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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Enjoyed a bit of red herring while reading this one. Some of the jokes and sarcasm definitely don't translate well, but you will still get what they are inferring. It's an enjoyable and short read that I would recommend to a friend.
THis book again is showing me that I like mystery and crime more than romance books that I read. it is an masterpiece. For sure a must read
First of all, gue mau bilang kalo buku ini berhasil bikin reading slump gue sirna. Metode pembu*uhan yang gila acap kali bikin gue merinding sendiri. Sejak menuju pertengahan cerita, gue berusaha nebak siapa pelakunya dari berbagai hint yang udah dikasih sama si penulis, tapi sayangnya gue berhasil nebak siapa pelakunya waktu mau menuju pengungkapan, hahaha. Banyak hal yang bisa dipelajari dari buku ini, salah satunya tentang astrologi dan alkimia. Ada beberapa informasi sejarah maupun legenda yang termuat di dalamnya. Namun, kebingungan ga bisa terelakkan saat gue baca buku ini, apalagi saat bahas terkait garis lintang dan bujur. Hal ini jadi buat gue nostalgia pelajaran IPS dulu waktu SMP.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Take a compelling, intricate, well-written 'locked room' mystery and set it in Japan. What have you got? Probably my perfect book! My husband gave me this book as part of my Christmas present (one book, every month for 12 months) and he did his thorough, pain-staking research before choosing The Tokyo Zodiac Murders. He chose a blinder!
An artist spiralling into madness decides to create his perfect woman, Azoth. To do this he needs to kill and dismember six young woman. Luckily for him four of his five daughters and his two nieces live in the same house as him so he doesn't have to look too hard for his victims.
Unluckily for him he is killed and left in a locked room before he has a chance to create Azoth. However if Heikichi Umezawa can't make his dream woman then someone else will. The bodies of the original six young women turn up dead, dismembered and scattered all over Japan. Does this mean Azoth exists, and if so where is she?
The story is told from the perspective of Kazumi Ishioka who decides with his slightly strange friend, Kiyoshi Mitarai, to solve the mystery when they are presented with new evidence. All of the clues are there for you to solve the mystery yourself so it's a perfect read for amateur sleuths. The culprit is of course revealed in the end so you're not left disappointed.
I couldn't put this book down. It held my attention as I turned the pages and before I knew it the killer was being revealed! There are three different investigations to uncover and each one blends seamlessly with the next. I really warmed to Kazumi Ishioka. He felt like the bumbling sidekick to Kiyoshi Mitarai's super intelligent super sleuth. Always three or four steps behind!
Did I work out who the murderer was? No chance I'm afraid. The book is so intricate and absorbing that I was just enjoying the story and paying little attention to what could and what couldn't be a clue. I absolutely loved this book and will recommend to anyone who asks in the future. It really is THAT good.
Five out of five stars.
An artist spiralling into madness decides to create his perfect woman, Azoth. To do this he needs to kill and dismember six young woman. Luckily for him four of his five daughters and his two nieces live in the same house as him so he doesn't have to look too hard for his victims.
Unluckily for him he is killed and left in a locked room before he has a chance to create Azoth. However if Heikichi Umezawa can't make his dream woman then someone else will. The bodies of the original six young women turn up dead, dismembered and scattered all over Japan. Does this mean Azoth exists, and if so where is she?
The story is told from the perspective of Kazumi Ishioka who decides with his slightly strange friend, Kiyoshi Mitarai, to solve the mystery when they are presented with new evidence. All of the clues are there for you to solve the mystery yourself so it's a perfect read for amateur sleuths. The culprit is of course revealed in the end so you're not left disappointed.
I couldn't put this book down. It held my attention as I turned the pages and before I knew it the killer was being revealed! There are three different investigations to uncover and each one blends seamlessly with the next. I really warmed to Kazumi Ishioka. He felt like the bumbling sidekick to Kiyoshi Mitarai's super intelligent super sleuth. Always three or four steps behind!
Did I work out who the murderer was? No chance I'm afraid. The book is so intricate and absorbing that I was just enjoying the story and paying little attention to what could and what couldn't be a clue. I absolutely loved this book and will recommend to anyone who asks in the future. It really is THAT good.
Five out of five stars.
I don't read a lot of mysteries, so I've been trying to shore up that gap in my library by reading all sorts takes on the genre.
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders was specifically recommended to me due to it kicking off the shin honkaku 'era' of mystery books in Japan. This term refers to more orthodox mysteries which tend to be closer to a puzzle box or game and is far less focused on the social and dramatic elements of a mystery. It's not about spotting inconsistencies in witness testimony or developing a criminal profile, it's more about solving the physical logic behind how a crime happened.
It's a fun idea for approaching a mystery. The problem is this particular book just isn't very fun to read.
The series of murders was fascinating, and I wanted so much to get absorbed in the mystery. But the book is more interested in bogging you down with facts and tidbits about the murder. There are pages and pages of names, astrology definitions, latitudes, longitudes, the top speed of a car during a blizzard, and on and on and on.
The reason for all this was not lost on me. A certain type of trick is being played on the reader, and it's an effective one. But it's also tremendously boring and tedious to actually run your eyes over. If you're going to misdirect me then you should at least have fun with it!
I enjoy logic puzzles, and while I haven't read many mysteries I've played plenty of games and visual novels in the genre, many of which were strongly influenced by honkaku. If this truly was game it'd be very poorly reviewed.
Perhaps it's the translation? I recognized many 'stock phrases' and other details throughout the book that suggested it adhered to a very literal translation. Could be that a lot has been lost in translation. It's hard to speculate too much about that.
I'm glad I read it to better understand the history of the genre, but I'd have a hard time recommending it to anyone, and I certainly can't see myself going reading it again.
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders was specifically recommended to me due to it kicking off the shin honkaku 'era' of mystery books in Japan. This term refers to more orthodox mysteries which tend to be closer to a puzzle box or game and is far less focused on the social and dramatic elements of a mystery. It's not about spotting inconsistencies in witness testimony or developing a criminal profile, it's more about solving the physical logic behind how a crime happened.
It's a fun idea for approaching a mystery. The problem is this particular book just isn't very fun to read.
The series of murders was fascinating, and I wanted so much to get absorbed in the mystery. But the book is more interested in bogging you down with facts and tidbits about the murder. There are pages and pages of names, astrology definitions, latitudes, longitudes, the top speed of a car during a blizzard, and on and on and on.
The reason for all this was not lost on me. A certain type of trick is being played on the reader, and it's an effective one. But it's also tremendously boring and tedious to actually run your eyes over. If you're going to misdirect me then you should at least have fun with it!
I enjoy logic puzzles, and while I haven't read many mysteries I've played plenty of games and visual novels in the genre, many of which were strongly influenced by honkaku. If this truly was game it'd be very poorly reviewed.
Perhaps it's the translation? I recognized many 'stock phrases' and other details throughout the book that suggested it adhered to a very literal translation. Could be that a lot has been lost in translation. It's hard to speculate too much about that.
I'm glad I read it to better understand the history of the genre, but I'd have a hard time recommending it to anyone, and I certainly can't see myself going reading it again.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I LOVE THIS!
Ngga nyangka kalau sejak awal bakal disuguhkan dengan prolog yang sinting wkwk. Tapi cukup ‘wew’ w/ his plan to create Azoth..like, da real crazy psycho berkedok seni