Reviews

Company of Liars by Karen Maitland

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screechie's review against another edition

medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

More of an invisible companion’s pov on a relocation than an adventure tale. Investing enough that I kept picking it up & finished it, but not engrossing enough to keep me from putting it down & walking away for a few days. (Good for a few-chapters-at-a-time-read vs a binge-it-all-read). The antagonist is overly clear but the character development of everyone other than that person is well done.

Content Warnings

kinosthesia's review against another edition

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5.0

A thrilling book that had me gripped from start to finish! Set in the time of plague and climate change in 1348, the book tells the story of a group of travellers brought together by circumstance and desperation. Using the first person narrative the story unfolds little by little, each new event revealing facts until all the truths are revealed.

The ending seems a little more abrupt than it could have been, but the last few lines are 100% perfect.

aziraphale2000's review against another edition

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4.0

After reading about the monastic medieval world in "A Morbid Taste for a ones," the plague-ridden horrors of the travelers in "Company of Liars" was quite a contrast.

Complaints. Some of the characters held anachronistic, I feel, views about the relationship between man and church, homosexuality, and incest. I felt the plot drag a bit toward the penultimate battle between our narrator and his final foe. It was also annoying to hear the author lecture us through her characters a few times.

These complaints, though, are really minor. I enjoyed this macabre journey through Maitland's meticulously researched medieval England.

dlk77's review against another edition

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1.0

Frustrating. If you have a malevolent character the least you can do is explain them, which the author does for everyone but the most evil one. The plague is more of a plot device than the central crisis of the story, which could almost be written without it. This wouldn't be a major drawback except the subtitle is "a novel of the plague."

amandasupak's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

3.75 stars
Named characters: 61 (The bulk of the story follows our 9 main characters, then you have few extra side characters, and lastly a good chunk of names comes from random patron saints of various causes which the majority are only mentioned in passing).

9 Strangers slowly band together to outrun the pestilence, and also their past which they keep running from. The genre is hard to pin down, it’s part historical fiction, part fable, and part magical realism. The author does an amazing job of drawing you into the time period with descriptions of everyday life back then like what it smelled like, what they ate, and how people dressed. It also includes lots of discussion about how these 14th century characters might have perceived the pestilence. They were a superstitious group, and theories ranged from the religious (people sinned), to certain people caused it (jews, cripples, dirty people who live in on the coast etc), to certain actions caused it (combing your hair the wrong way). This book contained a lot of religious discussion about praying to saints for help, wearing monks robes after death to trick the devil into letting you into heaven, trying to bury dead bodies on consecrated ground (which became more difficult as the pestilence wore on), and what happens to the ghost/spirit after you die a “bad death”. There were also parts of this book that were more fictional/fairy tale like, and when mixed with the superstitions it gave a dreamy quality that made you question what was true or what wasn’t. That makes it more difficult to figure out what each person is hiding. In general, you are not going to guess, but there are a few clues left throughout the book.

The reason I gave this a 3.75 stars is that 1) About halfway through the story loses a bit of steam, and I’m not really sure where the plot is going. What I mean is that they are clearly trying to outrun the pestilence, but otherwise they have no goal, and sometimes it feels like they are just wandering. 2) The ending was….strange. The last 20% was a rush to reveal everyone’s secret, and then the very last page was a bit of a twist with an unresolved cliffhanger. I’m not sure if that was honestly necessary. <Spoiler> A lot of the characters start killing each other, and then when Camelot returns home, a lot of time passes and then Narigorm shows up out of nowhere and the book ends. 3) There was one plot point that was never explained (spoilers):

It was also never explained if Narigorm could really read the future, or if she was manipulating people to turn on each other.

The book blurb gave a little introduction to the characters but I thought it was lacking. I will list the defining trait of each character (minus any spoilers), but keep their name hidden in case you do not want to know who is who. Listed in order they appear in the book:
1.

Camelot

An older man with a gnarly scar down one eye, who sells religious relics of dubious origin, but mostly he sells hope. He is kindhearted and tries to build group cohesion. He is the main POV.
2.

Narigorm

A young girl who uses runes/dice to predict the future. She has shocking white hair for someone so young (perhaps she is albino?), and has unnerving/chaotic energy.
3.

Rodrigo

An middle-aged man and minstrel traveling with his young apprentice. He is even tempered and patient, but still has a hard time keeping his apprentice in line.
4.

Jofre

A teenage boy and minstrel’s apprentice whose vices are drinking and gambling, but is generally agreeable unless he is being a standard teenager with mood swings lol
5.

Zophiel

An middle-aged man, magician, who has a wagon for traveling and carries with him a young mermaid body as a sideshow to make money. He is a bitter aggressive man who bullies a lot of the other characters.
6.

Adela

A young woman who dresses conservatively and is at least halfway into her pregnancy. She is not prepared for the journey and is often frightened of what they encounter.
7.

Osmond

A talented young man who paints murals in churches. He is the very doting husband of the pregnant woman.
8.

Cygnus

An adult man who makes a living as a storyteller, and is on the run from the law for a crime he claims he is innocent of. One of his arms are deformed which he keeps covered.
9.

Pleasance

A young woman who knows a lot about healing and herbs. She serves as the group healer and midwife. She is quite and keeps to herself mostly.

And here is their secrets in case anyone wants a major spoiler:

1) Camelot - Switched from presenting themselves as female to male d/t their hideous scar on their face. A terrible scar for a man is brave, but on a woman means people are suspicious and avoid you.
2) Narigorm - I don’t think she had a secret, she was the one trying to get everyone punished for their secrets.
3) Rodrigo and Jofre - Jofre is gay, and Rodrigo could not abandon his student so they were kicked out of the previous home they worked for. Jofre would gamble/drink because being gay is not accepted in the 14th century. Jofre was murdered for flirting with the wrong boy in a town they passed by. Rodrigo’s secret is that he killed Zophiel.
4) Zophiel - used to be a priest until he was falsely accused of relations with a young girl. He used to create “miracles” in the church so he lost his source income. He stole some relics for the church and was possibly being hunted down for their return. I say possibly hunted because it’s not clear if that was true or a trick of Norigorm. He was murdered by Rodrigo.
5) Adela and Osmond – said they were husband and wife, but they are actually brother and sister. She was supposed to be married to another man but when they found out she was pregnant she was sent to the convent. Osmond rescued her and then they were on the run with the group Their baby was born during the book.
6) Cygnus – covered his deformed arm with a wing and told a story about how he was half swan half human. But he was just human with a fake wing over a deformed arm. He drowned himself.
7) Pleasance – was jewish and had to hid it because they were being accused of the pestilence. She likely hung herself.