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A review by verityw
Master of Shadows by Neil Oliver
3.0
Read for Novelicious:
http://www.novelicious.com/2016/02/review-master-of-shadows-by-neil-oliver.html
Excerpt:
Although I’m fairly well up on western European history in the fifteenth century, my knowledge about Constantinople in this period is very sketchy. But Neil Oliver does a really good job of bringing all the locations in this book to life – no matter what you already know about it. It feels like a lot of research has gone into Master of Shadows, but it is worn very lightly – there are no massive info dumps or moments where you feel like he’s trying to show off what he knows. The plot is a little fantastical, but because of that research, you don’t really notice until you stop to think about it.
But boy, is it bloody. There’s a lot of fighting, with descriptions of gruesome killings and a big old body count. I found it a bit much, but then I can’t cope with Game of Thrones! It’s a fascinating period and I’d probably be off down an internet black hole trying to figure out where fact and fiction meet if I wasn’t so squeamish.
If Master of Shadows were a film, Gerard Butler would play John Grant and it would be rated 18 for very strong bloody violence – but if you can get past the gore, there’s an entertaining chase across Europe and fascinating picture of an imploding dynasty.
http://www.novelicious.com/2016/02/review-master-of-shadows-by-neil-oliver.html
Excerpt:
Although I’m fairly well up on western European history in the fifteenth century, my knowledge about Constantinople in this period is very sketchy. But Neil Oliver does a really good job of bringing all the locations in this book to life – no matter what you already know about it. It feels like a lot of research has gone into Master of Shadows, but it is worn very lightly – there are no massive info dumps or moments where you feel like he’s trying to show off what he knows. The plot is a little fantastical, but because of that research, you don’t really notice until you stop to think about it.
But boy, is it bloody. There’s a lot of fighting, with descriptions of gruesome killings and a big old body count. I found it a bit much, but then I can’t cope with Game of Thrones! It’s a fascinating period and I’d probably be off down an internet black hole trying to figure out where fact and fiction meet if I wasn’t so squeamish.
If Master of Shadows were a film, Gerard Butler would play John Grant and it would be rated 18 for very strong bloody violence – but if you can get past the gore, there’s an entertaining chase across Europe and fascinating picture of an imploding dynasty.