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A review by mirandaaaa
Tombland by C.J. Sansom
emotional
informative
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? It's complicated
3.5
Not so subtle flex but I managed to read this wedge without breaking the spine at all. Also petition for ‘churl’ to become popular as an insult again please.
I love the characterisation of everyone in this series. Despite it being 800+ pages long, which made me a little apprehensive, due to Sansom’s writing you get quickly immersed and the pages whizz by. I really like that throughout the series you gain a more developed understanding of all the characters and those that appear in previous books don’t just disappear once ended. Reading this, felt like coming back to some old friends and I really like the way Sansom has achieved this. They are all highly plausible and complex characters which is very clever indeed and I am a little sad that I have finally finished the series, mayhaps a reread now??
In itself, without the connection to the characters and the series the book was pretty meh. It isn’t nearly as good as the previous ones with a combination of political retelling and the classic murder which made it fall a bit flat. It felt like Sansom, at times, forgot that a murder case was playing out and then quickly added stuff in. Also, the final ‘reveal’ fell flat, it was like politics politics oh yeah btw I figured out who it was and that was kind of it?? Rather rushed the lady doth thinks.
I also felt like Matthew Shardlake was used as a way to describe the little written about Kett’s rebellion. Which is worthy but it did feel like he was placed there rather tenuously by Sansom and there were times in the book where it felt rather tell don’t show. Difficult to describe but it just felt stilted.
In all for fans of Shardlake, a good immersion into the world but if placed outside of the series a bit flat albeit still enjoyable.
I love the characterisation of everyone in this series. Despite it being 800+ pages long, which made me a little apprehensive, due to Sansom’s writing you get quickly immersed and the pages whizz by. I really like that throughout the series you gain a more developed understanding of all the characters and those that appear in previous books don’t just disappear once ended. Reading this, felt like coming back to some old friends and I really like the way Sansom has achieved this. They are all highly plausible and complex characters which is very clever indeed and I am a little sad that I have finally finished the series, mayhaps a reread now??
In itself, without the connection to the characters and the series the book was pretty meh. It isn’t nearly as good as the previous ones with a combination of political retelling and the classic murder which made it fall a bit flat. It felt like Sansom, at times, forgot that a murder case was playing out and then quickly added stuff in. Also, the final ‘reveal’ fell flat, it was like politics politics oh yeah btw I figured out who it was and that was kind of it?? Rather rushed the lady doth thinks.
I also felt like Matthew Shardlake was used as a way to describe the little written about Kett’s rebellion. Which is worthy but it did feel like he was placed there rather tenuously by Sansom and there were times in the book where it felt rather tell don’t show. Difficult to describe but it just felt stilted.
In all for fans of Shardlake, a good immersion into the world but if placed outside of the series a bit flat albeit still enjoyable.