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Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret by Christophe Medler (view source)
Revision as of 09:26, 19 June 2021
, 09:26, 19 June 2021no edit summary
What follows is a story of love, betrayal and retribution, set in the tumultuous time of the Cavaliers against the Roundheads. It makes for an exciting and action-packed plot that often felt like a tightly woven thriller. I particularly enjoyed watching Sir Robert Douse and his son navigate the twists and turns of the story as more and more secrets were revealed.
One of the novels novel's strengths is of how well researched it is. Everything about the time is so thoroughly explained that you can clearly see just how much the author cares about the historical period he's writing in. It's not just a random time that he has chosen to set his story in; he has chosen it with purpose. The attention to detail on minor things that most authors wouldn't even consider are demonstrations of just how much research Medler has put into writing this book, and his enthusiasm for it has made me want to do some of my own research into that time period because he's made it seem so interesting.
But in this strength, there was a weakness. Sometimes Medler became overly descriptive: There were instances where the plot was pushed aside in order to give more descriptions about a certain detail. As someone that easily gets side-tracked when talking about the things I'm passionate about, I can understand why Medler would have this issue—you would never get bored discussing the things you love. But in this instance, the extra information on minor details like the backstory of a random innkeeper we would only see once, started to bog down the story and slow the pacing. My eyes began to skim over parts that didn't seem important to the plot as a whole because it became a recurring issue that I could spot in advance.