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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I usually like Gregory's complex plots even though they can be overdone and not fully believable, but this mystery is just ridiculous; in the end we find out that everyone committed one crime or another, that there are at least 3 if not more different murderers and even more who are complicit...
Also, there's two other items that strung the wrong chord, and for which I would give any other book "2" or "1" stars out of 5, but I'm giving Gregory the benefit of a "3" because I love this series:
* the portrayal of de Lisle's daughter is just SO SEXIST it's completely ridiculous. She is idiotic, beautiful, has a "perfect body" as she so declares, and is just too crazy to be believable (she runs around trying to have sex with everyone, is subsequently called "easy", a "whore" and the like)... I've heard of people born with a lower mental capacity but I have never heard of someone with a low IQ but a perfect body who just walks around trying to jump into bed with everyone. And, the way the other characters treat her is just incredibly sexist, they are all exasperated, annoyed, ugh. NO, Gregory. NO. I couldn't believe a WOMAN wrote this character.
* at times throughout the novel, the story jumped to Michael. This is a HUGE disruption in narrative, as for 7.5 books, the narrator only ever tells us what Matthew does. Yet in this one, we are told about Michael does without Matthew, and it's REALLY discongruent.
Also, there's two other items that strung the wrong chord, and for which I would give any other book "2" or "1" stars out of 5, but I'm giving Gregory the benefit of a "3" because I love this series:
* the portrayal of de Lisle's daughter is just SO SEXIST it's completely ridiculous. She is idiotic, beautiful, has a "perfect body" as she so declares, and is just too crazy to be believable (she runs around trying to have sex with everyone, is subsequently called "easy", a "whore" and the like)... I've heard of people born with a lower mental capacity but I have never heard of someone with a low IQ but a perfect body who just walks around trying to jump into bed with everyone. And, the way the other characters treat her is just incredibly sexist, they are all exasperated, annoyed, ugh. NO, Gregory. NO. I couldn't believe a WOMAN wrote this character.
* at times throughout the novel, the story jumped to Michael. This is a HUGE disruption in narrative, as for 7.5 books, the narrator only ever tells us what Matthew does. Yet in this one, we are told about Michael does without Matthew, and it's REALLY discongruent.
Well, it's been 8 days and two books since I read it, and I now can remember nothing about what happened. A bunch of people probably died? And monks were probably shown to be at least as flawed as the townspeople? I remember enjoying reading it, though.
This was leisurely... Super leisurely, 500 pages worth of leisurely. I don't think there was enough twists and turns to warrant 500 pages, I skipped 50 or so only to find nothing had happened and I'd not missed anything.
Maybe a better editor. Gregory also needs to work on the dialogue between characters which I don't find convincing myself.
Apart from that, good holiday read and interesting discovering more about Ely and the lives of monks.
Maybe a better editor. Gregory also needs to work on the dialogue between characters which I don't find convincing myself.
Apart from that, good holiday read and interesting discovering more about Ely and the lives of monks.
A good proportion of my enjoyment of these books is that they're set in the cities I know well and I particularly enjoyed the history of Ely as a pre-draining-of-the-fens small city dominated by religious buildings.
Without that personal connection, I probably would have docked a star.
Non-specific spoilers ahead: The mystery was convoluted and rested on a few weird coincidences. It feels like messy writing that characters were apparently convinced someone was crushed by falling masonry but then she were completely fine with not even a scratch. I can't really picture what that looks like: Was she visibly under a chunk of rock? If not, why didn't they check on her? If she was under at least some debris, how was she totally uninjured? Add to that, she was still & silent during the dramatic moment they all thought she'd died but luckily regained consciousness right at the dramatic/comic moment for the reveal... or that more than one hand to hand fights ended with both main protagonists totally unable to identify who they were fighting with. I get that medieval buildings are dark at night but there seemed to be a lot of plot-driven, witness-couldn't-quite-work-something-out-until-a-convenient-moment. Just a lot of coincidence.
Gregory continues to be a bit oddly concerned with characters overeating and how "grotesque" fat people are, and her depiction of a woman who is implied to have learning difficulties and enjoy sex is also problematic.
Despite all that, I'll probably continue to read a couple of these a year and enjoy the historical atmosphere
Without that personal connection, I probably would have docked a star.
Non-specific spoilers ahead: The mystery was convoluted and rested on a few weird coincidences. It feels like messy writing that characters were apparently convinced someone was crushed by falling masonry but then she were completely fine with not even a scratch. I can't really picture what that looks like: Was she visibly under a chunk of rock? If not, why didn't they check on her? If she was under at least some debris, how was she totally uninjured? Add to that, she was still & silent during the dramatic moment they all thought she'd died but luckily regained consciousness right at the dramatic/comic moment for the reveal... or that more than one hand to hand fights ended with both main protagonists totally unable to identify who they were fighting with. I get that medieval buildings are dark at night but there seemed to be a lot of plot-driven, witness-couldn't-quite-work-something-out-until-a-convenient-moment. Just a lot of coincidence.
Gregory continues to be a bit oddly concerned with characters overeating and how "grotesque" fat people are, and her depiction of a woman who is implied to have learning difficulties and enjoy sex is also problematic.
Despite all that, I'll probably continue to read a couple of these a year and enjoy the historical atmosphere
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No