The Jester

Rating:
Summary: Unlike other Patterson books, but good enough.
Review: Jester is unlike any other Patterson book that I have read, and I am quite a Patterson fan. The book is a love story that takes place in Europe during the Crusades. It has some real sad points in the story but the main character, Hugh, triumphs in the end and the reader is left with a happy feeling. It is a very easy read that did not seem to totally occupy my mind. One of the other reviewers mentioned that it seemed to have been written by an "adolescent" and I have to agree with that thought. I will give this book a three star rating and recommend it, especially now that it is out in paperback.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty bad
Review: Badly written and uninteresting, The Jester is not the page-turner it's advertised to be. It's actually kind of stupid and left this reader, at least, saying who cares. Patterson has disappointed me with his last two books. One hopes he can find himself again.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible!
Review: There's actually more grotesque violence here than in authentic medieval epics. The characters and the plot are unbelievable and unengaging.

Rating:
Summary: enthralling
Review: I have very rarely picked up a book, taken it home and stayed up all night to finish it. This occurred with the Jester. I found this to be one of the best books I have ever read. The action was intense, the brutality of the times was depicted with a very human reaction. This book was beautifully written, I felt all of Hughs emotions, suffered with his losses and laughed at the bad jokes....he was really a good Jester. If you enjoy period stories, want to meet a character with heart, determination and an abundance of love and loyalty, pick up this book and meet Hugh DeLuc and the many wonderful (and not so wonderful) people he encounters in this wonderful story.

Rating:
Summary: Fairly entertaining for light, non-critical reading
Review: 2 ½ stars

This novel is light reading for fans of medieval history. It is a fairly interesting read, by and large, but contains little of substance or historical accuracy. This tale of a simple innkeeper turned crusader turned court jester and then leader of a peasant army goes very fast and I'd be surprised if it was not turned into a movie; indeed, if it had already been set to film, it would star Erol Flynn. There is some fairly OK romance, some details on the crusades and 11th century French feudalism and some medieval swordplay and battles, but nothing extensive. Good triumphs over evil, fairly predictably. The perspective of life as a court jester is a new one, not quite Robin Hood, but definitely not Arthur Pendragon either. The evil doings in this book by the knights and nobility are pretty atrocious (really faint-hearted readers may be offended by the images of violence, torture and sex, which, if they were in a movie, would get an "Unrated" rating). I question whether 11th century lords really exercised such complete power over life or liberty of their serfs. The French feudalism described herein seems much more akin to Japanese feudalism and I doubt medieval European aristocracy would treat the lives of their subjects/tax base so casually.

I have two items of significant criticism with this light but fairly entertaining novel, aside from its cursory nature (it could have stood an extra 100 pages of details and description). First is the whole premise that the duke would know of the whereabouts of the relic and know to track it back to Hugh. Indeed, if he knew it was in Hugh's possession, why did his marauders commit outrages on other towns and slay the several knights in those small hamlets? Perhaps they were looking for other relics? The book is not clear on this point. There are several moderately clever plot twists relating to this relic, though, but an obvious, not-so-clever "twist" about the main love interest.

The second fault I had was the fact that its authors chose to make every fourth page or so the start of a new chapter. Out of the 467 pages of this novel (perhaps 10-20 of which are title pages or blank), its authors have managed to squeeze out ONE HUNDRED FORTY-EIGHT (148) chapters. That's right, folks, each chapter averages only three pages. This makes light reading go by even quicker and doubtlessly assisted its authors in churning out more pages more quickly (and more profitably), but before long it gets a bit old to be switching chapters so fast. If you have a full day of traveling with stopovers at several different airports, I bet the average person could finish this book before arriving at his or her destination; I'm a fairly quick reader and I finished it in less than five hours. I find it pretty amusing that the "spotlight" reviewer referred to this book as a "monster" of a novel - it's nowhere close to War and Peace, a James Clavell novel or even a Tom Clancy book in length, much less in complexity. It's definitely more than a magazine article, but probably a faster and easier read than any novel the typical high school student has read for English class; in fact, it would not surprise me to find that most of the five-star reviewers are either in their first several years of, or not yet attending, high school. Also, contrary to what the "spotlight" reviewer states, the novel is set at the end of the 11th century, not the 14th and the local nobles, not the king, were the tyrannical parties.

Overall, it's moderately entertaining, but few people will be satisfied if they shelled out the extra dough and bought the hardcover version rather than the much cheaper paperback. This book is definitely more Red Heat (Schwarzenegger and Belushi) than Doctor Zhivago, and more Xena than Lord of the Rings.

Rating:
Summary: I'd Give it a 0 if I could
Review: How bad can a book be.....truly bad. It is hard to believe The Jester was written as a serious novel....it is repetitive, poorly written, inaccurate, unbelievable...a children's tale with sex and violence. I could go on and on. I will simply say....DON'T BUY IT...DON'T BORROW IT. DON'T READ IT.

Rating:
Summary: Who knew a medieval story could be so much fun?
Review: Patterson steps back 900 years to deliver an epic tale of lords and serfs in medieval France, during the times of the crusades. Our hero, Hugh, is a commoner who seeks the promise of a better life by joining the crusade (which he doesn't believe in). He comes back disillusioned, seeing the horrors of a war that makes no sense to him. He also discovers his wife and child are missing, sending him on the his real journey across France. He finds love, treasure, and starts a revolution within a couple of duchies ruled by despot lords. Patterson spices up the tale with plenty of ribald humor. As with all of Patterson's books, it is a page turner and a quick read.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely enjoyable
Review: I found this book to be the best of Pattersons books thus far. I enjoyed the departure from his current-day surroundings to ones that are from the time of the crusaides. I felt, however, that he could have been a bit less repetitious in some aspects. For example, the Jester's frequent lamentings for his wife gets tiresome in its often rehashed detailing. And the Jester's forboding that he is going to die with each encounter has a bit too much melodrama. But, overall, I enjoyed the book and have recommended it to friends and family.

Rating:
Summary: James Patterson must be a jester himself
Review: Not only was this pitiful story filled with annoying inaccuracies, anachronisms and gratuitious violence, but it seems as if written by an adolescent. The story didn't flow well, the main character was repetitive and corny, and everytime the writing started to settle down into *some* semblance of normalcy, he'd ruin it by throwing in some grotesque scene. "Oh yeah, must be time for another round of mutilated bodies - it's been 5 pages!" It just really seemed third rate to me. I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to accept without rancor the "hey buddy" and "he's so cute" lines.

I felt slightly better about The Lake House, but I won't be reading James Patterson again.

Rating:
Summary: First-time Patterson reader
Review: I saw this book and thought I would give it a try since I enjoy historical fiction. What a treat! I agree with some of the other reviewers that the language is modern and the story doesn't have a tremendous amount of depth, but what a page-turner! I loved it and couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it for someone looking for an exciting quick read.