Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Read: 11 January, 2011

Much of what we think we know about pirates today actually comes from Stevenson's fictional narrative, Treasure Island. The plot is well-known: A pirate stays in an inn and, when the town is attacked by pirates, the proprietor's son, Jim Hawkins, is left in possession of a treasure map. I grew up watching the story told and retold in cartoons, plays, and even as a puppet show! So it was very interesting for me to read the original book.

I went in expecting it to be heavy on the Victorianities, a good story but rather wordy. What I found was a very pleasant surprise. Treasure Island is fast-paced and exciting, with adventure and suspense and humour. I couldn't read through fast enough and felt genuinely sad when the story ended.

I'm greatly looking forward to reading it again when my son graduates from his board books!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Read: 5 August, 2010

The Book Thief has many of the common elements of a World War II narrative. There are children trying to grow up, to learn, to form friendships against the backdrop of hate and cruelty. There's a Jew hiding in the basement. There's the inevitable violent end of the Nazi regime, followed by confusion and guilt. But this story is told from the perspective of Death as he encounters, again and again, a little girl by the name of Liesel Meminger.

I've noticed that books written for young adults seem to be, on average, so much better than books written for adults. They tend to be more imaginative, better written, and far more thought-provoking. The Book Thief is no exception.

Like most books written about World War II, there was no lack of horror. There were times when I had to read through tears. There were also times when I laughed out loud. I found the characters to be very compelling and I truly cared about what happened to them. The writing style was fantastic and the gimmick of having Death be the narrator, which could so easily have become absurd silliness, was actually well pulled off.

I highly recommend this book for the young adult crowd, and I think that us old fogeys would do well to read it too.

Empress by Shan Sa

Read: 20 July, 2010

Empress Wu tells the reader about her childhood in one of China's impoverished but still noble clans, growing up a concubine of the emperor, and finally of becoming empress herself. This is the story of a bird locked in a golden cage, of lavish surroundings that fail to mask captivity, of the boredom and murderous competition of a small city of women all fighting to win the gaze of a single man.

The novel's protagonist, Empress Wu (or Heavenlight), is a fairly complex character who is not always particularly likeable. She is in survival mode; even when she rules as empress, she must contend with assassination attempts and the ever present threat of failing health. This is a novel about a woman whose entire being is tied to the approval of men, and the suddenness with which fortunes can change through factors entirely out of her control.

Sa did an excellent job of painting the picture of a world that is at once rich and beautiful, yet brutal and cruel. I found it to be an interesting and well-written novel. It's an easy read, although not always a pleasant one. This is a great novel to read if you happen to come across it, though I wouldn't bother going too far out of your way to get it.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Read: 26 January, 2011

The Scarlet Letter is the classic story of a woman who dared to rebuke the mores of her Puritan society.What pop culture didn't tell me was that the novel actually starts with a rather lengthy chapter from the perspective of the narrator, living in "modern times" (mid-19th century), and complaining about life as a customs house clerk.

The first part was absolutely wonderful. It read like one of the Sketches by Boz narratives, as an exposé of a particular job in a particular place. The characters were vividly drawn amid the narrator's meandering thoughts and rants. It was everything I fell in love with about Victorian literature!

The more well-known portion of the story had a more standard Social Problem feel. A fallen woman wins over the reader and, perhaps, the novel's community by being a perfect angel of the hearth, a self-sacrificing and nearly Christ-like in her perfection. We've seen this before in novels like Ruth and Oliver Twist. But Hawthorne pulls a fast one and martyr's the male tango-dancer instead, allowing Hester to live and, presumably, to grow old.

I expected to have some trouble with this book. It's been a while since I've read anything from the Victorian period (at least that was aimed at an adult audience). But I found The Scarlet Letter to be extremely engrossing. I read the whole thing in just a few days and enjoyed it immensely.

As a little side note, I read this book while very obviously pregnant. It was rather titillating to be in public reading a book that is famously known for being about promiscuity resulting in pregnancy while actually pregnant!

Raising a Secure Child by Zeynep Biringen

Read: 13 September, 2011

Raising a Secure Child starts from the same Daniel Goleman research that informed Emotionally Intelligent Parenting. Since the two were so similar in many ways, I can't help but to review the former in light of the latter.

I complained that Emotionally Intelligent Parenting provided sample dialogues to illustrate their points that were clearly idealized and read like something from the Stepford Wives. It was almost creepy. Raising a Secure Child, while making much greater use of dialogues and sample situations, did a much better job. In fact, I would go so far as to say that this was one of the book's most positive features. Every major point was backed up with a short vignette of a family either doing it right or doing it wrong that helped me see what the point should (or shouldn't) look like in practice. I found these to be a huge help in visualizing how I might out the advice into practice.

While Emotionally Intelligent Parenting focused on always saying the right thing, the focus in Raising a Secure Child was much more on the non-verbal interactions between parent and child. In other words, really meaning it is seen as more valuable than always having the right script handy. This made a good deal more intuitive sense to me.

Both books had the same emphasis on being emotionally present for kids (although, again, I felt that Raising a Secure Child made the point in a way that felt more practically applicable), and both talked about the importance of structure and limit-setting.

Raising a Secure Child spent a good deal of time on helping me to analyse my own upbringing to help me see how that might affect how I interact with my son. While it's something I have thought about a lot, I still found it helpful to go through in a more methodical sort of way.

And while it isn't applicable to my family, I do think the sections on children with special needs and getting through a divorce could be very useful.

Both books covered the full range from baby to young adult. I think that both are worth reading, but Raising a Secure Child is by far the better of the two.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth

Read: 9 September, 2011

There's a trick to reading parenting books: Never read them reactively.

It's a rule I'm normally really good at following, but I broke it when I picked up Health Sleep Habits, Happy Child. To make a long story short, my son sleeps wonderfully at night but is a terrible day napper. This often leads to some horrific bouts of crankiness, so I looked up infant sleep books at my local library to see if I could find something to help.

The central advice of Healthy Sleep Habits is to have babies take regular naps (and he does emphasize the "regular"). Great! I agree! Now how do we accomplish this?

Well, that's where the book starts to fall apart. Weissbluth recommends a sleep routine that may include things like reading a bedtime story (which excites my son because books are OMGWTFAWESOME!!), a bath (which excites my son because water is OMGWTFAWESOME!!), a massage (which excites my son because physical contact is OMGWTFAWESOME!!), and a lullaby (which... Yeah, I think you get the point).

I realize that my son is a bit weird. The grandson of two professional track-and-fielders (one of whom held a world record for a year) and a professional mountain climbing instructor, he's predisposed to some rather heightened energy levels. Not only is he an unstoppable force, he's also hitting all of his physical milestones on the very early end of the spectrum.

So Weissbluth's advice doesn't seem to work for our family (and I refuse to even try the cry-it-out method that he says may help if the stable bedtime routine fails). Ordinarily, that wouldn't be a huge deal. I don't know any adults who need nipples in their mouths to fall asleep, so I can reasonably assume that TurboKid will eventually grow out of his sleep problems, like I did. I could just keep trying with the routine and that would be the end of it.

The problem with Weissbluth is that he peppers his book with comments like:

I think it possible that unhealthy sleep habits contribute to school-related problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disabilities.

and:

Warning: If your child does not learn to sleep well, he may become an incurable adult insomniac, chronically disabled from sleepiness and dependent on sleeping pills.

These sorts of friendly reminders are helpfully printed apart from the text, presented in bold and segregated in little boxes, lest you fail to notice that you are irrevocably breaking your baby.

There were aspects of the book that I enjoyed, such as the breakdown of strategies by age. But these were so overshadowed by the fear-mongering that it's hard for me to write anything other than a negative review. It's bad enough that I'm dealing with a cranky baby and that I can't get the method to work. To add a level of desperation, to make my failure something that will turn my precious babe into a disabled drug user, is just cruel.

Bad, Weissbluth. Bad.

The Men Who Stare At Goats by Jon Ronson

Read: 7 July, 2011

I really want to categorize this book as fiction; and, in a sane world, I would. Unfortunately...

It begins in 1983,  when Major General Albert Stubblebine III (a truly Dickensian name), upon realizing that both his body and the wall are made up of atoms and that atoms are mostly made up of empty space, tries to walk through a wall.

Starting from Stubblebine's sore nose, Ronson takes the reader through a brief history of the US military's more insane moments. He lulled me into a sense of "oh, that happened in '70s, but it would never happen today" with stories of men staring at goats to make their hearts stop (and, when goats aren't available, the odd hamster would do) and a First Earth Battalion that could end conflict with their "sparkling eyes."

But then he gets into the 'War on Terror' and the horrific acts at Abu Ghraib.

The most difficult part of reading The Men Who Stare At Goats is to remember that this is only, as the subtitle says, about a "small group of men" who happen to be placed in some key positions. It isn't representative of the army as a whole. The problem is that each of these "highly placed" men have subordinates in a culture that does not tolerate dissent - even when the orders are quite obviously insane.

Throughout, Ronson remains very objective. He allows his subjects, and their beliefs, to speak for themselves. This is an amazing feat when writing a book about men who believe that they can walk through walls or stare goats to deaths.

The tone of the book seems somewhat rambly - jumping back and forth through time and skipping from subject to subject - but it all makes sense by the end, when the whole is tied together and the influence of Jim Channon's First Earth Battalion Operations Manual is made clear. And, really, this is the story of that book - of its history and its legacy.

Men Who Stare At Goats appears to be meticulously researched. Certainly, it comes through in Ronson's writing just how difficult certain people and facts were to find. And, although some of the connections he draws are speculative (or based on "wink wink" statements from his informants), he does make the case that it's all at least plausible if not factual. I found it to be a very interesting and thought-provoking read, even if my faith in humanity requires that I remain somewhat provisional in my trust of Ronson's depictions.

Assuming that it is all (or mostly) true, though, I'd be very interested in a follow up in coming years as to the effect of the book on military policies and strategies. Has Men Who Stare At Goats embarrassed the leadership sufficiently to cause a change? Will it spell the end of First Earth Battalion's influence? Or will it increase its popularity?

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Read: 8 June, 2009

When Fiver senses that a great danger is coming to the warren, only his brother and a few others believe him. Unable to convince the other rabbits, this small band leaves on a journey in search of safety that takes them through farmyards, across roads and rivers, and into warrens with very different cultures.

This is an absolutely fantastic book. The adventure story alone is well worth the read, but the amateur mythicist in me was especially impressed with the construction of an entire rabbit culture and religious system, language included. Especially impressive is how familiar and, yet, distinctly alien the rabbit culture is. This rarely felt like a book about people that happens to be set in a rabbit setting. Rather, this was a book about rabbits, only slightly anthropomorphism. The characters and their culture retain a great deal of what can only be called 'rabbitiness.'

Most books get at least one aspect right. Some get a few things right. When this happens, the book may be called masterful, or great. But Watership Down is one of the very few books that tempt me to use the word 'perfection.' This is a masterpiece and I think that anyone who hasn't read it yet is somewhat impoverished. There's something about it that just touches the Jungian collective subconscious. This is the hero with a thousand faces pulled off in a way that feels natural.

Though marketed as a children's book (although perhaps a little too gruesome/frightening for younger kids), Watership Down is a must read for adults as well.

The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life As An Experiment by A.J. Jacobs

Read: 28 June, 2011

I listened to the audio book version of this. I'm finding that my ability to hold books is being seriously hampered by Captain Wiggly's wild gesticulations. And it's only gotten worse now that he's started teething and requires holding at all times. So, at the recommendations of several friends, I'm giving the audio reading experience a try.

In The Guinea Pig Diaries, A.J. Jacobs conducts a number of experiments on himself. For a while, he tries to life according to George Washington's code of conduct, he tries to scrub his brain of all irrational thinking, he outsources much of his life, and he dabbles with radical honesty.

Since the book is episodic, with each experiment serving as a discreet section, I thought it might be best to give my thoughts on each separately.

What would George Washington Do

In this segment, Jacobs tries to incorporate George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior. In the process, he learns about the 'founding father' and learns a new respect for Washington.

I found the history of this piece to be very interesting, but it may have been the weakest of Jacobs's experiments in terms of its impact on his life. Keeping a straight face and adopting good posture isn't exactly revolutionary. Ha ha! See what I did there?

The Unitasker

After a failed multitasking attempt causes Jacobs to lose driving privileges, he decides to experiment with unitasking - focusing on a single task at a time. This section had quite a bit of relevance for me as I'm almost never doing fewer than at least two things at a time. Even while I'm playing with the baby, I'm generally reading a book or even getting dishes done at the same time!

The human brain can't multitask, says Jacobs. What we end up doing instead is simply switching back and forth between our tasks. This is inefficient because there's some "now where was I?" time between each switch. He argues that we're actually faster and more productive if we simply stop and focus on one thing at a time. From personal experience, I find that I get more enjoyment out of the task too, because it's actually "there" mentally. It wasn't a great chapter, but he made his point and I think I'm provisionally convinced.

I Think You're Fat

In this section, Jacobs gives radical honesty a try. The concept is that you must tell the truth, all the time. All the time. Lying by omission is also out. If you're a fan of gimmicky detective shows, you may have encountered the concept of radical honesty on Lie To Me (featuring Mr. Orange). Personally, my first exposure came when my brother-in-law started practising it.

Jacobs's experience seems fairly similar to what I've seen first hand. There are quite a few occasions where it serves everyone well. It gets uncomfortable topics out in the open, initiating a dialogue that can actually fix the inter-personal problem. It can also help achieve short-term goals by forcing you to ask for the things you want. But on the other hand, it can also cause quite a bit of negative feeling.

For the project, Jacobs meets with radical honesty's inventor, Dr. Brad Blanton. During his description, he mentions that Dr. Blanton has been married multiple times. This is shocking given Blanton's claim that radical honesty "leads to intimacy in relationships."

And that's my main observation of radical honesty - the disconnect between the claimed benefits and the reality of its practice. Jacobs also points out a psychological quirk that voicing thoughts solidifies them in our minds. So, feeling a little down in the dumps about your job today? Vent about it and your opinion of your job will actually become more negative overall, even on the good days.

That's why I'm much more in favour of a little thing I like to call radical positivism. Always say nice things until you train your brain to believe them. This doesn't exclude constructive criticism, by the way. It's merely a policy against whining.

240 Minutes of Fame

Jacobs happens to look a great deal like an actor I'd never heard of but who apparently had a little spot in the sun a couple years ago. When the actor decided not to attend one of these fancy Hollywood award ceremonies, Jacobs attended - letting people think that he was the actor.

He soon realized just how intoxicating fame can be, and how constant praise skews an individual's perception of reality. I quite enjoyed this section because it pointed out just how fallible we are and how quickly any one of us, no matter how nice, could turn into one of these tantruming celebrity monsters.

My Outsourced Life

This may have been the best section, if only for the entertainment value. Jacobs uses firms in India to outsource parts of his life. It starts out fairly normal, outsourcing research for his articles and other menial tasks. But then he starts pushing the boundaries, even outsourcing a fight with his wife.

The lesson for this section is a good one. He starts off with what I think is a fairly common perception in the West that the people we're outsourcing to are somewhat brutish. They're great for simple, mindless work like the call centre screen reading that passes for tech support. But he soon realizes that his virtual assistants are every bit as intelligent and creative as American workers - if not more so.

The Rationality Project

This project struck a chord with me because it's something that I've been working on for a few years now. In this project, Jacobs tries to eliminate as much irrational thinking from his brain as possible.

What he learns is rather similar to what I've learn, that simply being rational doesn't necessarily eliminate subjectivity, nor does it allow us to find "correct" answers. For example, he experiments with toothpaste - does the rational mind choose based on cavity protection or taste? Well, as one of his sources points out, 10 years without a cavity may be worse than 9 years without a cavity but spent enjoying a much more pleasant brushing experience. Even though the latter is the "wrong" choice based solely on the cavity protection metric, the actual answer is far more complex and involves subjective preference.

That's not to say that rationality is bunk. There are unquestionably "wrong" answers that we should make every effort to purge from our brains. But what Jacobs learns is that it's perfectly rational to be an emotional human being and that subjective experiences are legitimate.

My life as a beautiful woman

This section was an extremely close runner-up for entertainment value. For this project, Jacobs tries online dating on behalf of his very attractive nanny. What he finds is fairly expected, that saying "no" to forceful advances all day gets tiresome and that there are some really mean manipulative jerks out there.

To be fair, his experience as a beautiful woman is only online, so he's meeting a large collection of the scummiest individuals in high concentration without additional worries such as physical safety. As a result, his ability to really learn from the episode is somewhat stunted. But still, his writing style brings the adventure to life in a really funny way.

The truth about nakedness

[caption id="attachment_858" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Included for your edification"][/caption]

This is the deep feminist piece that "My life as a beautiful woman" couldn't be. Jacobs's job is to edit an article by actress Mary-Louise Parker on the experience of doing a naked photoshoot. Additionally, Parker is asked to illustrate her piece with a nude photo. But Parker, brilliantly, turns it around by only agreeing to write the article if Jacobs will also pose for a nude photo, which she gets to choose for the final print.

Jacobs isn't writing any kind of deep analysis, but the lesson of sexual objectification does get conveyed. He experiences the shame of being exposed, the loss of control of having someone else get to choose which picture makes the cut, the emphasis on status when his shoot isn't catered as nicely as Parker's, etc.

Whipped (a.k.a. the perfect spouse)

For this experiment, Jacobs vows to be the perfect spouse for one whole month, doing everything his wife (who is a saint!) says. As expected, he quickly learns to appreciate just how much she does for the household. As Jacobs puts it, she was doing chores that he didn't even know existed!

Though treated lightly, he brings attention to a very serious issue with our "post-feminist" society - that women are now working as much as men, but are still expected to come home and do the bulk of the housework and childcare. Not an issue in my household, thankfully, because my husband is every bit the feminist I am (and a fabulous cook to boot!).

Conclusion

I really enjoyed The Guinea Pig Diaries. As expected, this isn't an in-depth treatment of any of the subjects Jacobs covers, and the lessons he draws are, for the most part, fairly superficial. But what he does is provide a light, entertaining, and humorous introduction to a wide range of social and global issues. There's plenty of food for thought, served with a spoonful of sugar.

It works well for what it is.

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

Read: 18, May, 2011

In 1984, Brenda Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter, Erica, were murdered in their home in American Fork, Utah. Eighteen years later, Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah. In both cases, the crimes were committed by Mormon fundamentalists who believed in the doctrine of Celestial (plural) Marriage.

In Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, Krakauer investigates these two crimes, splicing in the Mormon story and the events that lead to the schism between the Fundamentalist church with the more mainstream LDS church. He also takes a hard look at some of the Mormon scriptures that the Lafferty brothers and Elizabeth Smart's kidnapper, Brian David Mitchell, used to justify their actions.

In particular, Krakauer condemns the idea of continuing revelation, saying that it makes it possible for individuals to justify any action as revealed commandment from God. With this idea firmly entrenched in Mormonism, it is almost impossible for the more mainstream leaders to rein in the crazies. In the background, throughout all the narratives, patriarchal polygamy looms.

The book is very strong in its narrative, but doesn't set out to make a point or place blame. As a result, Under the Banner of Heaven couldn't legitimately be called an anti-Mormon book. It also meant that there wasn't a good sense of scale - How many women are currently in polygamous relationships? How many children are being raised in these families and, potentially, being forced into marriages themselves? How often are crimes relating to Mormon polygamy committed?

Overall, I found it to be a very good read. Krakauer is a great storyteller and the stories themselves are interesting (albeit difficult to stomach). And, while Under the Banner of Heaven does give a fairly clear picture of the specific individuals and events covered, it's hard to extrapolate that into any kind of knowledge about Mormonism or patriarchal polygamy.

Most quotable line: "If you want to know the truth, I think people within the religion, people who live here in Colorado City, they're probably happier on the whole than people on the outside. But some things in life are more important than being happy - like being free to think for yourself."

Cadfael Chronicles #2: One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters

Read: 27 June, 2009

Cadfael does it again! When political strife leads to a mass execution, a murderer assumes that one corpse among many won’t be noticed. But Cadfael sees through this morbid disguise and, along with some new friends, he refuses to let the dead rest without justice.

As always, Peters delivers an excellent mystery with interesting characters and plot. Somehow, she manages to have a realistic and even dark plotline while still seeming innocent and unoffensive. There is also an element of feminist rebellion in the novel, as two women choose their own life paths.

Like most Cadfael novels, this is a pleasant and interesting read, a good mystery with good characters.

Cadfael Chronicles Prequel: A Rare Benedictine by Ellis Peters

Read: 30 August, 2008

Overall, I didn't like it quite as much as A Morbid Taste for Bones. I think that Ellis Peters might just be one of those authors who is better suited for the longer narrative format. That being said, these stories were still great fun to read.

I love that Brother Cadfael doesn't always wrap up his cases by catching the perpetrator and turning him/her over to the authorities. Sometimes, he decides that the crime is legitimate and helps the criminal escape. Sometimes, he doesn't reveal who did it at all. In other words, he solves the mystery and makes things right, even if that means being on the wrong side of the power structure (and, sometimes, especially if it means going against the power structure). He's a great character and far more complex than the usual detective who just wants to restore order, whatever the moral situation.

I had expected stories that showed Cadfael before he joined the monastic order. Instead, only one story fits that, and I found that the Cadfael character didn't come through very clearly until the end of that story - once he had decided that he would join Shrewsbury Abbey. The rest of the short stories are like the novels, following an already established brother of the abbey. So we never get a good look at Cadfael in his previous life (in fact, I got more of a sense of that life by reading A Morbid Taste for Bones!) and we never get to see him learning about the abbey and trying to fit in. It's a whole area that would have been great to read, so it's a shame that it was skipped over.

Either way, these were great stories and I highly recommend them for any Brother Cadfael fan. I would also like to say that the illustrations in my copy are absolutely beautiful. They are drawn in the medieval style, but have something of the modern to them - it's hard to describe. But they did add a great deal to my enjoyment of the book.

Cadfael Chronicles #1: A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters

Read: 9 May, 2008

This was my first Brother Cadfael mystery, though I did avidly watch the television show. I was not disappointed, not even by an ounce!

The most important thing that I would like to mention is that the characters are fabulous, something that is sadly quite rare in mystery genre-fiction. They felt real, like people I might meet in my day-to-day life. More than that, they felt unique. Cadfael, in particular, was very well developed. More importantly, when the narrator says that everyone likes him or that his speeches were well-received, it reflects my own opinion on his actions and speeches perfectly. This was a welcome breath of fresh air after reading The Mysteries of Udolpho.

The female characters were great too. They weren't all feminist icons (though certainly there were some realistically very strong female characters) and none of them were the swooning brand of silly girls. They were sensible and strong and human, just like male characters but with a realistic dose of femininity. This is something that I haven't seen done well in a very long time. Something about women makes most authors want to define their characters by their gender, as opposed to male characters who are defined by their individual traits. The baddies, too, were not entirely hate-able. I disliked them, certainly, but I also understood them and could empathize with their individual situations. Again, this perfect balance between due dislike and human sympathy is something that I have very rarely seen juggled to perfection.

The sense of humour was definitely a positive. It wasn't "laugh-out-loud" sort of humour, but rather present in subtle phrases that could easily be missed if the reader isn't paying attention. This is part of what makes Cadfael seem so likable. Humour seems to come naturally from him, unlike many protagonists who seem to force it, trying too hard to gain the reader's approval. The humour was also appropriate. In times of violence, for example, the narrative focuses on dealing with the situation, not poking fun of something that would be horrifying to live through. I suppose this is a reflection of our practical protagonist, but it works well. There was certainly a lot of morbid humour, but it was never inappropriate.

I mentioned earlier that mystery genre-fiction has certain shortcomings. The biggest of these is that characters tend to feel like cardboard cutouts rather than real living and breathing people. They are simplified because simplicity is easier to handle in a mystery - it makes it easier for the protagonist to come in and make order out of a chaotic event. That's something that I loved about Cadfael. He does not seek to impose order in that same way. He solves the mystery, yes, but the resolution is unexpected and, perhaps to those who like to have everything wrapped up neatly and the truth known to everyone, unsatisfying. But he finds a solution that works within a chaotic world and that's the solution that stands, even if it means that he has to substitute one set of lies for another.

Another shortcoming of the mystery genre is that it tends to have only a mystery. There will be "character backstory" going on, but it will usually be predictable and take a backseat. In this novel, however, the author successfully manages to juggle both the story and the mystery so that both flow naturally from one-another. Both are well-developed, and their interconnection never feels forced.

To ruin the ending for you, the bad guy dies. It's an accidental death, as it usually is (who wants to stain the protagonists with murder, after all?), but he still dies. This is something I've never liked. I prefer everyone to be brought to justice and have due process carried out. However, it didn't bother me nearly as much in this novel as it has in others because, unlike Hiaasen's novels for example, the characters actually seem to realize that they have done something they shouldn't have and feel some remorse for it. There isn't as much remorse as I would like (the inclusion of the phrase "oh no, what have I done?!" would have made me feel much better), but at least it was given a mention. And perhaps it is realistic considering the times and the cultural drive for blood-price. Again, at least it was mentioned (and the mention felt like it was part of the story, not just tacked on to make the protagonists look good).

All in all, this was an amazing book. Once I started it, I could hardly put it down. The prose flows beautifully, the humour kept me entertained, and the characters felt like living/breathing people. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the middle ages, mystery novels, or just anyone who likes to read a truly good book.