thelassinlinen's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Incest, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Violence, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Injury/injury detail, Sexism, Bullying, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Death, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Sexual content, Medical content, Murder, Torture, and Sexual assault
asourceoffiction's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Shardlake is a great protagonist to get behind and his struggles with what he learns about Cromwell are brilliant to read, alongside the complex web of murder that runs through Scarnsea. I love how the characters develop and was surprised a few times by the direction the story took.
I really like how Sansom combines history and fiction, and throws in a little educated speculation of his own (particularly when it comes to Cromwell and Anne Boleyn). It serves the narrative really well, and makes this a brilliant, engrossing story; I'll definitely be seeking out the rest of the series.
Graphic: Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Murder
driftingthroughlife's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, and Racism
Minor: Sexual harassment
singalana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Minor: Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Animal death, Fatphobia, Chronic illness, Death, Blood, Child death, Kidnapping, Murder, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Torture, and Homophobia
prashiie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Thomas Cromwell sends Matthew Shardlake to a monastery to investigate the murder of master Singleton, a commissioner Lord Cromwell sent before. Matthew is described to be a hunchback. In earlier times, people believed that touching a hunchback will bring ill-fortune, which I found very sad. He can be very generous at some times, but also harsh, especially towards people he envies. I really liked his character! He wasn't without his flaws and that brings a lot of realism to the story. This book also brought to light a lot of the hypocrisy and scams of the Catholic church and it was also interesting to see the state of medicine at that time, mentions of black bile etc.
A lot of the hypocrisy and scams of the Catholic church were described in this book. It's also interesting to see the state of medicine at that time, mentions of black bile etc. Matthew is described to be a hunchback. In earlier times, people believed that touching a hunchback will bring ill-fortune. He can be very generous at some times, but also harsh especially towards people he envies. I really liked his character! He wasn't without his flaws and that brings a lot of realism to the story.
Spoiler
Matthew starts off with Lord Cromwell and Mark Poer at his side, but ends up alone. At the beginning he was a convinced reformist, but at the end of the book he sees both sides and decides to be neither a reformist nor a papist. The killer is shown to be the former lover of Mark Smeaton, the boy who got wrongly executed for treason and adultery with Queen Anne. He was the scapegoat and Alice decided to get revenge. Shardlake always thought Lord Cromwell to behave morally and was happy to be a part of the Reformation. But everything that happened showed him that it isn't black or white, Cromwell wants to see results by any means necessary. Eventually Shardlake's firm believes are also dissolved.Graphic: Death, Bullying, Animal death, and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Violence and Sexual harassment
dimins's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Where Sansom shines is really the historical context of the story. He's apparently got some degrees in English history and it shows. Sansom goes into a visceral degree of detail about the sights, the sounds, and the smells of 16th century England, particularly London. The historical context of the English Reformation and the clashing of the Roman Catholic Church and the burgeoning Protestants in royal favour, both struggling with corruption within its ranks, was very well done and immersive. The first few chapters do take some time to really get things going though, and I almost DNFed at some points.
The central mystery, however, reads like text-based RPG. This isn't to say that it was unenjoyable. I weirdly liked it, but maybe it's because I like text-based RPGs to begin with. When our crime-solving hero Shardlake interrogates other characters, it's a very straightforward to-and-fro dialogue, like: "What were you doing in the infirmary?" "I was mixing herbs." "Who were you mixing it for?" "Brother Francis complained of a sore leg, so I was mixing it up for him." The above is completely imaginary dialogue, but that's basically how most interrogations went in the whole book. Once again, I didn't mind this style at all and I can't explain why.
I'm on the fence about our hero Shardlake. In some areas, he seems like a sympathetic character with a moral compass that most of the other characters around him lack, and is therefore worth rooting for. He also has some type of spinal deformity that makes him a hunchback, something that affects the way characters interact with him and also his own perspective about people and himself. What really annoyed me about him was
Spoiler
the way he treated Mark and Alice. I didn't mind him developing a fascination for Alice, and it might've been fun if Alice had fallen in love with Matthew instead, but then when it's clear that Alice did not have romantic affection for Matthew but instead was into Mark, Matthew behaved in a bit of a spiteful jealous hypocritical way. The way he sought to change Mark's mind by representing to him the fact that Alice is a servant and therefore not "worthy" of him, but then turning around and pining after Alice himself and feeling happy whenever she said anything remotely sympathetic or comforting to him. It just felt so blegh. What redeemed it a bit for me was that at least Matthew admitted to himself that he <i>was</i> being a hypocrite, and it wasn't smoothed over in the narrative.The book also brings us Brother Guy who is described as being a "Moor". I can't recall off the top of my head now where he's supposed to come from, but he's a brown-skinned Catholic monk in England, so that's a pretty interesting and diverse choice to make for a pre-2010 book. I liked Brother Guy's interaction with Shardlake, and he's easily my favourite character in the cast. Of all the monks in the monastery, only Brother Guy seems to act and behave like he's a religious fellow. Every other monk in this one has some pretty atrocious behaviour.
On the treatment of certain characters:
Spoiler
I was really, really worried at one point when suspicion was cast upon Brother Guy. If the only person of colour in the cast ends up being the ultimate villain and murderer, it would certainly have pulled my rating of this book down a few notches. I was therefore incredibly happy that Brother Guy remained the only role model of the cast here, perhaps even more commendably so than Matthew Shardlake himself. Another character I was really worried about was Brother Gabriel. I'm not a fan of the trope where the only queer character is represented as being perverse, depraved, and cowardly. Gabriel does get a bit of a redemption in the end when he sacrifices himself to save Matthew, but I could've done without the whole "secret voyeur jerking himself off to other men" thing that was ascribed to him. We do definitely have a bit of balance because the other monks were said to be lusting over women and sexually harrassing servant girls like Orphan and Alice, so Gabriel's not the only sexually depraved one here but yeah, still.Overall, an enjoyable historical mystery which I'm keen to continue.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Murder, Homophobia, Torture, and Ableism
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Gore, and Fatphobia
Minor: Racism
ran_sophia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Misogyny and Religious bigotry
Minor: Racism