Rating: 
Summary: Ugly. Rambling. Pointless.
Review: Unfortunately, I felt as though I wasted the hours I spent reading this book. I felt no liking, kinship, sympathy, or anything for any of the characters. The author goes off on pointless tangents, and all of the characters are not only flawed, but outright unpleasant.
Rating: 
Summary: Well Written-- and Pointless.
Review: Wonderful details do not make a great work of art.For the first time I can remember in years of reading, a novel writer including details about the stars and planets has gotten the astronomy right! (Although no planet I've ever heard of travels in a 'parabola,' but that's just using the wrong word, not getting basic facts wrong.) The costumes and social conditions seem pretty authentic, too, and anyone who has ever read Dickens or Paliser knows that poverty has exactly the effects this author describes. As to the mystery aspect of the story, the cipher is both complex and intriguing, and even possible to solve without the author's intervention. In that way, and ONLY in that way, the story is a bit reminiscent of The Name of the Rose. And, yes, the decadence is a bit similar to that in The Alienist. But there all comparisons end. Carr and Eco give us characters we can care about, tension to keep us riveted, and mysteries that tax our brains. As another reviewer of this book has said, anyone who has ever read a mystery story will know who the killer in this one is before finishing the first chapter. So it's hardly a whodunit. What does that leave? Well, it leaves an intriguing cipher to solve, some historical details I'd otherwise never have found out about, some memorable scenic moments, a bit of tension here and there, and a couple of characters who I will never forget, and not for good reasons either! And it leaves some really detailed (and boring) astronomical lore. But that's IT!!! I almost quit reading half way through, but stuck it out to the extremely bitter end just because I wanted to make sure the villain was who I knew it was. (It was.) There's only one character anyone could possibly ever care about, and she disappears from the plot well before the end! The language is beautiful, the descriptions are breathtaking, the details are wonderful. Seldom has anyone written so well about something that matters so little.
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