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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
2.5 stars
I've been in a bit of a reading slump which may have contributed to my somewhat tepid opinion of this book. It was... fine, but nothing particularly interesting.
A Morbid Taste for Bones takes place in Medieval England where Brother Cadfael, a Brother of the Shrewsbury Abbey goes along with other members of the abbey to Wales in order to unearth some bones of a dead saint for "glory of God" or something along those lines. There are a lot of conflicting opinions, and the villagers aren't too keen on some random abbey coming along and unearthing their saint.
When an influential member of the village expresses his opposition to moving the saint's remains, he's then found dead, which leads to Cadfael trying to figure out what really went down. This story is a short one, and complete with romantic drama and plenty of shenanigans. I just found it to be really slow, especially for such a short book.
It took me a while to get all of the characters straight (and even by the end I wasn't exactly sure of who everyone was.) It was fine. Serviceable, not too heavy. There were aspects of the story I liked but in the end I just didn't care too much for the story and I think a lot of that had to do with the way it was told. The writing was a bit hard for me to follow, which very well could have been a me problem, but it still made it harder for me to really enjoy the book.
I did appreciate Cadfael and Sioned's characters, but it wasn't quite enough to carry this book for me unfortunately.
I've been in a bit of a reading slump which may have contributed to my somewhat tepid opinion of this book. It was... fine, but nothing particularly interesting.
A Morbid Taste for Bones takes place in Medieval England where Brother Cadfael, a Brother of the Shrewsbury Abbey goes along with other members of the abbey to Wales in order to unearth some bones of a dead saint for "glory of God" or something along those lines. There are a lot of conflicting opinions, and the villagers aren't too keen on some random abbey coming along and unearthing their saint.
When an influential member of the village expresses his opposition to moving the saint's remains, he's then found dead, which leads to Cadfael trying to figure out what really went down. This story is a short one, and complete with romantic drama and plenty of shenanigans. I just found it to be really slow, especially for such a short book.
It took me a while to get all of the characters straight (and even by the end I wasn't exactly sure of who everyone was.) It was fine. Serviceable, not too heavy. There were aspects of the story I liked but in the end I just didn't care too much for the story and I think a lot of that had to do with the way it was told. The writing was a bit hard for me to follow, which very well could have been a me problem, but it still made it harder for me to really enjoy the book.
I did appreciate Cadfael and Sioned's characters, but it wasn't quite enough to carry this book for me unfortunately.
Pretty slow paced; a common symptom for many first installments in ongoing series. But with enough humour and attention to detail, so I will probably revisit brother Cadfael's Welsh medieval world of mysterie.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
This concept is fantastic: a 12th century Welsh monk solves a murder. While the mystery was fairly basic, this book provided an interesting glimpse into life in 12th century England/Wales, & I enjoyed Cadfael’s humor.
March 2020:
I love, love the lushness with which Ellis Peters describes medieval people and the clothes they wear and the places they inhabit. It may be simplistic but at times I almost couldn't stand it because of how much I wanted to be there, and how much I wanted to get across similar things in my own writing.
Original review:
I quite enjoyed this. It was slow at times, no great feat of literary excellence, and relied a bit heavily on racial (Norman/Saxon/Welsh) stereotypes at times, but I found it hard to care. (Considering I spent a good half of the book trying to convince myself the sole Saxon was innocent, one can see why that last offense failed to bother me overmuch. I have issues.) I guessed half but not all of the mystery.
I'm surprised at how well I feel like I know lots of the characters involved, despite the short length, and I guess that's a good thing.
Mostly, I just really liked a treatment of medieval people and times that was neither overly modernizing or dehumanizing. Much like studying the history of Saints itself, it leaves some stuff up for grabs. Who knows?
I love, love the lushness with which Ellis Peters describes medieval people and the clothes they wear and the places they inhabit. It may be simplistic but at times I almost couldn't stand it because of how much I wanted to be there, and how much I wanted to get across similar things in my own writing.
Original review:
I quite enjoyed this. It was slow at times, no great feat of literary excellence, and relied a bit heavily on racial (Norman/Saxon/Welsh) stereotypes at times, but I found it hard to care. (Considering I spent a good half of the book trying to convince myself the sole Saxon was innocent, one can see why that last offense failed to bother me overmuch. I have issues.) I guessed half but not all of the mystery.
I'm surprised at how well I feel like I know lots of the characters involved, despite the short length, and I guess that's a good thing.
Mostly, I just really liked a treatment of medieval people and times that was neither overly modernizing or dehumanizing. Much like studying the history of Saints itself, it leaves some stuff up for grabs. Who knows?