Reviews - Palast der Winde

179 reviews for:

I’m truly at a loss for words. Although parts of this were unnecessary or too long, it still stands as one of the greatest epic novels. Full of adventure, romance, action, and tragedy, this was totally worth reading. What an ending!!!!!

spiringvenus's review against another edition

3.0

I listened to this book via BBC’s full cast dramatization. I enjoyed it! I think the problem is that when it’s shortened it feels more like a war/spy novel than a romance. Interesting break from my typical reads.

maplessence's review against another edition

3.0

3.5★

When I finish my own review, I'm going to find & like the review where the reviewer packed it in about 160 pages from the finish. & I'm writing"like" when I mean applaud. This novel was more of an epic struggle than an enjoyable experience. 960 pages or not, I'm a fast, avid reader. No book should take me four months to read.

My reading progress really does the work of a review!

READING PROGRESS
08/21 page 42 4.0% "Instantly enthralled!"
08/25 page 97 10.0% "OK, I'm ready for Ash's childhood to be over!"
09/01 page 183 19.0%
09/06 page 258 26.0%
09/08 page 288 30.0%
09/15 page 316 32.0%
09/18 page 395 41.0% "Awesome ending to part 3!"
09/22 page 401 41.0%
09/25 page 467 48.0%
10/02 page 530 55.0%
10/20 page 570 59.0% "This is my Everest!"

10/30 page 614 63.0%
11/03 page 707 73.0%
11/27 page 720 75.0%
12/01 page 740 77.0%
12/04 page 798 83.0% "Part 7 is dragging..."
12/05 page 823 85.0% "My copy completely disintegrated - the middle has fallen out. Will make it easier to carry around half a book though!"
12/11 page 857 89.0%
12/15 page 874 91.0% "Lost interest."
12/18 page 902 93.0% "The end is in sight! I'm thinking this book being both a historical and (part of the time) a historical romance is what doesn't work for me."

There were some really enthralling bits (usually near the end of each part) and a lot that dragged. & like I wrote above, this book didn't manage to meld the historical and the historical romance parts successfully. & the cover of my copy [bc:The Far Pavilions|11865756|The Far Pavilions|M.M. Kaye|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1309245403s/11865756.jpg|114] had me expecting more romance. Yeah I know - not fair to the author, but this was my expectation.Sometimes Juli didn't appear for 100s of pages. The ending was wonderful, inspiring, awesome. But I don't think I will be trying Kaye's other chunksters. I have one of Kaye's children's books [bc:The Ordinary Princess|1128164|The Ordinary Princess|M.M. Kaye|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1374035340s/1128164.jpg|1114147] & one of her mysteries [bc:Death in Zanzibar|21067077|Death in Zanzibar|M.M. Kaye|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1500150839s/21067077.jpg|718421] which I think will suit me better.

Time to recognise that I don't usually like fiction that is longer than 450 pages!

shaekin's review against another edition

Sometimes I don't know how a book ends up on my list and this was one of those. I started it, didn't get far, and just realized it wasn't worth a 49 hour audio book. I'm sure it's not a bad book, but not for me.