I loved it. The mix of royal political intrigue, church politics and power struggles, and the ambitions of the characters was endlessly entertaining.
The plot does suffer slightly from a linear to and fro between the good guys and the bad guys - good guys win one, bad guys win one, good guys win one....And the characters are perhaps a little too one-sided, being either very good or very bad. Phillip is practically a saint, and Tom Builder's only flaw was the way he handled the bullying between his son and step-son. I can't think of any redeeming qualities of William Hamleigh, the antagonist.
The lengthy descriptions of cathedral architecture and construction would have been vastly improved with some illustrations. I have read many many words about naves, chancels, etc. and am still confused about how they all fit together.
I'm willing to forgive all those flaws, because it is a great book.
5 stars.
I like this one too! Definitely agree about the too-ing and fro-ing . . . everytime I thought the good guys had finally come out on top, the bad guys or fate grabbed another victory.
ReplyDeleteStill, it stayed with me and I thought about it every time I saw a cathedral in Europe. Recently popped it on Al's kindle to encourage him to give it a go. :-)
Hey G, I also have it out from the library at the moment. Haven't started yet but you have inspired me. I got it out as there is a new tv adaptation of this book, starring Ian McShane. And after his portrayal of Al Swearengen from Deadwood I am now a McShane fan for life. Lic
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