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Publisher:
Headline |
Release
Date: March 2003 |
ISBN:
0755300181 |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Hardback |
Buy
it at Amazon US
|| UK |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Historical Adventure [1099 France and Holy Land] |
Reviewed:
2003 |
Reviewer:
Rachel A Hyde |
Reviewer
Notes: Note: Violence and language
Review
One
Review Two |
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The
Jester (Review
3)
By James
Patterson & Andrew Gross
Here
is a big book with a big heart. There is violence, of course, and
piles of bodies, but somehow it still has an uplifting effect –
a bit like a fairy tale with plenty of gore and guts as well. Innkeeper
Hugh DeLuc just wants to lead a peaceful life with his lovely wife
Sophie, but the local lord has other ideas and shows him how powerless
he is.
Hugh
ends up going on the Crusades and coming home early, disillusioned,
but with a few artifacts. On his arrival, he finds his village burned
and his wife abducted by a fearsome band of raiders who are looking
for some holy relic which Hugh doesn’t even own. So he sets
off to find Sophie and ends up in his enemy’s castle, disguised
as a jester. It will be a long time before he gets his revenge and
finds out what those evil raiders are after.
Readers of my reviews will know that
I am quick to spot a book that is too long for its story but this
one, despite the length, is a fast read (it took me only two days
to get through its 400+ pages). This is no literary tome, but a
pacy, racy tale that takes the sort of story popularized by those
old ‘50s Technicolor movies and updates it for a modern audience.
The sense of immediacy is enhanced by the fact that Hugh himself
narrates the tale without mediaeval formality. In this sort of adventure
you don’t look for erudition and frankly as long as there
aren’t any howlers (I didn’t spot any) a slightly anachronistic
voice is surely permissible and adds to the fun. So if you want
to read a good book, here is a highly entertaining one.
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