Book Review: The Malice Of Unnatural Death

When I read books, I tend to check the reviews on Goodreads to see what other people have said about a book. I don't really base my opinions on their thoughts, but I like to know the overall consensus of something. Especially the 22nd book in a series I have never read before and is totally outside my normal range of reading material.

This book has 2 reviews on Goodreads, one by the author and another is simply one line, which I HATE. Do not do one sentence reviews, unless you are Courtney Taylor-Taylor, and being pithy is kind of your schtick.

So, since I am the first official reviewer of this book, I probably should have paid more attention to what I was reading. It was not a bad book. I just really was not interested in it. I couldn't keep the characters straight, despite the extensive character and location log at the beginning of the novel. I do sometimes enjoy when things like that are included, most notably the glossary at the end of A Clockwork Orange.

But honestly, I couldn't tell you what was going on for most of the 500+ pages I read. I have no idea what the point of this book was. I know that it was based on a true story/true event about trying to kill the king using magic/necromancy. There were a few other characters thrown in for good measure. All their existences intertwined at the end to wrap everything together in a neat little story burrito. But I could not give an adequate synopsis of the novel if I was being forced to.

Maybe I would have liked this book more if I had previously read the other 21 books in the series. Or if I really enjoyed the Dark Ages in general and reading about the Crusades and necromancy. But yeah, two stars. That's my official verdict.