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novi 's review for:
Justice Hall
by Laurie R. King
3.5 stars
From the beginning, the purpose of Russel and Holmes' journey was blurry, at least for me. They finally spoke about it clearly in Chapter 11 and even the didn't have "the faintest idea" ("... But neither Holmes nor I have the faintest idea where to begin with Marsh. The threads that tie Marsh with Justice Hall are so numerous. ...") and Chapter 16 ("We were asked to come here and assist Marsh in the decisions he has to make. ..."). So for at least 10 Chapters I was confused why they (and I, as a reader) were dragged to the countryside with no real case, no clear purpose. It felt verrry slow. And now that I've read 5 books of Mary Russel series, I guess that is to be expected from this series. Don't expect destination. At least for the first half of the book.
Also for the first couple of chapters Russel just couldn't stop comparing Marsh to Mahmoud and Alistair to Ali in sad tone. It was too often it became annoying. Is this annoying for me because I didn't finish O Jerusalem? I didn't finish O Jerusalem (the previous book) for the reason I only want to read Russel in English setting and that's exactly what I got in this book. One of the most English setting I could get. Not to mention the royal theme. I couldn't care less about fictional royalties in general, though.
Things really got started in Chapter 18. At least one part of the "case" was clearly explained and we get some fun sleuthing. The final "battle", which supposed to be the climax, didn't work for me because it just showed us how incompetent they are at taking care of a child. But Justice Hall is one of the best of the series so far. I quite enjoyed it.
From the beginning, the purpose of Russel and Holmes' journey was blurry, at least for me. They finally spoke about it clearly in Chapter 11 and even the didn't have "the faintest idea" ("... But neither Holmes nor I have the faintest idea where to begin with Marsh. The threads that tie Marsh with Justice Hall are so numerous. ...") and Chapter 16 ("We were asked to come here and assist Marsh in the decisions he has to make. ..."). So for at least 10 Chapters I was confused why they (and I, as a reader) were dragged to the countryside with no real case, no clear purpose. It felt verrry slow. And now that I've read 5 books of Mary Russel series, I guess that is to be expected from this series. Don't expect destination. At least for the first half of the book.
Also for the first couple of chapters Russel just couldn't stop comparing Marsh to Mahmoud and Alistair to Ali in sad tone. It was too often it became annoying. Is this annoying for me because I didn't finish O Jerusalem? I didn't finish O Jerusalem (the previous book) for the reason I only want to read Russel in English setting and that's exactly what I got in this book. One of the most English setting I could get. Not to mention the royal theme. I couldn't care less about fictional royalties in general, though.
Things really got started in Chapter 18. At least one part of the "case" was clearly explained and we get some fun sleuthing. The final "battle", which supposed to be the climax, didn't work for me because it just showed us how incompetent they are at taking care of a child. But Justice Hall is one of the best of the series so far. I quite enjoyed it.