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mariannehdonley's review
4.0
Very enjoyable.
Crisp Guest, a disgraced ex-knight, is a likable sleuth, as is his new found servant, Jack. I enjoyed reading this novel and look forward to reading the rest of the series.
Crisp Guest, a disgraced ex-knight, is a likable sleuth, as is his new found servant, Jack. I enjoyed reading this novel and look forward to reading the rest of the series.
ewil6681's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bryonie's review
2.0
I won this book some time ago as a Goodreads giveaway. It finally made it to the top of a pile, so I'm reading it now.
I have not read any of the other books in this series, but I think that's not a problem because this is a prequel.
That being said, I'm not even 15 pages in and I'm already at an impasse. This is a medieval mystery. I like mysteries. I like medieval. What could go wrong? Well, SCIENCE can go wrong. You see, I like forensics. I've taken a couple MOOC forensic courses. I'm by no means even the slightest bit an expert in this field, but I do know a little more than the average person. And I do know that rigor mortis as a concept was foreign to them in the 14th century. It's something that wasn't 'discovered' until the 1800s. So having Crispin mention it is a major faux pas.
Now that I'm done with the book, here's my overall thoughts.
Throughout the book, the voice of the characters was inconsistent. Especially Jack. Sometimes it's normal (closer to 21st century) conversational voice, and sometimes it's broken slang. It was annoying.
The addition of a couple LGBTQ+ characters felt forced. It was almost as if the author was trying to just jump on the bandwagon. They added nothing to the overall plot.
As a mystery, it was pretty poorly done. It's almost as if the author went with the whole idea that poison was predominantly a female's choice for murder and that was it. As soon as poison was mentioned, I KNEW who the killer was, and had to slog through 200 pages to be told I was right. There were no 'clues' per se. There were no red herrings (okay, maybe one, since there were two women involved). Crispin himself doesn't really investigate as much as he has shit happen to him. And the whole grail being hidden in plain sight thing the whole time? Yawn. I was unimpressed.
I have not read any of the other books in this series, but I think that's not a problem because this is a prequel.
That being said, I'm not even 15 pages in and I'm already at an impasse. This is a medieval mystery. I like mysteries. I like medieval. What could go wrong? Well, SCIENCE can go wrong. You see, I like forensics. I've taken a couple MOOC forensic courses. I'm by no means even the slightest bit an expert in this field, but I do know a little more than the average person. And I do know that rigor mortis as a concept was foreign to them in the 14th century. It's something that wasn't 'discovered' until the 1800s. So having Crispin mention it is a major faux pas.
Now that I'm done with the book, here's my overall thoughts.
Throughout the book, the voice of the characters was inconsistent. Especially Jack. Sometimes it's normal (closer to 21st century) conversational voice, and sometimes it's broken slang. It was annoying.
The addition of a couple LGBTQ+ characters felt forced. It was almost as if the author was trying to just jump on the bandwagon. They added nothing to the overall plot.
As a mystery, it was pretty poorly done.
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