Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Горбун лорда Кромвеля

Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Горбун лорда Кромвеля by Кристофер Джон Сэнсом, C.J. Sansom

3 reviews

the_cheerful_necromancer's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A pretty good Historical Fiction. A few historical inaccuracies here and there, mostly in the use of language, but I doubt the layman reader would notice, so it doesn't really matter. The mystery was pretty solid, too, and it resolved itself satisfyingly enough. Worth a look, I'd say.

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singalana's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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prashiie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Thomas Cromwell sends Matthew Shardlake to a monastery to investigate the murder of master Singleton, a commissioner Lord Cromwell sent before. Matthew is described to be a hunchback. In earlier times, people believed that touching a hunchback will bring ill-fortune, which I found very sad. He can be very generous at some times, but also harsh, especially towards people he envies. I really liked his character! He wasn't without his flaws and that brings a lot of realism to the story. This book also brought to light a lot of the hypocrisy and scams of the Catholic church and it was also interesting to see the state of medicine at that time, mentions of black bile etc.

The first book of the Shardlake series. It takes us back to the 16th century, during the reign of King Henry VIII after Queen Jane just died. Personally, I enjoy this time period a lot! I've mainly seen the English Reformation from the POV of the royals, but haven't really dived into what that meant for the citizens, how the reformation took place. Thomas Cromwell sends Matthew Shardlake to a monastery to investigate the murder of master Singleton, a commissioner Lord Cromwell sent before.
A lot of the hypocrisy and scams of the Catholic church were described in this book. It's also interesting to see the state of medicine at that time, mentions of black bile etc. Matthew is described to be a hunchback. In earlier times, people believed that touching a hunchback will bring ill-fortune. He can be very generous at some times, but also harsh especially towards people he envies. I really liked his character! He wasn't without his flaws and that brings a lot of realism to the story.

Matthew starts off with Lord Cromwell and Mark Poer at his side, but ends up alone. At the beginning he was a convinced reformist, but at the end of the book he sees both sides and decides to be neither a reformist nor a papist. The killer is shown to be the former lover of Mark Smeaton, the boy who got wrongly executed for treason and adultery with Queen Anne. He was the scapegoat and Alice decided to get revenge. Shardlake always thought Lord Cromwell to behave morally and was happy to be a part of the Reformation. But everything that happened showed him that it isn't black or white, Cromwell wants to see results by any means necessary. Eventually Shardlake's firm believes are also dissolved.

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