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rebcamuse's review against another edition
3.0
For reasons I can't quite discern, the front matter (often essential for a Fidelma book) is put at the end of the Kindle edition. This was rather unfortunate as this fifth installment in the series definitely benefits from a preview of the Principal Characters. Not unfitting for the "web" Tremayne sought to create, but a headache for readers--particularly those for whom medieval Celtic names are rather foreign.
The beauty of the valley provides a fitting contrast to the evil operating within Araglin. As with several Fidelma stories, there is a character who stands accused of two murders (just two of the five in the book), and we know at the outset that Sister Fidelma will exonerate him, because that's what she does. But Tremayne starts weaving his "web" before we even get there with what, initially, seems to be an unrelated land dispute over which Fidelma is presiding. I don't want to give away spoilers, but suffice it to say that modern readers would not be surprised if the book came with a content/trigger warning if it was published today. "Evil" is a word Fidelma uses several times in the book to describe the people of Araglin (many of them anyway), and here it seems more apt than the typical Christian binary moralities. Tremayne uses this to his advantage, manipulating us into momentary solidarities and conflicts with different characters. As with other books, Fidelma's "enlightened" Christianity is on full display, particularly as it butts heads with the local Father Gormán, whose hellfire and brimstone seems to have a stranglehold on many people.
In the end, however, I had trouble keeping interest as there were just too many characters, including some that we never meet but are in fact essential to the story. At times it felt as though new characters were created to steer a path back to some sort of connection when a thread of the story started to unravel. Sister Fidelma's standard "big reveal" is a bit tedious for that reason, and I was disappointed that the accused did not have more opportunity to "speak" for himself (he is deaf, mute, and blind--but can communicate, we come to find out), and Fidelma is less-than-likeable at times in this book. In later volumes she becomes more sympathetic, but the haughty "I'm an advocate of the courts" attitude was grating at times. Eadulf, too, is still in his occasional nincompoop phase, needing Fidelma to explain the obvious or he's foaming at the mouth about his Christian beliefs.
In retrospect, having read several volumes that come after this one, it is valuable to be reading them in order now because Sister Fidelma does grow and whether or not her more "youthful folly" is intentional in these early volumes, it is a relief to know that it doesn't last for the entire series.
If you are interested in reading the series for this reason (or others), go for it. If you want a really great installment of the series to try it out--skip this one for now.
The beauty of the valley provides a fitting contrast to the evil operating within Araglin. As with several Fidelma stories, there is a character who stands accused of two murders (just two of the five in the book), and we know at the outset that Sister Fidelma will exonerate him, because that's what she does. But Tremayne starts weaving his "web" before we even get there with what, initially, seems to be an unrelated land dispute over which Fidelma is presiding. I don't want to give away spoilers, but suffice it to say that modern readers would not be surprised if the book came with a content/trigger warning if it was published today. "Evil" is a word Fidelma uses several times in the book to describe the people of Araglin (many of them anyway), and here it seems more apt than the typical Christian binary moralities. Tremayne uses this to his advantage, manipulating us into momentary solidarities and conflicts with different characters. As with other books, Fidelma's "enlightened" Christianity is on full display, particularly as it butts heads with the local Father Gormán, whose hellfire and brimstone seems to have a stranglehold on many people.
In the end, however, I had trouble keeping interest as there were just too many characters, including some that we never meet but are in fact essential to the story. At times it felt as though new characters were created to steer a path back to some sort of connection when a thread of the story started to unravel. Sister Fidelma's standard "big reveal" is a bit tedious for that reason, and I was disappointed that the accused did not have more opportunity to "speak" for himself (he is deaf, mute, and blind--but can communicate, we come to find out), and Fidelma is less-than-likeable at times in this book. In later volumes she becomes more sympathetic, but the haughty "I'm an advocate of the courts" attitude was grating at times. Eadulf, too, is still in his occasional nincompoop phase, needing Fidelma to explain the obvious or he's foaming at the mouth about his Christian beliefs.
In retrospect, having read several volumes that come after this one, it is valuable to be reading them in order now because Sister Fidelma does grow and whether or not her more "youthful folly" is intentional in these early volumes, it is a relief to know that it doesn't last for the entire series.
If you are interested in reading the series for this reason (or others), go for it. If you want a really great installment of the series to try it out--skip this one for now.
leavingsealevel's review against another edition
3.0
..and something lighter. Though, still dealing with some pretty heavy topics. Chick lit about shopping next please?
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
3.0
The Medieval time period isn't my favorite. But I do like Sister Fidelma! Three & 1/2 stars.
secretbookcase's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.5
mimima's review against another edition
3.0
This is the third Sister Fidelma mystery I have read, and probably my favorite of the ones I've encountered. While she is always a bit anachronistic, I enjoy the history presented with the story, and this time the reveal, while obvious, was not similar to the first two.
morgandhu's review against another edition
3.0
These days, one of my go-to authors when I’m in need if a comfort read is Peter Tremayne. His Sister Fidelma mysteries just seem to fill a special little place in my soul without being particularly demanding. I’ve been reading them in order, and am currently on the fifth of the Fidelma novels, The Spider’s Web.
In this latest case, Sister Fidelma, once again reunited with her friend and fellow jurist, the Saxon monk, Brother Eadulf, travels to a remote mountain area to investigate the murder of a local chieftain and his sister.
The case would seem to be open and shut - the accused was found beside the chieftain’s body, bloody knife in hand. But Fidelma will not allow anyone to be punished without first having his right to defend himself. But how will she ensure that, when the accused is not only physically deformed, but deaf, dumb and blind from birth?
In fact, Fidelma finds that, far from being a straightforward case, the motivations for these murders - and other strange events that occur during the course of the investigation - are complicated, and have their root in dark secrets more than twenty years old.
One of the aspects of this particular chapter that Caught my attention was the exploration of attitudes toward the disabled. The accused, Moen, is assumed by most to be little more than an animal. The local priest, a convert to the Roman church, holds his condition to be a sign of sin and the work of the devil, and has persuaded the other people living in the chief’s rath, or stronghold, to abhor him. Even Eadulf has little sympathy for one so disabled, citing Saxon customs that would have had Moen killed at birth. But as Fidelma explains the Brehon laws, disabled persons are entitled to respect and care, and to mock or harm a disabled person carried a greater penalty than to so offend an abled person. And her quest to find a way for Moen to tell his story leads to the revelation that he is in fact fully competent intellectually and has learned, thanks to a patient Druid, a way of signing using the Ogham alphabet, and is, in fact, more literate and educated than many of those around him.
A particularly satisfying read.
In this latest case, Sister Fidelma, once again reunited with her friend and fellow jurist, the Saxon monk, Brother Eadulf, travels to a remote mountain area to investigate the murder of a local chieftain and his sister.
The case would seem to be open and shut - the accused was found beside the chieftain’s body, bloody knife in hand. But Fidelma will not allow anyone to be punished without first having his right to defend himself. But how will she ensure that, when the accused is not only physically deformed, but deaf, dumb and blind from birth?
In fact, Fidelma finds that, far from being a straightforward case, the motivations for these murders - and other strange events that occur during the course of the investigation - are complicated, and have their root in dark secrets more than twenty years old.
One of the aspects of this particular chapter that Caught my attention was the exploration of attitudes toward the disabled. The accused, Moen, is assumed by most to be little more than an animal. The local priest, a convert to the Roman church, holds his condition to be a sign of sin and the work of the devil, and has persuaded the other people living in the chief’s rath, or stronghold, to abhor him. Even Eadulf has little sympathy for one so disabled, citing Saxon customs that would have had Moen killed at birth. But as Fidelma explains the Brehon laws, disabled persons are entitled to respect and care, and to mock or harm a disabled person carried a greater penalty than to so offend an abled person. And her quest to find a way for Moen to tell his story leads to the revelation that he is in fact fully competent intellectually and has learned, thanks to a patient Druid, a way of signing using the Ogham alphabet, and is, in fact, more literate and educated than many of those around him.
A particularly satisfying read.
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