A review by jmeston
A Death in the Venetian Quarter by Alan Gordon
4.0
3.8, the end was stronger than the middle.
I appreciate the historian outlook that rumbles along under the narrative. From the afterword:
"...another medievalist scholar writes of a conference in the 1980s where the 2 camps divided so bitterly that they nearly came to blows.
I, for one, would gladly have paid to see this last. In my fantasy, the Venetianists and the Byzantinists are at opposite ends of a large field. Each side is given a disassembled mangonel, operating instructions in the appropriate 13th c. manuscript, and a pile of stones. The last historic standing gets to write the definitive work."
I appreciate the historian outlook that rumbles along under the narrative. From the afterword:
"...another medievalist scholar writes of a conference in the 1980s where the 2 camps divided so bitterly that they nearly came to blows.
I, for one, would gladly have paid to see this last. In my fantasy, the Venetianists and the Byzantinists are at opposite ends of a large field. Each side is given a disassembled mangonel, operating instructions in the appropriate 13th c. manuscript, and a pile of stones. The last historic standing gets to write the definitive work."