Reviews

Blood from a Stone by Donna Leon

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kate01970's review

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dark hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

henwer2203's review against another edition

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mysterious tense

3.25

cooperca's review against another edition

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3.0

I've always enjoyed Ms. Leon's Brunetti series. I feel as if I'm in the middle of Venice, enjoying the foods, sounds, and people. This one doesn't disappoint in that manner.

This mystery was darker than other Brunetti mysteries I've read. The murder of a vu cumpra and the politics that come with investigating a murder no one seems to care about (except for Brunetti) seems incredibly relevant in today's political climate. The vu cumpra's are masters at being invisible during the day and disappearing into the night when need be. When one is killed point blank, it seems implausible that he was targeted for any other reason than the fact that he's a vu cumpra.

Uncovering the secret behind the man's identity was interesting. But I found the pace a little uneven and felt it could have been wrapped up a little quicker. As always, I do enjoy Ms. Leon's novels and will continue to read more in the series.

bea_reads78's review against another edition

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4.0

Excellent Venetian atmosphere and details, interesting exploration of politics and corruption and race

craalm's review against another edition

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2.0

I'm not really sure what my problem with this book really was. Maybe it was due to the fact that I'm working super hard at uni at the moment and so didn't have much time to spend catching up on this book which is why it took me an uncharacteristically long time to finish. I don't know, the story was interesting enough, but I simply didn't connect with the characters at all - and the mystery somehow didn't capture my interest from the start. I also thought it was quite slow - there was no twists and turns, and not much information was gathered along the way. I found the different people the main character contacted quite hard to remember as well (though this might be because it took me so long to read and I didn't get to read as often as I would have liked to.) Overall, this was still an interesting read and an interesting look at how people treat those in their country who originally come from elsewhere. However, I have read more gripping murder mysteries than this one - though I don't know if that's just because I had little time to read recently, or because that really is the case.