Contains spoilers
Read this on the heels of a Drachenfels reread and expected a good twist near the end. Readers looking for Genevieve Dieudonne will be disappointed. She and her playwright lover do appear, but barely, and are, for the most part, superfluous to the plot.
This is a mystery, almost a procedural, with a seer taking the place of a forensics expert. Wound up with this is the story of the commoners of Altdorf being stirred up for revolution, making things all the hairier for the group trying to solve the mystery as they're led by one aristocrat and suspect another might be their prey. I'm a sucker for characters who are the best at what they do, and I'm given a great duelist in this novel who is quite satisfying. He's regularly given a chance to show his stuff thanks to his beautiful, difficult, and slander-magnet sister. Wonderful characters including two ambassadors who couldn't be more different and some good guys who are actually good in this bad, bad world. I got my twist and it was a great one.
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Nota bad book, but I was disappointed in the distance between my expectations and what the author delivered. It's mostly pointing out the problems with established religions and doesn't seem to approach creating your own religion until the final chapter. In the book's defense, the subtitle clearly states "without instructions," but a more accurate title might be Why Religions Mostly Suck.
Just finished my second reading, the first being twenty or twenty-five years ago. I liked the book a lot more this time, because I knew what type of book I was getting into. My first read felt too slow and it was only after the big event of the second-half of the book that I realized I had read something great.
Helen Marshall???s latest collection feels like dreams: linear plots are often abandoned for events and places that haunt you long after you wake. With regularity unsettling image draws you toward sharp observation toward brushes with divinity toward caked blood and dirt beneath your nails. Marshall???s work seeps into you so your skin never settles quite evenly across your muscle again.
Epic. Deep. A blast. This is my second reading, the first being nearly forty years ago. These books were written to last. I may be enjoying them even more than I did as a teenager. A deeper knowledge of the world only enriches the experience. Nearly everything I remember from this series came from the first two books. This is exciting, as these books are my favorite adventure story. It's similar to reading them for the first time. The end of book 2 knocked the game board over and scattered the pieces. Here, those that remain gather strength and make fragile alliances. Julian May was absolutely brilliant, her layers of knowledge stack atop one another to make (brace yourself for this metaphor) a magnificent baklava, honeyed by her cinematic writing style. I can't wait to see how it turns out (again).
Absolute money corrupts and destroys musically brilliant baby-men and their thug entourage absolutely. Just reading about the never-ending insanity nearly wore me out. How many fucking pieces of furniture can you throw out of a hotel window before it gets exhausting? Outside of that an entertaining and informative book. Spitz tells enough about certain crimes that I can only assume there were statutes of limitations involved.