Rate this book

The Sheen Of Silk (2000)

by Anne Perry(Favorite Author)

3.38 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

075533907X (ISBN13: 9780755339075)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

review 1: I had really hoped to like this book, unfortunately it feel far short of its promise of complex Byzantine intrigue and exciting historical drama. Outside the narrative, which is terrible and contrived, the book is poorly written with mind numbing repetition and obvious metaphors shoehorned in so often you feel that you are at the receiving end of a rogue literary pitching machine. The book is exaggeratedly long. The contrived plot would have only really needed thirty or so chapters to play out, the fact that the book is more than three times that makes its reading akin to climbing a mountain while wading molasses in a rain storm. As for the plot, it is hard to know where to begin. Foremost this novel commits the cardinal sin of connecting all the characters slavishly to... more the historical record, regardless if makes sense or not. The attachment to the historical arc of the Sicilian Vespers is laudable, but so poorly done that by the time it happens it is so devoid of any meaning it just seems an annoying coda or a plot that ended fifty chapters ago. The characters, while some start strong, show literally no development through the course of the novel. The author also imagines herself and her characters to be far more clever than they actually are, leading to some moments of utter nonsense that would be funny if the book wasn't trying so hard to be serious. The last problem I'll talk about, but certainly not the last one this books has, is the seriousness. The book tries so hard to be dark, turbulent, and serious, beating you over the head with back stories and mash ups of historical fact (which to the author's credit are largely accurate) so often that you feel as if you have been assaulted. The end result is that book tries to be serious and succeeds in only being annoying.
review 2: Well, I finally gave up on this book. I got to page 200 before leaving it. I thought the plot: a woman dressing as a eunuch and the split between the Catholic church would be well written. I was wrong. I cared not at all for the characters, and, while their names were distinct, I kept getting confused as to who was whom. The plot centers on Anna, who is trying to find out what really happened to exile her brother. She knows where her brother is...go ask him. There are intrigues, and characters keep switching sides so that you never really know what's going on. And the dialogue/description of the schism between the Byzantine and Roman Catholic church is unclear at best. It is as if Anne Perry wanted a Name of the Rose, but she certainly did not get it. I have read many of her mysteries, and I liked them, but they got repetitive, and this one has no spark in comparison. less

Download links for: The Sheen of Silk

Advertising