A review by skconaghan
Wolf on a String by Benjamin Black, John Banville

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Grandiose setting for a less than complex execution of a fairly flat story.

It starts off as a proper tale in the medieval city of Prague, set in the centre of Europe, while England and Spain vie for power on the fringes of the world. The forte of this novel is the setting, briefly taking us to great scapes of exotic end-of-the-Dark-Ages scenery, but the idiot at the centre of the story is at times too stupid to bear. And the women he manages to snag need their heads checked; I cannot for the life of me see the attraction...

I enjoyed the almost Dickensian character descriptions—they popped from the page with unique and dazzling humour. They and the promise of Prague in the throes of medieval politics kept me reading, but goodness there were a number of ridiculous distractors from the plot(plot?) of this novel (such as an impressive number of dumb and desperate women easily drawn in by this doofus of a man). Somehow, the entrails of this haphazard plot managed to fall into place by the end. Miraculously.

The main character was wholly unlikeable—the epitome of mediocre European white male basking in making zero decisions as life happens favourably to him everywhere he goes with little thought of the potential consequences… Well, okay, I concede: he’s sorry for his self-fulfilment once or twice. But then he moves on and gives it nary a second thought.

Quite like what I’m about to do with this novel…