professor_dinosaur 's review for:

To Calais, in Ordinary Time by James Meek

3.0

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I’m very torn about this book. The characterization is excellent. It meandered a little, there were segments (the scene with the kingmother, nearly anything that happens when they actually

get to France

) I would have cut entirely. Thomas’ segments were infuriatingly long. I understand the point is he’s overeducated, but these segments often dropped the energy built by the much more interesting stories of Will and Bern. I thought the sex scenes were generally tasteful, if overabundant. This is a good read if you like the characterization of fantasy with the stakes unique to historical fiction.