janey's review
5.0
Unsworth draws me in like no other writer in his genre. His narrator isn't himself unreliable, but his ego wreaks havoc on everyone, not least himself. And you can count on Unsworth to make you feel just how heartbreaking betrayal is.
margo666's review
3.0
The story of a twelfth February noble man and his relationship with a court dancer. The story is set in various locations around Europe and contains a wealth of information historical, geographical and religious. It is the level of detailed research that gained it a 3 star review from me as I really didn't think much of the story.
This book was tedious. It was technically well written but , in my veiw, boring. The relationship between the main characters felt flat and passionless. There was possibly to much focus on detail of history and too little character development for my liking.
This book was tedious. It was technically well written but , in my veiw, boring. The relationship between the main characters felt flat and passionless. There was possibly to much focus on detail of history and too little character development for my liking.
daschneider's review
3.0
To start, I had to check out this time period and place in Wikipedia to give me the schema to make sense of the book. Then it mostly fell into place. TBH, I saw parts of myself in the main (male) character, in his inability to be suspicious and see the big picture, and saw the ways this harmed him and others. There were moments when big hints were set out for the reader, hints that the protagonist failed to note. It strained disbelief. Interesting historical moment, stilted writing trying to sound place- and time-based, and unsatisfying character development.
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