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A review by kblincoln
The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman
4.0
The defining moment of Nora's life was when her brother killed himself and another girl in a drunk driving accident.
Since then her parents have dropped out of their own lives. The only thing Nora has left is her father's love of Latin (which he passed down to her). When her best friend, Chris cajoles her into helping a professor translate some obscure letters from Elizabeth Weston (and English girl living in Prague in the court of Emperor Rudolph) she goes along with it.
Nora goes along with Chris and his beautiful, rich, limber girlfriend Adriane on most things, always hoping she isn't the unwanted third wheel. But these two are her only friends.
Until Max. Chris' roommate Max is also helping with the translations. He's also strangely good with Latin.
Nora becomes fascinated by Elizabeth's letters. Elizabeth has been charged by her Alchemist father on his death bed to finish an alchemical machine that was his greatest legacy.
But Nora's life abruptly changes again when she comes to the office to find someone dead, another drugged to a zombie state, and the last person missing.
A strange symbol is at the scene sets her on the path to modern Prague to unravel the mystery of Elizabeth's machine and save her friend.
It took a me a while to figure out why I couldn't give this book 5 stars. It has all the disparate parts I really get excited by: history presented in an exciting form in Elizabeth's letters, intrigue and mystery, a plucky heroine breaking out of her shell, and friendship and romance issues.
Maybe it's because we never lingered quite long enough on the romance or delved deeply enough into the intrigue to satisfy me. A lot of the friendship between Adriane, Chris and Nora is summarized, likewise with Max and Nora. This summarizing means the action doesn't quite feel real to me until we get to Prague and things start happening a little more in real time.
I loved the Prague scenes not only for the action, but for the historic and modern sense of the city- Jewish cemeteries, castle, puppet stores and all- we get through both Elizabeth's letters and Nora's observations. Spot on.
So cool history, interesting intrigue, awesome location in the second half of the book, but so-so on the relationshipping.
This Book's Snack Rating: Thick, double fried Belgian fries in a paper cone for the European flavor of Prague with the satly, throw down yumminess of the mystery
Since then her parents have dropped out of their own lives. The only thing Nora has left is her father's love of Latin (which he passed down to her). When her best friend, Chris cajoles her into helping a professor translate some obscure letters from Elizabeth Weston (and English girl living in Prague in the court of Emperor Rudolph) she goes along with it.
Nora goes along with Chris and his beautiful, rich, limber girlfriend Adriane on most things, always hoping she isn't the unwanted third wheel. But these two are her only friends.
Until Max. Chris' roommate Max is also helping with the translations. He's also strangely good with Latin.
Nora becomes fascinated by Elizabeth's letters. Elizabeth has been charged by her Alchemist father on his death bed to finish an alchemical machine that was his greatest legacy.
But Nora's life abruptly changes again when she comes to the office to find someone dead, another drugged to a zombie state, and the last person missing.
A strange symbol is at the scene sets her on the path to modern Prague to unravel the mystery of Elizabeth's machine and save her friend.
It took a me a while to figure out why I couldn't give this book 5 stars. It has all the disparate parts I really get excited by: history presented in an exciting form in Elizabeth's letters, intrigue and mystery, a plucky heroine breaking out of her shell, and friendship and romance issues.
Maybe it's because we never lingered quite long enough on the romance or delved deeply enough into the intrigue to satisfy me. A lot of the friendship between Adriane, Chris and Nora is summarized, likewise with Max and Nora. This summarizing means the action doesn't quite feel real to me until we get to Prague and things start happening a little more in real time.
I loved the Prague scenes not only for the action, but for the historic and modern sense of the city- Jewish cemeteries, castle, puppet stores and all- we get through both Elizabeth's letters and Nora's observations. Spot on.
So cool history, interesting intrigue, awesome location in the second half of the book, but so-so on the relationshipping.
This Book's Snack Rating: Thick, double fried Belgian fries in a paper cone for the European flavor of Prague with the satly, throw down yumminess of the mystery