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sjruskin's review
Okay, I really don't think I can finish this one. It is a good story, but the killing is just brutal and it is against children. I really like the time period and the bit of history that I am get to live through, but I can only take so much violence against children and I am really getting creeped out.
janko27's review against another edition
2.0
Couldn't get through it and abandoned it about 150 pages in. I guess historical fiction isn't my thing - even though the premise of the book sounded interesting, I couldn't get into the language and flow of writing.
susannareads's review against another edition
2.0
I honestly only finished this book because by the time I realized it wasn’t going to get any better, I was already halfway through. The mystery wasn’t particularly mysterious, the characters weren’t particularly compelling, and the staccato writing style was just not for me. Would not recommend.
desirosie's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not sure what to say about this book. The setting and time were very interesting and the pacing and characters were interesting and compelling. But the premise really squicked me out, and when I finished I was pretty distressed by the depravity of it all. I think that's the product of being a mother. If it weren't *children* it wouldn't have bothered me in the same way.
drey72's review against another edition
3.0
Jean Zimmerman’s The Orphanmaster is a story set in seventeenth-century Manhattan, then known as New Amsterdam. Life is hard and rough, war with England looms, and now children are disappearing.
In this New Amsterdam, Blandine von Couvering is trying to build a reputation – and a fortune – for herself as a trader. With no family, it’s sink or swim on her own – or marry her suitor Kees, who happens to be the nephew of New Amsterdam’s dictatorial director-general. She’s a pretty cool character, is Blandine. She’s independent in an era where independent women are frowned upon. She’s trying to make it in a man’s world, with no money or family connections. And she gets involved in the mystery surrounding the missing children because she just can’t help herself, especially when the suspected killer could be someone she knows…
What she finds is gruesome indeed. The children that have been found are dead, and left in horrific ritualistic settings. PSA: This book is not for the faint of heart, even if you love historical fiction. “Gruesome” was not an understatement.
The imagery is vivid and descriptive, and shows the amount of research Zimmerman put into this story. The supporting cast of characters are diverse and vary from Africans living outside New Amsterdam, to the natives who trade with the community, to the Dutch who make up the community itself. Oh, and let’s not forget Richard Drummond, who’s in the New World to do a little hunting for His Majesty the King. The English King, that is.
So. We have a villain on the loose. Dead children littering the streets. An orphaned heroine trying to make it on her own. A King’s man in a Dutch community. And a hunter seeing visions. All of which should add up to a riveting, engrossing story. And if it would’ve been a little shorter, maybe, or slightly more condensed, it would’ve been. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a pretty good story. But you’ll want to skip the slow parts.
drey’s rating: Pick it up!
In this New Amsterdam, Blandine von Couvering is trying to build a reputation – and a fortune – for herself as a trader. With no family, it’s sink or swim on her own – or marry her suitor Kees, who happens to be the nephew of New Amsterdam’s dictatorial director-general. She’s a pretty cool character, is Blandine. She’s independent in an era where independent women are frowned upon. She’s trying to make it in a man’s world, with no money or family connections. And she gets involved in the mystery surrounding the missing children because she just can’t help herself, especially when the suspected killer could be someone she knows…
What she finds is gruesome indeed. The children that have been found are dead, and left in horrific ritualistic settings. PSA: This book is not for the faint of heart, even if you love historical fiction. “Gruesome” was not an understatement.
The imagery is vivid and descriptive, and shows the amount of research Zimmerman put into this story. The supporting cast of characters are diverse and vary from Africans living outside New Amsterdam, to the natives who trade with the community, to the Dutch who make up the community itself. Oh, and let’s not forget Richard Drummond, who’s in the New World to do a little hunting for His Majesty the King. The English King, that is.
So. We have a villain on the loose. Dead children littering the streets. An orphaned heroine trying to make it on her own. A King’s man in a Dutch community. And a hunter seeing visions. All of which should add up to a riveting, engrossing story. And if it would’ve been a little shorter, maybe, or slightly more condensed, it would’ve been. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a pretty good story. But you’ll want to skip the slow parts.
drey’s rating: Pick it up!
alyssa_tauber's review against another edition
2.0
"The Orphan Master" isn't awful, but it's not very good. The premise is interesting, and the writing itself is not awful, but the book is fairly predictable, quite forgettable, and none of the characters are engaging. For those who read with a critical eye, it also falls into a lot of post-colonial pitfalls -- the mixed-race character who gives into his "savage" side, the "good savage" who none the less still eats human flesh, the implication that a Caucasian woman is the better and true mother to a child rather than her actual mixed-race mother, etc. It also would cause some hair pulling for those who read with gender studies in mind with the male murderer who speaks in woman's voice and acts out motherly actions, as well as the implication that the female protagonist is captivating to men because she acts manly but, it is repeatedly stated, has a very "womanly" figure. These are things which lessen the novel.
ghromidko's review
1.0
The book started out okay. I didn't love the writing style right off the bat, but I could look past it, then about half way through the book I thought it was going to end... it didn't. The plot kept going on and on, and not in a good way. It dragged, I should have DNFed it to save me the trouble of struggling through the second half of the book.
karenllowe's review against another edition
2.0
Interesting premise but I found it sometimes awkward and long. While I believe the historical facts were probably well-researched, they seemed to get in the way of the story's progress. Overall, it was an enjoyable read, it could have been half as long to be more gripping and memorable.
mycouscous's review
3.0
Reading an ARC courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley.com.
Jean Zimmerman's historical mystery, The Orphanmaster, offers the reader a tantalizing glimpse into colonial New York (then New Amsterdam). As a whole it succeeds more as a period piece rather than a suspense story. Zimmerman's research and attention to detail crafts an entirely believable and engaging setting which comes alive whether the characters are in town or in the wild boundaries of the Dutch colony. However, Zimmerman sometimes unnecessarily shifts to the voice of an academic, expounding on historical detail beyond the scope of the book. It detracts from the focus of the story.
The main protagonist, Blandine, is a feisty, independent woman intent on keeping it that way: Zimmerman has made the most of the Dutch's progressive views towards colonial women of the time. The love story that arises has some grounding in the early chapters, yet almost feels sudden once it truly commences.
While the mythic figure of the witika is finely explained and fleshed out, there is a lack of puzzlement surrounding the circumstances. It's obvious pretty early on exactly who is behind the monstrous events, though Zimmerman inexpertly tries to shroud it shadow.
Upon reaching the end of the book, the reader will take away more about the day to day life in the colony rather than thrills and chills. For fans of historical fiction.
Jean Zimmerman's historical mystery, The Orphanmaster, offers the reader a tantalizing glimpse into colonial New York (then New Amsterdam). As a whole it succeeds more as a period piece rather than a suspense story. Zimmerman's research and attention to detail crafts an entirely believable and engaging setting which comes alive whether the characters are in town or in the wild boundaries of the Dutch colony. However, Zimmerman sometimes unnecessarily shifts to the voice of an academic, expounding on historical detail beyond the scope of the book. It detracts from the focus of the story.
The main protagonist, Blandine, is a feisty, independent woman intent on keeping it that way: Zimmerman has made the most of the Dutch's progressive views towards colonial women of the time. The love story that arises has some grounding in the early chapters, yet almost feels sudden once it truly commences.
While the mythic figure of the witika is finely explained and fleshed out, there is a lack of puzzlement surrounding the circumstances. It's obvious pretty early on exactly who is behind the monstrous events, though Zimmerman inexpertly tries to shroud it shadow.
Upon reaching the end of the book, the reader will take away more about the day to day life in the colony rather than thrills and chills. For fans of historical fiction.