A review by caidyn
The Widow of Jerusalem by Alan Gordon
4.0
Yes, even with my disappointment for a plot point, I will rate this four stars. What can I say? I'm a sucker for humor and historical intrigue.
As usual, this was woven very well around a specific point in time and the people in that time. I'm not familiar with the 1100s or 1200s, so it's always fun for me because I don't get pissed off over historical inaccuracies that might be there. Aka, I'm happier and everyone else who has to read my status updates is happier as well. Theo is great. Claudia is great. What made this one unique was the way this story was told.
This is literally a story. The whole mystery is set in the past, and Theo is sitting there telling the story. It was a lot of fun with random interjections from Claudia. The mystery itself was good and had a lot of build up to it. With this series, I don't bother trying to solve it because it's not until the last minute that you get important information.
However -- and this is a big however for me -- there was a large portion of the story that left a bad taste in my mouth. Actually, it was just a few pages, but it left an impact that made me question if I would actually enjoy it. For the first time in this series (at least that I remember, and I tend to remember these things) there was rape. Not graphic or really spoken about. But, it happened and it wasn't difficult to infer. I just personally prefer rape out of the story unless it's very important to a character. Like, it happened in the past or a book is literally focused around the rape, like in [b:Speak|439288|Speak|Laurie Halse Anderson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1310121762s/439288.jpg|118521] or [b:All the Rage|21853636|All the Rage|Courtney Summers|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410879862s/21853636.jpg|18982890] or [b:What We Saw|20922826|What We Saw|Aaron Hartzler|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1424276752s/20922826.jpg|40290636].
So, a good book, but it was sad to see that brought into the story with no real reason behind it.
As usual, this was woven very well around a specific point in time and the people in that time. I'm not familiar with the 1100s or 1200s, so it's always fun for me because I don't get pissed off over historical inaccuracies that might be there. Aka, I'm happier and everyone else who has to read my status updates is happier as well. Theo is great. Claudia is great. What made this one unique was the way this story was told.
This is literally a story. The whole mystery is set in the past, and Theo is sitting there telling the story. It was a lot of fun with random interjections from Claudia. The mystery itself was good and had a lot of build up to it. With this series, I don't bother trying to solve it because it's not until the last minute that you get important information.
However -- and this is a big however for me -- there was a large portion of the story that left a bad taste in my mouth. Actually, it was just a few pages, but it left an impact that made me question if I would actually enjoy it. For the first time in this series (at least that I remember, and I tend to remember these things) there was rape. Not graphic or really spoken about. But, it happened and it wasn't difficult to infer. I just personally prefer rape out of the story unless it's very important to a character. Like, it happened in the past or a book is literally focused around the rape, like in [b:Speak|439288|Speak|Laurie Halse Anderson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1310121762s/439288.jpg|118521] or [b:All the Rage|21853636|All the Rage|Courtney Summers|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410879862s/21853636.jpg|18982890] or [b:What We Saw|20922826|What We Saw|Aaron Hartzler|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1424276752s/20922826.jpg|40290636].
So, a good book, but it was sad to see that brought into the story with no real reason behind it.