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The Judge Hunter
by Christopher Buckley
Let me begin by saying that when I first started this story I had every intention of giving it five stars. Long has it been since I’ve read a book that has captured my interest from the first chapter, and held it long after. The first hundred and some pages are a delight. There was some point every chapter that had me laughing out loud (there is one joke in particular about a catamount that still makes me laugh every time I think about it). The majority of the characters were interesting, the plot was engaging, and the history was the perfect cherry on top.
Many of the characters were a joy. They all had a distinct voice and were memorable. The author did an amazing job bringing multiple historical figures to life. My favorites ended up being Balty and Hiram who are the two that this story focuses on the most. Balty is a very dependent character who is a bit of a tit, so he easily gets on people’s nerves. He brings a lot of humor into this story. Hiram was my ultimate favorite. His role was to guard Balty on his mission, and he was much more reliable and well read than Balty.
I was always excited to read their interactions because their chemistry was amazing. The author created an interesting dichotomy between these two characters. Though they were complete opposites, throughout the book their friendship grows and you can see how important they become to one another. This was my favorite part of the story.
The plot never bored me. It kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. The history that it was written around captivated me because I had never heard or read about New Amsterdam. I wasn’t aware of how New York came to be, and that in its place hundreds of years ago New Amsterdam was located there. The author does a great job of leading the reader’s through the events leading up to the siege of New Amsterdam.
So you might be wondering why I rated this book three stars when I liked it so much? Let me reiterate that I planned to give this book five stars, but after reading so many books that have strong female characters and diversity it is hard for me to accept anything less. And boy does this book give me less in that regard.
In this book there is only one female character of importance, Thankful. She is a bit of a tit too, and not in the fun way. Her only reason for being in this book is simply for the romance, so of course the author gave her no personality.
To me, it seems that the reason romance is written into every book is to attract female readers, so I don’t get why male authors continue to write romances like these where the female character has no personality. Her only traits are that she is pretty, perfect, and needs to be protected. Her only purpose is to romance the main character. And I will admit that the addition of this character into the story is what made my love for it falter.
At first she caused my love to fall to four stars. I tried to give the romance a chance, I really did, but once I noticed she would have no personality and the “romance” just consisted of Balty finding her pretty and feeling bad for her without any meaningful conversation between the two, my love for the book diminished. I was sad because I really had enjoyed the book up to this point, but when I’m rolling my eyes at their every interaction then I have to admit to myself that the book is no longer that great. It didn’t help that in order for this romance to exist Balty had to cheat on his wife.
Then Thankful caused my love for this story to fall to three stars because I noticed that the plot was being handicapped just for the sole purpose of having her be present for Balty to fawn over. There were multiple times where I was ripped out of the story that I was invested in because she appeared out of nowhere and seemed very out of place.Two prominent moments are when Balty and Hiram discover the Cobbs and she’s all the sudden there crying over their bodies. That one really threw me for a loop. The second moment was when Hiram is about to sneak off to rescue Balty when Thankful pops up on a horse out of nowhere. The plot just staggered so much when she was in the picture.
Honestly, if the author wanted to include romance, it should’ve been between Balty and Hiram. And if the romance really needed to be straight, then the author should’ve made Hiram a girl. Keep everything but replace the pronouns (and I guess the physical appearance).
tldr
If having well rounded, dynamic female characters isn’t important to you than read this book. I definitely think you will enjoy it. If you like having more than one female character of importance present in a book, and for that character to have more importance than romance, do not read this book.
Many of the characters were a joy. They all had a distinct voice and were memorable. The author did an amazing job bringing multiple historical figures to life. My favorites ended up being Balty and Hiram who are the two that this story focuses on the most. Balty is a very dependent character who is a bit of a tit, so he easily gets on people’s nerves. He brings a lot of humor into this story. Hiram was my ultimate favorite. His role was to guard Balty on his mission, and he was much more reliable and well read than Balty.
I was always excited to read their interactions because their chemistry was amazing. The author created an interesting dichotomy between these two characters. Though they were complete opposites, throughout the book their friendship grows and you can see how important they become to one another. This was my favorite part of the story.
The plot never bored me. It kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. The history that it was written around captivated me because I had never heard or read about New Amsterdam. I wasn’t aware of how New York came to be, and that in its place hundreds of years ago New Amsterdam was located there. The author does a great job of leading the reader’s through the events leading up to the siege of New Amsterdam.
So you might be wondering why I rated this book three stars when I liked it so much? Let me reiterate that I planned to give this book five stars, but after reading so many books that have strong female characters and diversity it is hard for me to accept anything less. And boy does this book give me less in that regard.
In this book there is only one female character of importance, Thankful. She is a bit of a tit too, and not in the fun way. Her only reason for being in this book is simply for the romance, so of course the author gave her no personality.
To me, it seems that the reason romance is written into every book is to attract female readers, so I don’t get why male authors continue to write romances like these where the female character has no personality. Her only traits are that she is pretty, perfect, and needs to be protected. Her only purpose is to romance the main character. And I will admit that the addition of this character into the story is what made my love for it falter.
At first she caused my love to fall to four stars. I tried to give the romance a chance, I really did, but once I noticed she would have no personality and the “romance” just consisted of Balty finding her pretty and feeling bad for her without any meaningful conversation between the two, my love for the book diminished. I was sad because I really had enjoyed the book up to this point, but when I’m rolling my eyes at their every interaction then I have to admit to myself that the book is no longer that great. It didn’t help that in order for this romance to exist Balty had to cheat on his wife.
Then Thankful caused my love for this story to fall to three stars because I noticed that the plot was being handicapped just for the sole purpose of having her be present for Balty to fawn over. There were multiple times where I was ripped out of the story that I was invested in because she appeared out of nowhere and seemed very out of place.
Honestly, if the author wanted to include romance, it should’ve been between Balty and Hiram. And if the romance really needed to be straight, then the author should’ve made Hiram a girl. Keep everything but replace the pronouns (and I guess the physical appearance).
tldr
If having well rounded, dynamic female characters isn’t important to you than read this book. I definitely think you will enjoy it. If you like having more than one female character of importance present in a book, and for that character to have more importance than romance, do not read this book.