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2.94 AVERAGE
2.94 AVERAGE
lilkim714's review
1.0
http://www.girllostinabook.com/2014/05/review-opening-night-murder-by-anne.html
elisability's review
2.0
In Restoration England, Suzanne Thornton, a former whore, is left alone with her eighteen-year-old son Piers when her guardian Wiliam runs away. She eventually borrows money from her former lover returned from the continent, Daniel, to restore the Globe Theatre and put on plays for the low classes of London. Eventually they open, and in the middle of the play, William falls onto the stage with a crossbow bolt through his throat. Suzanne is accused, Piers is set to hang, and Suzanne has to solve the mystery to save her son’s life.
Okay, to be clear, the only reason I picked this up is because it fit the “amateur detective” challenge in this year’s Popsugar. But although this is advertised as a murder mystery, the actual murder only happens somewhere halfway through the book. All the beginning is spent on the establishment on the Globe and the meeting of characters. Maybe this formula is different in the other books of the series (this was the first one), but I certainly won’t be reading them to find out.
One major thing that irritated me is that it was meant to be a historical novel, but it felt too full of anachronisms. Their first names, the ways they behaved and talked, even some expressions used in the narration. I was constantly pulling out my cellphone to check on the origin of this expression or that word to see if it was likely they’d use it in Restoration England. And speaking of pulling out cellphones, I regularly expected the characters to pull out some of their own, until some forceful mention of a corset or a vizard or pattens reminded me when we were supposed to be.
Oh and I saw the conclusion coming a mile away. Though I still think there’s a glaring error in it.
All in all, not recommended.
Okay, to be clear, the only reason I picked this up is because it fit the “amateur detective” challenge in this year’s Popsugar. But although this is advertised as a murder mystery, the actual murder only happens somewhere halfway through the book. All the beginning is spent on the establishment on the Globe and the meeting of characters. Maybe this formula is different in the other books of the series (this was the first one), but I certainly won’t be reading them to find out.
One major thing that irritated me is that it was meant to be a historical novel, but it felt too full of anachronisms. Their first names, the ways they behaved and talked, even some expressions used in the narration. I was constantly pulling out my cellphone to check on the origin of this expression or that word to see if it was likely they’d use it in Restoration England. And speaking of pulling out cellphones, I regularly expected the characters to pull out some of their own, until some forceful mention of a corset or a vizard or pattens reminded me when we were supposed to be.
Oh and I saw the conclusion coming a mile away. Though I still think there’s a glaring error in it.
All in all, not recommended.
bookhussy's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
mfeibel's review
2.0
The setting was really intriguing. As someone who loves mystery, Shakespeare, and theater, it seemed really promising. But far too much exposition and a rather lame mystery meant that I was underwhelmed.
kaeritha's review
2.0
The author writes well and interestingly. But. This book desperately needed a better editor.
For a book entitled "The Opening Night Murder" the story thus far has had next to nothing to do with opening nights OR murder. The prologue describes the titular opening night murder. And that's it. No more, nada, zip, zero.
Two sentences into Chapter 1, I had to flip back to the prologue and make sure that this was, in fact, the same main character that was in the prologue. It was so I went back to Ch. 1 and kept reading. I wasn't sure if the story had jumped forward or back in time and was unsure for several more pages. Then it became apparent that the author had jumped back quite a number of years and we were getting character backstory.
It was interesting and well written and fooled me into thinking it was actually relevant to the plot. I'm at Chapter 7 now and 30% of the way through the book and we have *finally* almost caught up with the prologue. Though at the rate this book is going it'll be several more chapters yet. And I have yet to have read anything that would make the 6 chapters of backstory relevant in any way to the plot. Of course, that's probably because there hasn't BEEN any plot for the entire book up to this point.
I fully intend to finish this. Like I mentioned at the beginning, the author writes well and the backstory is interesting, just completely unnecessary and, in my opinion, betrays the author's promise to the reader of delivering a murder mystery.
For a book entitled "The Opening Night Murder" the story thus far has had next to nothing to do with opening nights OR murder. The prologue describes the titular opening night murder. And that's it. No more, nada, zip, zero.
Two sentences into Chapter 1, I had to flip back to the prologue and make sure that this was, in fact, the same main character that was in the prologue. It was so I went back to Ch. 1 and kept reading. I wasn't sure if the story had jumped forward or back in time and was unsure for several more pages. Then it became apparent that the author had jumped back quite a number of years and we were getting character backstory.
It was interesting and well written and fooled me into thinking it was actually relevant to the plot. I'm at Chapter 7 now and 30% of the way through the book and we have *finally* almost caught up with the prologue. Though at the rate this book is going it'll be several more chapters yet. And I have yet to have read anything that would make the 6 chapters of backstory relevant in any way to the plot. Of course, that's probably because there hasn't BEEN any plot for the entire book up to this point.
I fully intend to finish this. Like I mentioned at the beginning, the author writes well and the backstory is interesting, just completely unnecessary and, in my opinion, betrays the author's promise to the reader of delivering a murder mystery.