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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
I'm starting to become quite the avid mystery reader and this book satiated every bit of my hunger for a good mystery novel. Although I was a bit thrown off by the two different worlds that are talked about and how everything fits into the current day world from the book, I loved all of the twists and turns and small clues to help you along. Also, the cliff-hangers! Anyway, I will be looking for more Anthony Horowitz books - big fan now!
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
This book is a perfect example of why I am a do or die book reader. If I was not patient, and if I wasn't reading this mystery for a book club I would have stopped reading a third of the way in, or halfway through. Here I am giving this book four stars, because of its uniqueness.
I went back and forth on this book. I loved, as others did, the old English mystery with Atticus Puend. I was less interested in the story of Susan solving the larger arc. It did not ring as true to me. I think it is harder to write authentic story lines in modern situations than it is in the countryside, pre-internet and mobile everything.
The denouement was silly too.(no spoilers) I found myself saying 'x murdered y for that reason?' It's kind of up there with Dr. Evil wanting $1million dollars in the modern era. It might have worked once, but it didn't actually make sense. Unless that is Horowitz' point. I was struck by conversation Susan had with Detective Lock. The whole book seemed to revolve around that conversation. Not the plot. It didn't really affect the plot. But there was more to this book than a plot. It was meta, and trying to be meta, and making you wonder how much we were getting a third layer of Horowitz mimicking his own life through Conway and into the book within a book. He even tried that on a bit in his afterward. And yet, while I see how clever he is, I also want to say - look, if you're really interested in having fun with language, go check out the Oulipo. Now those folks take this stuff seriously. On the other hand, if you're writing whodunnits then let us just enjoy our mystery and our bit of fun. Let us get lost in the story and the puzzle. Those asides into the outside world lurking at the edges aren't fun, they don't really add anything and they seem to be there mostly for the author's conceit. And the whole point of this book is how the author's ego spoils everyone else's fun, innit?
The denouement was silly too.(no spoilers) I found myself saying 'x murdered y for that reason?' It's kind of up there with Dr. Evil wanting $1million dollars in the modern era. It might have worked once, but it didn't actually make sense. Unless that is Horowitz' point. I was struck by conversation Susan had with Detective Lock. The whole book seemed to revolve around that conversation. Not the plot. It didn't really affect the plot. But there was more to this book than a plot. It was meta, and trying to be meta, and making you wonder how much we were getting a third layer of Horowitz mimicking his own life through Conway and into the book within a book. He even tried that on a bit in his afterward. And yet, while I see how clever he is, I also want to say - look, if you're really interested in having fun with language, go check out the Oulipo. Now those folks take this stuff seriously. On the other hand, if you're writing whodunnits then let us just enjoy our mystery and our bit of fun. Let us get lost in the story and the puzzle. Those asides into the outside world lurking at the edges aren't fun, they don't really add anything and they seem to be there mostly for the author's conceit. And the whole point of this book is how the author's ego spoils everyone else's fun, innit?
Can you like a book that you didn’t read half of? Cause that’s kind of how I’m feeling. I skipped about 100 pages and spoiled myself because I just go so bored.
Magpie Murders was a book within a book. You get to read a murder mystery about a fictional detective named Atticus Pund and then read about the real life murder mystery of the author who wrote the Atticus Pund novels.
I loved the Pund murder mystery. I liked the whole kit and kaboodle. The characters, the murder, the setting; it was all really good. It made me wish that Alan Conway was a real person who had published several books about Atticus Pund. I was enjoying the book up until it switched the real murder mystery of Alan Conway.
I just didn’t want to read about him. I didn’t care. I was already too invested in the Pund plot to care about what happened outside of that. I thought my need to have a conclusion to who killed Sir Magnus would propel me to read or become interested in what was happening but it didn’t. I got bored of Susan and her life. I got bored of how shitty a person Alan was and how many people had the motivation to kill him.
In fact, I don’t know who killed him. I quit reading after the chapter “The Funeral” and skipped all the way to the end to get my closure for the Pund plot. I wasn’t disappointed at all. From start to beginning the Pund murder mystery was a really fun, engaging read. To cut it off abruptly and try to make the reader focus on something else is hard to do and it just didn’t do it for me.
Had the book been just Alan Conway’s Magpie Murders, I would’ve given the book 5 stars. But it had all that other bullshit that I couldn’t force myself to care about. I don’t think I’d recommend this because, at some point, it became a chore to read.
Magpie Murders was a book within a book. You get to read a murder mystery about a fictional detective named Atticus Pund and then read about the real life murder mystery of the author who wrote the Atticus Pund novels.
I loved the Pund murder mystery. I liked the whole kit and kaboodle. The characters, the murder, the setting; it was all really good. It made me wish that Alan Conway was a real person who had published several books about Atticus Pund. I was enjoying the book up until it switched the real murder mystery of Alan Conway.
I just didn’t want to read about him. I didn’t care. I was already too invested in the Pund plot to care about what happened outside of that. I thought my need to have a conclusion to who killed Sir Magnus would propel me to read or become interested in what was happening but it didn’t. I got bored of Susan and her life. I got bored of how shitty a person Alan was and how many people had the motivation to kill him.
In fact, I don’t know who killed him. I quit reading after the chapter “The Funeral” and skipped all the way to the end to get my closure for the Pund plot. I wasn’t disappointed at all. From start to beginning the Pund murder mystery was a really fun, engaging read. To cut it off abruptly and try to make the reader focus on something else is hard to do and it just didn’t do it for me.
Had the book been just Alan Conway’s Magpie Murders, I would’ve given the book 5 stars. But it had all that other bullshit that I couldn’t force myself to care about. I don’t think I’d recommend this because, at some point, it became a chore to read.
This book was a great read for people who don't normally read whodoneits. I don't normally read this style of book, and I found that I really liked it. However, I can see some pitfalls if this is the normal type of book that you read.
1. This book does a lot of fan service. They reference Agatha Christie books endlessly. They talk about the classic authors and how characters in this book are stolen from those authors far too often. I didn't notice it during the first part of the book but as you progress they lay it out more plain. If you notice it earlier that part of the book may seem very repetitive.
2. This book should have been obvious on who the criminal was. I don't really read the murder mystery books so I didn't know what to look for, but after it was explained at the end, I felt that it was rather obvious. This means the book was either excellently executed, or wasn't really that good of a murder mystery.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I read it almost non-stop. However, if you read murder mystery a lot you may find my caveats above hold true and you may want to skip this one.
1. This book does a lot of fan service. They reference Agatha Christie books endlessly. They talk about the classic authors and how characters in this book are stolen from those authors far too often. I didn't notice it during the first part of the book but as you progress they lay it out more plain. If you notice it earlier that part of the book may seem very repetitive.
2. This book should have been obvious on who the criminal was. I don't really read the murder mystery books so I didn't know what to look for, but after it was explained at the end, I felt that it was rather obvious. This means the book was either excellently executed, or wasn't really that good of a murder mystery.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I read it almost non-stop. However, if you read murder mystery a lot you may find my caveats above hold true and you may want to skip this one.
mysterious
slow-paced