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3.12 AVERAGE
3.12 AVERAGE
Some of the plot was very, very predictable - I guessed a few of the major changes early on. Other than that, it's not a bad "secret manuscript" type mystery (and better than most, if not all, of the DaVinciesque books).
Artistic thriller (i.e. "Da Vinci Code"-ish. . . damn that Dan Brown for writing a book that we must measure all other artistic thrillers against!). Are there really lost (and found) handwritten letters about Shakespeare?
Tried to read this for about a month and a half (2017). Didn't care enough about the characters or the plot to stick with it through the mopey misogyny or the "elizabethan" letters (they were italicized and lots of extra letters were added to make them 'seeme olde', but they were a TON of work to read).
I really enjoyed this book. I found it to be fast moving and the characters to be interesting. The story of a potential lost Shakespeare play was particularly interesting to me and I was satisfied with the ending and the twists provided at the conclusion. In addition, the audiobook version of this was very good - the narrator did an excellent job conveying voices of several different characters without sounding ridiculous.
This book was okay. There were many times when he (the narrator) went on describing how often he screwed other women a bit too much... it was really quite annoying and gave absolutely nothing to the story, so I don't know why it was made into such a big deal. It also contributed to me really disliking that character so disconnected from him in the story. Some parts (usually those) got really slow and were a bit of a slog to get through, but other parts of the story were rather interesting and I enjoyed those enough to keep going.
All the elements of a good thriller; Shakespearean historical mystery, ciphered letters, assumed identities, and more.
A whodunit of Shakespeare and manuscripts. It's tone reminded me of the film noir or Dashell Hammit genres.
This was without doubt one of the greater books I've read. What amazed me in the beginning was the layout, where it systematically shifted between three storylines. The older English was slightly though in the beginning (one of the storylines), but after a while it does get better. But what I also loved was how part of the story was told through what the character, Jake Mishkin, remembered while he was sitting at a computer writing about how he landed up in this mess. And I really loved the ending; it was a good was of rounding off the story after the thrill of the hunt.
Another great thing about this book was the character building, even though it may have been a bit much at some points. All in all it was a fantastic start, but slightly though to get through. It is a big book, there is plenty of old English which takes time to get the hang of, and there is perhaps more time put into the history of the characters than the story itself. But definitely a good read, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes mystery, treasure hunt and how strangers fate gets tangled up in one another (a-la The Da Vinci Code with a lot mot focus on the characters).
(But it has been a while since I actually read the book, and with time everything somehow gets better in my mind.) For those who are interested, I did write a more thoroughly review after I just read it, so check out:
http://thetaleofabook.blogspot.no/2013/08/the-book-of-air-and-shadows_14.html
Another great thing about this book was the character building, even though it may have been a bit much at some points. All in all it was a fantastic start, but slightly though to get through. It is a big book, there is plenty of old English which takes time to get the hang of, and there is perhaps more time put into the history of the characters than the story itself. But definitely a good read, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes mystery, treasure hunt and how strangers fate gets tangled up in one another (a-la The Da Vinci Code with a lot mot focus on the characters).
(But it has been a while since I actually read the book, and with time everything somehow gets better in my mind.) For those who are interested, I did write a more thoroughly review after I just read it, so check out:
http://thetaleofabook.blogspot.no/2013/08/the-book-of-air-and-shadows_14.html