80 reviews for:

The Meiji Guillotine Murders

Fūtarō Yamada

3.25 AVERAGE

steph72000's review against another edition

3.25

challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

chbeyer's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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At first I found the mystery aspect to be lacking. It felt too quick and the solutions felt arbitrary and not earned but by the end, all fell into place and the ending as a whole felt more earned. The historical backdrop was also a great way to tie in the characters and be the crux of the conflict. 

nfleow's review

4.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

andrew00's review against another edition

4.0

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

hannahleoni's review against another edition

2.75

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

alice_12's review against another edition

2.75

challenging mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

michellelouise's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

aaaster's review against another edition

3.0

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This was not the book I expected to read. Thinking it would be your regular detective, but in the Meiji era in Japan, I bought the book. However, this story has a second layer, that was very unexpected (and a little hard to follow).

There are a couple mysteries in this book that are "solved" by

a French woman, who should not be the one knowing this information

. The reveals make you question what is real and how she knows this information. The final twist, of course, is that

she got this information from her lover, who wanted to get rid of the rotten apples within the "police" department

. However, as there are SO MANY CHARACTERS introduced throughout the book, I had no clue who's who, which made the story incredibly confusing at times and the climax a lot less climactic than I'd hoped. 

karebic's review against another edition

4.0

mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

lawrencetallon's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced