An Excellent Mystery: Library Edition

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This entire series is great. A true feel for what life must have been like in the 1100's in England. The mystery is well wrung out, the plot simple, but not obvious, the subplots, twists, and turns, make even the setups and side information interesting reading. It's a great introduction to Cadfeal and his surroundings.

Rating:
Summary: Peters plays fair
Review: This is the first Brother Cadfael mystery i've read. It was, perhaps, not the most fortuitous choice i could have made; certainly it was rather different from my expectation. Part of the difference can, of course, be explained by the fact that i have seen some four or five of the adaptations starring Derek Jacobi, so despite my best efforts i interpreted everything i read through that filter, seeing the characters in my mind according to their development in the television shows. The murder/mystery is well plotted out, though simple not quite simplistic, and nicely both hidden and revealed. I can point to the exact paragraph, sentence even, i was reading when i suddenly knew ~ not through anything revealed in that paragraph ~ the solution; the rest was mere reading to prove myself correct and see how Peters would handle the results of the revelation. Though this was not what i expected, i shall read another Cadfael book, just to learn a little more about him, and to see if i can't erase Jacobi's excellent interpretation from my mind.

Rating:
Summary: Peters plays fair
Review: This is the first Brother Cadfael mystery i've read. It was, perhaps, not the most fortuitous choice i could have made; certainly it was rather different from my expectation. Part of the difference can, of course, be explained by the fact that i have seen some four or five of the adaptations starring Derek Jacobi, so despite my best efforts i interpreted everything i read through that filter, seeing the characters in my mind according to their development in the television shows. The murder/mystery is well plotted out, though simple not quite simplistic, and nicely both hidden and revealed. I can point to the exact paragraph, sentence even, i was reading when i suddenly knew ~ not through anything revealed in that paragraph ~ the solution; the rest was mere reading to prove myself correct and see how Peters would handle the results of the revelation. Though this was not what i expected, i shall read another Cadfael book, just to learn a little more about him, and to see if i can't erase Jacobi's excellent interpretation from my mind.

Rating:
Summary: The most dissatisfying of the Brother Cadfael mysteries.
Review: Though I love Brother Cadfael, this story was most tedious and far-fetched. I couldn't believe that this young woman would do what she did for a man she hardly knew, and the conclusion drags out too long and elaborately, once you realize who she is. I've read worse books, but after the true excellence of most of the other Cadfael novels, this one was a strange, sad let-down.

Rating:
Summary: The most dissatisfying of the Brother Cadfael mysteries.
Review: Though I love Brother Cadfael, this story was most tedious and far-fetched. I couldn't believe that this young woman would do what she did for a man she hardly knew, and the conclusion drags out too long and elaborately, once you realize who she is. I've read worse books, but after the true excellence of most of the other Cadfael novels, this one was a strange, sad let-down.