Scan barcode
A review by eatingfiction
Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones
3.0
Cathedral of the Sea is a historical fiction novel that is dense yet fascinating, with much detail and description of the time period and historical events. The plot is closely tied to real-life events and interwoven with a fair amount of melodrama. I found the main character's story to be over-the-top at times (though this is mostly because I couldn't care less about the romantic sub plots, of which there were many), and was more intrigued by the simple daily life scenarios.
The setting is a richly immersive portrayal of medieval Barcelona, and follows the story of an unlikely hero who gets dragged through plot points both harrowing and dull. We follow him from childhood right through to his last days, and as a result this book feels very complete and satisfying.
Sometimes the book goes on a bit of a side tangent to describe what some King or Lord or other is doing or what war is happening about something somewhere. These tangents usually felt a bit rambling despite being interesting. I found they were something of an acquired taste; I came to appreciate these tidbits of background info.
A great read overall, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning something about this time period or simply immersing themselves in a sweeping historical epic.
The setting is a richly immersive portrayal of medieval Barcelona, and follows the story of an unlikely hero who gets dragged through plot points both harrowing and dull. We follow him from childhood right through to his last days, and as a result this book feels very complete and satisfying.
Sometimes the book goes on a bit of a side tangent to describe what some King or Lord or other is doing or what war is happening about something somewhere. These tangents usually felt a bit rambling despite being interesting. I found they were something of an acquired taste; I came to appreciate these tidbits of background info.
A great read overall, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning something about this time period or simply immersing themselves in a sweeping historical epic.