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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
Excellent read. Truly gripping tale which is compelling and well written. The characters really resonated with me, and the various themes in the book were a real insight into medieval times.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another good read. A religious serial killer is at work, and our lawyer leads the chase.
Well thought out portrait of London. clever mystery. Skilfully resolved.
Well thought out portrait of London. clever mystery. Skilfully resolved.
And so my love affair with the Shardlake series ends.
In this 4th Book Shardlake is back, sadder, a lot more self pitying and incapable of getting himself a girlfriend. When his close friend is killed in a rather gruesome manner he is pushed to seek vengeance on the killer only to find that this killer seems to kill for the pleasure of it rather than out of any political motivation - he is the Tudor version of a serial killer and is closely following the book of revelation.
The book of revelation is what you get if you combine extreme christianity with a healthy dose of amphetamines and ketamine. It's not the most pleasant or sensible read - full of God's wrath and whores and blood. I'm surprised religious books don't inspire people to commit gruesome acts of violence more often...
Barak is back, surlier than ever and his marriage with Tamasin is on the rocks after the death of their child. Barak is a true tudor gentleman - incapable of coming to terms with his finer feelings while Tamasin is a women far ahead of her time , and rather miffed with her surly husband. We also get a sneak peek at what Bealknap has been upto and the return of Guy.
The thing I really liked about Sovereign was that though Barak and Shardlake do a lot of travelling and it was overall an extremely slowwwww book, I ended up rooting for the villain and Shardlake's relationship with him. The ending was rather harrowing and I expected it to have lasting repercussions on Shardlake's guilty psyche.
But. No.
The events of Soveriegn are not referenced, Shardlake seems to be absolutely unaffected by them and in fact mentions them in passing without even a twinge of any feeling. I assume Sansom wants to keep the plot of Sovereign under wraps but he does this at the cost of true character development making everything that happened in Sovereign mean nothing. Shardlake doesnt seem to look at King Henry any differently.
I am not elaborating on this more - just to avoid spoilers but I felt this book lost a lot of character as a result. I also figured out who the killer was quite early on - the reveal was utterly idiotic. There are large boring stretches where nothing really happens.
I'm going with 2 stars
In this 4th Book Shardlake is back, sadder, a lot more self pitying and incapable of getting himself a girlfriend. When his close friend is killed in a rather gruesome manner he is pushed to seek vengeance on the killer only to find that this killer seems to kill for the pleasure of it rather than out of any political motivation - he is the Tudor version of a serial killer and is closely following the book of revelation.
The book of revelation is what you get if you combine extreme christianity with a healthy dose of amphetamines and ketamine. It's not the most pleasant or sensible read - full of God's wrath and whores and blood. I'm surprised religious books don't inspire people to commit gruesome acts of violence more often...
Barak is back, surlier than ever and his marriage with Tamasin is on the rocks after the death of their child. Barak is a true tudor gentleman - incapable of coming to terms with his finer feelings while Tamasin is a women far ahead of her time , and rather miffed with her surly husband. We also get a sneak peek at what Bealknap has been upto and the return of Guy.
The thing I really liked about Sovereign was that though Barak and Shardlake do a lot of travelling and it was overall an extremely slowwwww book, I ended up rooting for the villain and Shardlake's relationship with him. The ending was rather harrowing and I expected it to have lasting repercussions on Shardlake's guilty psyche.
But. No.
The events of Soveriegn are not referenced, Shardlake seems to be absolutely unaffected by them and in fact mentions them in passing without even a twinge of any feeling. I assume Sansom wants to keep the plot of Sovereign under wraps but he does this at the cost of true character development making everything that happened in Sovereign mean nothing. Shardlake doesnt seem to look at King Henry any differently.
I am not elaborating on this more - just to avoid spoilers but I felt this book lost a lot of character as a result. I also figured out who the killer was quite early on - the reveal was utterly idiotic. There are large boring stretches where nothing really happens.
I'm going with 2 stars
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Great historical mystery with Matthew Shardlake as main character trying to solve a series of mystery murders through the book Revelation with the background of Catherine Parr marriage's to Henry VIII.
A great take on the book of revelations. Mystery around it was well crafted and the book went ahead along the lines of a well done whodunit novel.
the latest in the shardlake series doesn't disappoint. This time in search of a serial killer who using the book of revelation and during the time of differing shifts in Protestantism and Catholicism in the Kings court. the other sub plot is the king courting Catherine Parr, the future 6th wife. You can sense the religious feeling especially in the sub plot of Adam Kite and Bedlam. I did enjoy this book with its many twists and turns.
A weird glitch in the beginning filled me with dread that this one was going to feel unedited and awful, but it settled down and turned into a strong entry into the series.
It is the end of winter in 1543 and Henry is wooing Catherine Parr with the intention of making her his sixth wife. This is not popular with Archbishop Cramer as Parr is known to have sympathies to the reformist agenda.
Shardlake has agrees to take on the case of a lad who has been diagnosed as mad and who is in the asylum called Bedlam. People are starting to think that his mania will get him sentenced as a heretic.
On returning home later one evening he discovers a body in the fountain, this is his good friend Roger, and his throat has been cut. Shardlake pledges to Dorothy that he will find Roger's killer and bring him to justice. His initial investigation and the coroners inquiry raise suspicions within him that there is a lot more to the murder that he is being told, and he challenges the coroner after the hearing. He is summoned to Archbishop Cramer's office and is told that this is not the first murder that they have suppressed the details of as there is a suspicion that this will threaten Catherine Parr. Heving successfully avoided the political scheming recently, he is now right back in the middle of it.
So Shardlake begins his investigation, and as he does, he realises that these grisly murders are linked, and have a pattern that brings a chill to his heart. The race is on to find this murderer, before he kills again, but he is always one step ahead and is following Shardlake and his assistant Barak.
Sansom has done it again with this book. Not only do you have dramatic tension as they struggle to find a very clever killer, who knows so much about them, but there are political intrigues, personal conflicts and layers of stories in here. Nicely paced too, with an excellent climax as the events unfold at the end.
Shardlake has agrees to take on the case of a lad who has been diagnosed as mad and who is in the asylum called Bedlam. People are starting to think that his mania will get him sentenced as a heretic.
On returning home later one evening he discovers a body in the fountain, this is his good friend Roger, and his throat has been cut. Shardlake pledges to Dorothy that he will find Roger's killer and bring him to justice. His initial investigation and the coroners inquiry raise suspicions within him that there is a lot more to the murder that he is being told, and he challenges the coroner after the hearing. He is summoned to Archbishop Cramer's office and is told that this is not the first murder that they have suppressed the details of as there is a suspicion that this will threaten Catherine Parr. Heving successfully avoided the political scheming recently, he is now right back in the middle of it.
So Shardlake begins his investigation, and as he does, he realises that these grisly murders are linked, and have a pattern that brings a chill to his heart. The race is on to find this murderer, before he kills again, but he is always one step ahead and is following Shardlake and his assistant Barak.
Sansom has done it again with this book. Not only do you have dramatic tension as they struggle to find a very clever killer, who knows so much about them, but there are political intrigues, personal conflicts and layers of stories in here. Nicely paced too, with an excellent climax as the events unfold at the end.