Reviews

The Sibyl in Her Grave by Sarah Caudwell

roshk99's review against another edition

4.0

Another excellent Sarah Caudwell that has language very reminiscent of P.G. Wodehouse. Witty language make the adventures of Hilary and his band of intrepid lawyers somehow make legal language entertaining while solving a mystery.

canadianbookworm's review against another edition

dark funny informative mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

https://cdnbookworm.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-sibyl-in-her-grave.html

tombomp's review against another edition

5.0

A brilliant ending to a brilliant series. I've been giving the books 4 stars out of some weird feeling that 5stars requires a "literaryness" but I felt that 5stars was deserved for a series that's been my most enjoyable reading in a long while. I'm just sad there's no more. The book is funny, has great dialogue and character writing, is tense, interesting references which aren't confusing if you don't know them, a well written gay relationship, has a bunch of twists but none which seem forced or completely unexpected - again i don't think you can work out the whole thing before the end but you can do a good job i think and there's some clever misdirection. The ending wraps this up nicely. A great, great book that I highly recommend if you enjoy mysteries, and the rest of the series too.

belovedsnail's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

I liked so much of this! But sadly the epistolary format made it tedious and confusing for me. 

quietjenn's review against another edition

5.0

The last book in this series - a mere quartet, to my everlasting sadness. And it was my favorite to boot, which makes it all the more tragic. But it's so entertaining and witty and smart and I suspect these books are very re-readable.

charlielovesbooks's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

wordnerdy's review against another edition

4.0

https://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2020/12/2020-book-228.html

I accidentally read the fourth book third, but I don’t think it made a huge difference. There is not a lot of plot continuity from book to book, and the characters remain the same. The story here involves a small town, a fortune teller, insider trading, and more lawyers having long lunches. Another very enjoyable read, for sure. A/A-.

lesbianwitchelf's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

My second pick for what might be the best of the series. Admittedly the weakest plotting of the series but to make up for that you have the gayest book yet and one with more heart. 

claredragonfly's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

tc4mpbell's review against another edition

3.0

Enjoyable. Witty prose of the pleasantly rambling British sort. Mostly told through extraordinarily long letters — I like to imagine this struck the author as funny, and it is, in a very dry way.

The group surrounding the narrator (Selena and Julia and so on) feel somewhat indistinguishable, but the characters involved in the mystery are interesting.

Would I read others by the author? Sure, if I stumble across them, but I probably won’t seek them out.