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2013 Book Review #86: A Murderous Procession
Title: A Murderous Procession
Author: Ariana Franklin
Genre: Historical mystery (medieval, 4th in series)
Thingummies: 2.5
Synopsis: Dr. Adelia goes on a procession with King Henry II's daughter. But there's a murderer with them, and this time he's after her.
Thoughts: The appeal of this series has been the socially awkward but brilliant doctor Adelia and her interactions with her charming supporting cast. Unfortunately, in this book, both come up short.
It was nice to get out of England, and give Franklin a chance to show off her research on the rest of Europe. This time, the book is less of a mystery and more of a thriller, as the murderer picks off people around Adelia one by one before setting the Inquisition on her.
But Adelia...is an idiot. She spends three quarters of the book willfully insisting that no one's trying to kill her. Everyone around her, all people of intelligence whom she trusts, insists otherwise, but she refuses to believe them. So she keeps putting herself into danger and people keep dying. Because...reasons.
It doesn't help that half of her supporting cast barely appears, and those that do do very little. Gyltha and Allie are left in England. Mansur, Ulf, and Rowley may accompany her, but somehow they do very little. So most of the pleasures of the series are missing.
The ending is also deeply unsatisfying. The reveal of the villain turned out to be less "aha!" and more "what, really?" And it ends on a cliffhanger in which a supporting cast member may or may not survive. Given the weakness of the preceding book, it feels like a cheap trick to get us to come back. I haven't decided yet whether I'll bother.
Edited to add: Apparently the author passed away. So that solves that dilemma--I guess we'll never find out whether that character survives. Sad.
Author: Ariana Franklin
Genre: Historical mystery (medieval, 4th in series)
Thingummies: 2.5
Synopsis: Dr. Adelia goes on a procession with King Henry II's daughter. But there's a murderer with them, and this time he's after her.
Thoughts: The appeal of this series has been the socially awkward but brilliant doctor Adelia and her interactions with her charming supporting cast. Unfortunately, in this book, both come up short.
It was nice to get out of England, and give Franklin a chance to show off her research on the rest of Europe. This time, the book is less of a mystery and more of a thriller, as the murderer picks off people around Adelia one by one before setting the Inquisition on her.
But Adelia...is an idiot. She spends three quarters of the book willfully insisting that no one's trying to kill her. Everyone around her, all people of intelligence whom she trusts, insists otherwise, but she refuses to believe them. So she keeps putting herself into danger and people keep dying. Because...reasons.
It doesn't help that half of her supporting cast barely appears, and those that do do very little. Gyltha and Allie are left in England. Mansur, Ulf, and Rowley may accompany her, but somehow they do very little. So most of the pleasures of the series are missing.
The ending is also deeply unsatisfying. The reveal of the villain turned out to be less "aha!" and more "what, really?" And it ends on a cliffhanger in which a supporting cast member may or may not survive. Given the weakness of the preceding book, it feels like a cheap trick to get us to come back. I haven't decided yet whether I'll bother.
Edited to add: Apparently the author passed away. So that solves that dilemma--I guess we'll never find out whether that character survives. Sad.