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kah's review
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
in2reading's review against another edition
4.0
As I finished number 2 in the Granchester Mysteries series, I see that the books are able to reflect much more of Sidney Chambers' interior life and that the television series has taken the characters in some different directions. I appreciate both the show and the books, and will continue with both.
lvrock's review
4.0
Ah, I love Canon Chambers. The short mysteries are perfect, and I appreciate the fact they take place over an extended period of time. Thus, years pass throughout these novels. A good reminder that life is not one highlight after another, but rather monotonous with highlights sprinkled in.
Definitely would recommend to people who like mysteries and like British novels.
Definitely would recommend to people who like mysteries and like British novels.
b00kr3vi3ws's review against another edition
3.0
The Perils of the Night is the second book in the Grantchester Mysteries series. Having read and enjoyed two Grantchester Mysteries before picking this one up, I had much expectations from this book.
By now we know Sidney Chambers quite a bit. He is a clergyman who has a knack for getting involved and solving mysteries around him. His personal relationships (Hildegard / Amanda) and his background in the army add to the character development. I was glad when Sidney finally makes decision on his relationship front as the triangle here just wasn’t working for me. I have enjoyed the many shades of Sidney Chambers so far and he feels real even in the fiction world. His sensitivity is something that makes him endearing to everyone. Perils of the Night bring together another collection of short stories. This time too, the stories range from murder to arson to spy thriller. I am starting to like the variety that the author consistently provides in each of his books. Sidney surprises everyone with his ways around the cases and especially loved the story where he is mistaken for a spy. However, while the leisurely mannerisms of the series felt charming towards the beginning, three books down it seems to be losing that charm. I wish the plots would call for some more urgency.
I am looking forward to watching the second season of the Grantchester TV series. They had made some changes in the first season and I had enjoyed both the book & the tv series equally. Let us see if it will be the same case this time around.
By now we know Sidney Chambers quite a bit. He is a clergyman who has a knack for getting involved and solving mysteries around him. His personal relationships (Hildegard / Amanda) and his background in the army add to the character development. I was glad when Sidney finally makes decision on his relationship front as the triangle here just wasn’t working for me. I have enjoyed the many shades of Sidney Chambers so far and he feels real even in the fiction world. His sensitivity is something that makes him endearing to everyone. Perils of the Night bring together another collection of short stories. This time too, the stories range from murder to arson to spy thriller. I am starting to like the variety that the author consistently provides in each of his books. Sidney surprises everyone with his ways around the cases and especially loved the story where he is mistaken for a spy. However, while the leisurely mannerisms of the series felt charming towards the beginning, three books down it seems to be losing that charm. I wish the plots would call for some more urgency.
I am looking forward to watching the second season of the Grantchester TV series. They had made some changes in the first season and I had enjoyed both the book & the tv series equally. Let us see if it will be the same case this time around.
verityw's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this. I like the episodic nature of the book and although it covers quite a long period of time (compared to other similar books) it really works. I was worried about how the love triangle (if you can call it that) was going to work out, but I was pleased with how it went - and I'm now looking forward to the next book in the series to see what happens next!
A lovely change after the last couple of books I've read on this run of nights which have almost given me the pip!
A lovely change after the last couple of books I've read on this run of nights which have almost given me the pip!
bucherca49's review against another edition
4.0
The Grantchester books are so much better than the series (at least, I really enjoyed volumes 1 and 2 more than Series 2 of the dramatization). They have much more introspection. They are more caring. I did like James Norton's "Sidney," but so much of the TV series was overblown and over-the-top. I loved the references to specific music in the chapters involving Hildegard.
mrs_merdle's review against another edition
3.0
I just described to my husband that reading this book was kind of like driving on a dirt road in spring - you're sailing along on a dry road and all of a sudden you're churning in an unexpected patch of deep mud, unable to get much of anywhere. In other words, there were bits I liked very much, with ingenious (if slightly unbelievable - but no worse than Agatha Christie) crimes and intriguing characters, and then there were parts I had a heck of a time even understanding, let alone getting through (and I'm not even talking about the chapter devoted to cricket, which had many sentences like this one: "The innings ended when Zafar Ali, their Indian spinner, was out for a duck, his middle stump ripped clean out of the ground by a snorter from Walsh." That to me is charming, if incomprehensible.). The main thing to me, is that Sidney Chambers himself is inconsistent. Sometimes he is stiff and humorless, and sometimes he is open and easy - and I admit that that is perfectly possible in reality, but hard to reconcile in a fictional character. He often reacts to things like a much older man than the thirty-something he is supposed to be.
The last chapter threw me, as well - most of the book is very much in cozy English mystery land, and then all of a sudden Sidney is being interrogated in a prison in Leipzig, Germany. Huh.
Oh, and the author seems to have a definite interest in describing women's clothing. More detail than I needed (champagne background with white dots? A "large cape collar that stood away from the throat, with unpadded low-set shoulders, and a silhouette tapered to give an oval effect."?).
Well, I've gone on about this long enough I think. You get the idea.
The last chapter threw me, as well - most of the book is very much in cozy English mystery land, and then all of a sudden Sidney is being interrogated in a prison in Leipzig, Germany. Huh.
Oh, and the author seems to have a definite interest in describing women's clothing. More detail than I needed (champagne background with white dots? A "large cape collar that stood away from the throat, with unpadded low-set shoulders, and a silhouette tapered to give an oval effect."?).
Well, I've gone on about this long enough I think. You get the idea.
rdebner's review against another edition
4.0
I was really surprised at the span of years covered by this second book in the series. The mysteries were all very different from each other, and it was nice to see at least one instance of crossover or continuation from one mystery to the last one in the book.
amicaepistularis's review
dark
funny
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5