. She is the forger’s daughter of the title. She has a minder of her own.
The Forger’s Daughter is a mix of family drama and thriller. The dynamics between Will, Meghan, and the children shifts and changes and clearly there is a big secret that Meghan does not know so I presume there will be another novel, perhaps one that highlights Nicole.
But I remember his earlier works with such fondness and The Forger’s Daughter does not match them. For some reason, although he is working with a murderous man who chopped off some of his fingers years ago, there is no real sense of menace, perhaps it’s because he brings his daughter along. I know she insists against his better judgment, but a parent can refuse a child’s help.
And yes, there are real moments of jeopardy, but it seems certain that they will be fine. There are also threads left hanging, I hope they will be picked up in the next book.
The Forger’s Daughter will be released on September 4th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/the-forgers-daughter-by-bradford-morrow/
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