Reviews

Prophecy by S.J. Parris

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didactylos's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

I have read two of the series now, they don’t get better. Improbability on improbability.

gfmatt's review against another edition

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4.0

Excellent. Parris's Giordano Bruno is fully drawn, making mistakes, dealing with conflicting needs and desires. We see the underside of Elizabethan London instead of the corridors of palaces as in most historical fiction. An absorbing read.

emilyh2606's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

ezza1637's review against another edition

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3.0

Closer to a 3.5 almost a 4 - I haven’t read many mystery style books before so it took me a while to get into, but I do like the idea of historical fiction and found the story really interesting, so I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the series! I need to go back and read the first book Heresy though, I got this book in a mystery box and didn’t know it was the second in a series until I looked it up, but it seemed fine to read this first and only had some allusions to the previous events

jacks_library68's review against another edition

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5.0

On to book #3, then need to buy #4, love, love, love this series. S. J. Parrish is AWESOME.

elusivity's review against another edition

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3.0

Audiobook.

Somehow, I found it hard to focus. Something about the way it is read, its denseness.. I am constantly finding, with a start, that my mind has wandered far away. All the names are confusing. It may be--well, probably is--that I've missed all kinds of historical nuances and details and verisimilitude of time and place, but truthful I was bored out of my mind and impatient for the plot to reveal itself.

The ending was a strange whimper.

Spoiler

It was a Scottish faction who wanted to defeat Queen Mary and put her son James on the throne, hence--trying to get rid of 2 birds with one stone--deliberately killing all these people and thereby (in the most convoluted fashion imaginable) exposing the Depose-Elizabeth plot.

Bruno certainly comes off an impetuous hot head and no where nearly as brilliant as he supposedly is throughout the story, constantly getting ambushed, losing evidence then nearly his life, and followed by all manner of people all over the place. Was it deliberate humor when, one time, this mysterious dude was following him and tried to strangle him to death but, in the middle of strangling, this other mysterious dude pops up to save him, scares away the first dude, then himself runs off mysteriously away!?

Clear winner if you love Elizabeth an England though.