A review by bozimus
The Sun Over Breda by Margaret Sayers Peden, Arturo Pérez-Reverte
2.0
I started this book with slight reservations. The previous book in this series, "Purity of Blood", did not exactly "knock my socks off". But I decided to give this third book in the series a chance based upon the high regard I hold for the author, Arturo Perez-Reverte.
I keep hoping for another "El Club Dumas" and I keep getting disappointed. Don't get me wrong...this book was a pleasant read. However, it did not quite deliver what was promised on the inner flap of the hard back cover..."a gloriously dramatic novel of war and honor...". I am an action junky! I WANT to read the blow-by-blow of a sword fight... But Perez-Reverte (too often) abstracted the action. He would get to a juicy fight scene and poof...he would sum up the outcome instead of letting me see/experience it. ARRRGHHH!!! Arturo, You lost at least 1 full star for that, me bucko. If your intended audience were the women buying "50 Shades of Grey" I could understand abstracting the violence.
To sum it up, there are better examples of historical fiction out there (Bernard Cornwell's excellent Saxon Tales to name one). I doubt that I will read book 4 of this series "The King's Gold".
I keep hoping for another "El Club Dumas" and I keep getting disappointed. Don't get me wrong...this book was a pleasant read. However, it did not quite deliver what was promised on the inner flap of the hard back cover..."a gloriously dramatic novel of war and honor...". I am an action junky! I WANT to read the blow-by-blow of a sword fight... But Perez-Reverte (too often) abstracted the action. He would get to a juicy fight scene and poof...he would sum up the outcome instead of letting me see/experience it. ARRRGHHH!!! Arturo, You lost at least 1 full star for that, me bucko. If your intended audience were the women buying "50 Shades of Grey" I could understand abstracting the violence.
To sum it up, there are better examples of historical fiction out there (Bernard Cornwell's excellent Saxon Tales to name one). I doubt that I will read book 4 of this series "The King's Gold".