Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Awful

It was horrible, wasn't it?  I mean, I was embarrassed to post it.  But I promised, and for me it's finishing things at all, not how they come out, that is the real accomplishment.  I'm so sorry that I subjected you to that.  I'll put in more work on the next one, I promise. 

I checked out Mockingjay yesterday, in spite of the fact that the BPL claims it's on its way.  I found a speed read copy available at Cambridge and snatched it up, because the damned book came out over two weeks ago, and I've been looking at the Transit Hold notification for another week.  Everyone else has already read it.  And I want it now, Mom!

And then I didn't even start it.  But if you've read Mistress of the Art of Death you won't blame me.  Not that Mockingjay isn't calling my name, but it's not often that I come across a mystery that I like this much.  Primarily it's the period detail, I think--Cambridge of the 12th century is pretty amazing. 

But I'm also loving something that sets this book apart from a lot of other mysteries; besides the detectives, there are a whole bunch of likable characters.  Usually when you find a likable character in a mystery, it's the author using reverse psychology and you want to suspect them.  But each of these characters has layers, and I'm enjoying that element of the story a lot.

Also, the doctor, Adelia, reminds me of the Temperance Brennan character from Bones.  She's good with science and the dead, okay with people in the context of medicine, and completely useless with people in pretty much every other respect.  Thank goodness for her clever sidekicks.

I have no idea who did it yet--everyone I want to suspect is too obvious.  But I'm along for the ride, which is not always how I feel about a mystery.  So way to go, Ariana Franklin--finding a good mystery series is pretty impressive for me.

So now wait.  Does that count as a review?  No plot synopsis.  If I added a little info about what happens would it be a review?  Gah!  Watching me wrestle with myself over this has got to be irritating.  But hey, what's a blog for?

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