This is, as the title suggests, a mystery. Our sleuths are 13-year-old Elizabeth I, daughter of King Henry VIII, and Simon, the young son of Elizabeth's household's physician. This is the first in a series--all the rest of them being yet to come.
General rating: 3 out of 4 (not thought provoking), a fun read
1. It it plausible? Well, kind of. Most mysteries require a degree of suspension of belief. Really, can regular people be successful detectives? Hm. Anyway, it's about as plausible as they come, I guess. And I'm not an expert on historical literature, but the details seemed okay to me. I also question the dramatic nature of these murders (and most fictional murders, actually). Really. I can't imagine this kind of thing ever happening. But! Suspension of belief and all that.
2. Was it thought provoking? Well... not really. Unless you count thinking things like: could murders like this really take place? How many people in one person's acquaintance are really insane? One? More than one? None? Hm. And: would a king really choose a 13 year old boy to investigate a murder? I had all those thoughts. But this book wasn't actually thought provoking in a valuable way.
3. Was this book engaging? Absolutely yes.
4. Was this book uplifting? Well, yes. They did catch the murderer, after all, and the detectives escaped unscathed. Justice prevailed!! And all that.
Language: No bad language at all
Sex: No sexual descriptions. References to prostitutes, though, and loose women in general.
My recommendation: If you like mysteries, you'll probably like this. It was a fun read.
No comments:
Post a Comment