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savsutka's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 rounding up!
I’m surprised to see the reviews on this are fairly low. Maybe I only liked it so much because I haven’t read a mystery in awhile so I really enjoyed it! I loved the format and found it clever. My only critique is that I felt like the stories didn’t have a completely resolved ending.
Thinking of revisiting this after reading some other mysteries to see what I think!
I’m surprised to see the reviews on this are fairly low. Maybe I only liked it so much because I haven’t read a mystery in awhile so I really enjoyed it! I loved the format and found it clever. My only critique is that I felt like the stories didn’t have a completely resolved ending.
Thinking of revisiting this after reading some other mysteries to see what I think!
sophie115's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
okuribi's review against another edition
3.0
I believe leaving completely the reading method up to each reader may have done a disservice to this story. There's spoilers in the LA story (red) if you read it first, including entire passages of journal pages read in the London story (blue). Also the LA story is way more connected to the London story than the London story really needs the LA one.
Other than this, I thought the idea was really unique. Overall a very pleasant read.
Other than this, I thought the idea was really unique. Overall a very pleasant read.
1000journals's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
af1010's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
lucie_chnrd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
L’énigme de Turnglass est un roman en deux parties qui sont liés. On suit les événements mystérieux d’une famille à deux époques différentes : 1881 ou Simeon tente de découvrir comment et pourquoi son oncle a été empoisonné puis 1939 ou Ken va enquêter sur la mort de son ami Oliver, dont la famille fait l’objet de plusieurs morts étranges.
C’était très sympa, le livre est prenant et on entre vite dans le récit et on voit au fil des pages comment tous les éléments sont liés, bref c’était cool.
C’était très sympa, le livre est prenant et on entre vite dans le récit et on voit au fil des pages comment tous les éléments sont liés, bref c’était cool.
ellyghost's review against another edition
2.0
This is a unique format for a book I have to say! One does not typically find a tête-bêche book at the bookstores these days and the fact that I never saw nor read one before made me pick it up out of curiousity. (also the fact that I do like me a really good crime mystery)
I had high expectations for this book, expecting the two stories to be two parts of a puzzle that could solve some deep dark secret of the murders in the book. Unfortunately I don't feel like it quite delivered that to me. In fact, I feel very let down by it.
I started by reading the blue side (for those who haven't read this, it's the arc that plays in the 1880s, England) and I have to say I did like it! Based on this part alone this would have been a 3.5 stars read for me. I finished it feeling like there was many loose ends and things left unanswered but I decided it might be something that could be revealed in the other half of this book.
I wouldn't say that was not the case, I indeed got my answer on why the blue side was like that but it felt kind of? Meaningless? It's a fun concept sure, the book is basically a tête-bêche within a tête-bêche but... the relevance of having it be in this format kind of eludes me? However that was not the reason why I didn't like the red side that much...
I will try to keep it short. The red side was kind of a disappointment to me. Ken's story was boring, many things that happened felt rushed and unexplored and I had a really hard time to care about the characters at all.
And if I'm being very honest the only person I cared about was Florence in the blue book.
The last nail in the coffin for me was the predictability of what happened regarding the murder of Oliver. And while being able to predict a mystery ahead of time isn't something bad and can be exciting in its own way...it was simply not the fun sort of predictability. I don't really know what to make of the villain here too. He is clearly a bad person, he shares Nazi ideals, and he talks like a disney villain.
I also can't get over how vividly we get a description of how badly the cops are treating Ken (ACAB!) vs the very shallow descriptions of Ken and Olivers friendship to the point of me wondering how deep that friendship really goes and why is Ken even doing this. Why was his (short??) acting career even mentioned? Other than advancing the plot? Ken had no personality for me, you barely know where he actually comes from and what HIS intentions are other than "oh this is my only friend here and I absolutely have to risk my neck for the guy I met like 5 times to prove that he would never commit suicide". I guess he is someone who wants to get into the show biz? Get popular quickly? Only to throw it out and forget about everything so he can stick his nose where it in fact does not belong? People telling Ken that he is "a mysterious guy" made me wonder where they even got that impression from.
All in all, the concept is cool the idea very interesting. It started with a big promise and fizzled out into a disappointing goop.
I had high expectations for this book, expecting the two stories to be two parts of a puzzle that could solve some deep dark secret of the murders in the book. Unfortunately I don't feel like it quite delivered that to me. In fact, I feel very let down by it.
I started by reading the blue side (for those who haven't read this, it's the arc that plays in the 1880s, England) and I have to say I did like it! Based on this part alone this would have been a 3.5 stars read for me. I finished it feeling like there was many loose ends and things left unanswered but I decided it might be something that could be revealed in the other half of this book.
I wouldn't say that was not the case, I indeed got my answer on why the blue side was like that but it felt kind of? Meaningless? It's a fun concept sure, the book is basically a tête-bêche within a tête-bêche but... the relevance of having it be in this format kind of eludes me? However that was not the reason why I didn't like the red side that much...
I will try to keep it short. The red side was kind of a disappointment to me. Ken's story was boring, many things that happened felt rushed and unexplored and I had a really hard time to care about the characters at all.
And if I'm being very honest the only person I cared about was Florence in the blue book.
The last nail in the coffin for me was the predictability of what happened regarding the murder of Oliver. And while being able to predict a mystery ahead of time isn't something bad and can be exciting in its own way...it was simply not the fun sort of predictability. I don't really know what to make of the villain here too. He is clearly a bad person, he shares Nazi ideals, and he talks like a disney villain.
I also can't get over how vividly we get a description of how badly the cops are treating Ken (ACAB!) vs the very shallow descriptions of Ken and Olivers friendship to the point of me wondering how deep that friendship really goes and why is Ken even doing this. Why was his (short??) acting career even mentioned? Other than advancing the plot? Ken had no personality for me, you barely know where he actually comes from and what HIS intentions are other than "oh this is my only friend here and I absolutely have to risk my neck for the guy I met like 5 times to prove that he would never commit suicide". I guess he is someone who wants to get into the show biz? Get popular quickly? Only to throw it out and forget about everything so he can stick his nose where it in fact does not belong? People telling Ken that he is "a mysterious guy" made me wonder where they even got that impression from.
All in all, the concept is cool the idea very interesting. It started with a big promise and fizzled out into a disappointing goop.
astropxel's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
ellie_estelle's review against another edition
4.0
This is my first tête-bêche novel and I was so intrigued by the concept that I couldn’t wait to get started. I will say I adored the first side of the Turnglass as it was much more similar to stories that I gravitate towards, a gothic English mystery in comparison to the American hard-boil crime style of the second half.
I do think that this structure lended itself to my enjoyment and how instead of a big dramatic twist/explanation towards the end, the novel developed giving you a new insight to the mystery through every chapter.
I do think that this structure lended itself to my enjoyment and how instead of a big dramatic twist/explanation towards the end, the novel developed giving you a new insight to the mystery through every chapter.