by Crystal King
There were many conflicting reviews about this book, which I know because I pre-screened it very carefully. I was thinking it just wasn't my cup of tea--in medieval Rome a nephew inherits his uncle's recipes, chef's knife, and a tall stack of handwritten journals that he is instructed to "burn without reading." Long passages in the journals are in cipher.Of course he chooses to ignore the instructions. You'd have guessed that from the title. But I'd never have guessed exactly how very much I would enjoy this book!
One of of the criticisms was, "I didn't like any of the people." Well, I liked them! I thought they did stupid things, of course, but that didn't make them unlikable. Another was that the guy didn't decode the journals quickly enough. Bah! I say. He explained several times how time-consuming the process was and he did have a life to carry on aside from that. Another that he didn't safeguard the recipes well enough--that one I'll allow, but it was only a stupid mistake. And finally a reader chided the author about the sex scenes being too detailed, with a warning not to leave it on in the car when you stop for gas. (Tee, hee) But that is trivial--they weren't so very detailed and sex was a major motivation for some of the plot lines.
No matter. I enjoyed it with all it flaws or features, depending on your viewpoint. It was a "romping historical mystery." The people and situations were mostly invented, but it did have a lot of real history in it. And no vampires.
No comments:
Post a Comment