Reviews

A Rare Benedictine by Ellis Peters

captlychee's review against another edition

4.0

The introduction by Ellis Peters, from 1988, is a very useful one. The short stories are also good, one because it explains how and why Cadfael arrived at the monastery of St Peter and St Paul and the others because they are a mystery story in a shorter format, with less room for red herrings than the novels, so I could have a shot at beating Cadfael to the solution. I failed, but any other readers should have a try.

The other good aspect of this is how well Ellis Peters describes women. Probably only second to [a:Tolkien|20672147|Tolkien|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] in being able to describe beautiful women in a beautiful way.

dreaming_ace's review against another edition

4.0

A collection of fun little bite-sized Cadfael Mysteries.

marg89's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

defale's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

applegnreads's review against another edition

3.0

Includes the story of how Cadfael becomes a monk and a few other short mysteries starring our monk.

momsterlee's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

dominic_piacentini's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

1.75

Boring as hell. This is not Cadfael. Ellis Peters mistook him for this uptight, tedious, and dogmatic doppelgänger. This is the shadow of Cadfael. This is William Wilson in a Benedictine habit. 

anaidelawless's review against another edition

3.0

This was really interesting. I started this because I needed to fulfil a prompt to a certain readathon I am taking part of and I will continue with at least one or two instalments and then maybe if I like it I will read the whole series.

soniapage's review against another edition

4.0

I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more detail about why he entered the Benedictine monastery and his early years there, especially how he happened to become the herbalist. However, the three short stories had interesting plots and it was worth reading.

aimeesbookishlife's review against another edition

3.0

Bit annoyed that there are only three stories in the collection, which Amazon didn't make clear on the Kindle listing. The majority of the pages are taken up with a section of the first Cadfael book, which I had already read.