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tiffanymonet's review against another edition
2.0
I gave this book two stars because it was only OK for me. I enjoyed the historical content and information about the life of a hangman. But I thought the plot moved slowly at times, the mystery wasn't that intriguing, and the chacater development wasn't that great.
julbel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Des meurtres, des enfants manquants, une crise de sorcière, de la tension romantique, et une équipe d’enquête composer d’un bourreau imposant, de sa fille têtue et d’un médecin au cœur d’or – ce roman a tout. Tout au long de la quête pour la vérité, la solution reste juste assez loin pour échapper les personnages ainsi que le lecteur, mais assez proche que tu veux poursuivre la lecture. Les évènements sont dispersés mais l’intrigue entre les découvertes garde la tension pour le lecteur tout au long de l’histoire. Un bon livre tout seul, mais j’ai bien hâte de lire la suite de la série!
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Murders, missing children, witch hunts, romantic tension and an investigation team comprised of an imposing hangman, his stubborn daughter, and a doctor with a heart of gold – this book has it all. Throughout the search of what happened, the answer lies just out of reach of both characters and readers, but close enough that it keeps you hooked. Events are well paced and the intrigue between developments sustains your attention throughout the novel. This is a great stand-alone book, but I look forward to reading the other books in the series!
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Murders, missing children, witch hunts, romantic tension and an investigation team comprised of an imposing hangman, his stubborn daughter, and a doctor with a heart of gold – this book has it all. Throughout the search of what happened, the answer lies just out of reach of both characters and readers, but close enough that it keeps you hooked. Events are well paced and the intrigue between developments sustains your attention throughout the novel. This is a great stand-alone book, but I look forward to reading the other books in the series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Death, Violence, Murder, Child death, and Torture
jannak's review against another edition
2.0
I found this book incredibly mediocre. After seeing it (and the next two sequels) on sale for the Kindle, I bought them all, but this book never managed to hook me, and I'm not sure I'll pick up the others. The story was an interesting view of 17th century Bavarian witch hunts, but neither the characters or the writing style drew me in, and I found the book to be a slog to get through.
rebeccasreadingrambles's review against another edition
4.0
This book took me a little to get into. I was a little confused by some of the terms and titles of people and got some of the characters mixed up. However, once I got into this book I didn't want to put it down. The story was pretty captivating, but not too complex. It was really the writing/story telling that made it so enjoyable. It was just a joy to read. Easy and very interesting. The mystery wasn't the most surprising... But I was pretty surprised by the ending and I loved reading about how the hangman and doctor went about investigating as they were the only ones interested in the truth. I will definitely continue with this series.
Spoiler
I guessed that the "witch craft" was just a misunderstanding and the orphans were marking themselves to keep them safe from the other children.jaynamac's review against another edition
4.0
Welcome to 17th century Bavaria, rife with religion, superstition, rumor, and the acquisition of wealth and power. Class lines keep this society running -- until a child is murdered. Accusations of witchcraft fly, and an innocent midwife is arrested.
The unlikely heroes of Oliver Potzsch's wonderful first novel are Jakob Kuisl, the town's executioner, and Simon Fronwieser, son of the town doctor. Kuisl embraced his profession reluctantly; he is well-read, intelligent, and as good and thorough a healer as he is a torturer and executioner. Simon Fronwieser admires Kuisl's intellectualism and his medical knowledge, while disdaining his father's ineffective cure-all of blood-letting and extremely traditional values and thinking. Simon is in love with Kuisl's daughter Magdalena -- a pairing that would never be allowed in this highly classist society.
Our heroes race to discover the true identity of the murderer before Kuisl is forced to torture and burn a woman he knows to be innocent. Power, fear, wealth, superstition, evil -- they're all pieces of this diabolical puzzle.
The characters are dimensional and sympathetic; Kuisl in particular is fascinating. The story moves at a very fast pace, picking up momentum as the quest to solve the deadly riddle becomes more desperate.
I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say that that the conclusion is wholly satisfying.
While the novel is a solid 4/4.5 stars for me, the early Kindle formatting (when I read the book) was abysmal. Dialogue often ran together, making it extremely difficult to discern who was saying what. Amazon said they were reviewing it, and I hope that they followed up.
Don't let the glitchy formatting dissuade you from reading this novel, though. If you're a fan of historical fiction and/or murder mysteries, you'll find this book is a terrific read. I'm really excited to start Potzsch's follow-up!
The unlikely heroes of Oliver Potzsch's wonderful first novel are Jakob Kuisl, the town's executioner, and Simon Fronwieser, son of the town doctor. Kuisl embraced his profession reluctantly; he is well-read, intelligent, and as good and thorough a healer as he is a torturer and executioner. Simon Fronwieser admires Kuisl's intellectualism and his medical knowledge, while disdaining his father's ineffective cure-all of blood-letting and extremely traditional values and thinking. Simon is in love with Kuisl's daughter Magdalena -- a pairing that would never be allowed in this highly classist society.
Our heroes race to discover the true identity of the murderer before Kuisl is forced to torture and burn a woman he knows to be innocent. Power, fear, wealth, superstition, evil -- they're all pieces of this diabolical puzzle.
The characters are dimensional and sympathetic; Kuisl in particular is fascinating. The story moves at a very fast pace, picking up momentum as the quest to solve the deadly riddle becomes more desperate.
I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say that that the conclusion is wholly satisfying.
While the novel is a solid 4/4.5 stars for me, the early Kindle formatting (when I read the book) was abysmal. Dialogue often ran together, making it extremely difficult to discern who was saying what. Amazon said they were reviewing it, and I hope that they followed up.
Don't let the glitchy formatting dissuade you from reading this novel, though. If you're a fan of historical fiction and/or murder mysteries, you'll find this book is a terrific read. I'm really excited to start Potzsch's follow-up!
bszymaniak's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
salgalruns's review against another edition
3.0
This is in the "high 3" category, maybe a 3.5 for me. While I liked the story, I found it somewhat dragging. That may not actually be due to the writing, but more to the fact that school has just started and my life gets chaotic this time of year to say the least. All that said, I did find the storyline to be an interesting one. I liked the premise of the book and the plot lines were intriguing. However, I found them to be more superficial, rather than deep interest.
For example, there were numerous references to the prior problems with witchcraft, but that's about it - just prior references. No examples, no real history on that front. I also didn't really feel like the midwife's character was super developed, and I found her to be fascinating.
The hangman's daughter really is sort of a secondary character. While she adds a nice title to the book and makes a nice connection between the doctor and the hangman, I just didn't find her all that interesting and I think she could have been.
Now - the hangman? LOVED him, and I'm not sure why. I think I was drawn to his sense of right and wrong even though what he does seems so sinister. References were made to his moods, but that part was somewhat downplayed. I just loved how he
The mystery element was what actually kept me reading.
Worthwhile read. Absolutely.
For example, there were numerous references to the prior problems with witchcraft, but that's about it - just prior references. No examples, no real history on that front. I also didn't really feel like the midwife's character was super developed, and I found her to be fascinating.
The hangman's daughter really is sort of a secondary character. While she adds a nice title to the book and makes a nice connection between the doctor and the hangman, I just didn't find her all that interesting and I think she could have been.
Now - the hangman? LOVED him, and I'm not sure why. I think I was drawn to his sense of right and wrong even though what he does seems so sinister. References were made to his moods, but that part was somewhat downplayed. I just loved how he
Spoiler
took care of the midwife so that she wouldn't feel pain. What a guy.The mystery element was what actually kept me reading.
Spoiler
While you didn't know exactly who it was, you knew it was someone of power. It didn't come as a shock, but more of a wrapped up conclusion. The final portion was a little too smooth, but still good.Worthwhile read. Absolutely.
jonas_lillelund's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
books_nooks_spooks's review against another edition
3.0
Kiss Satan’s Anus’
One of my favourite quotes from this book!
I am not a fan of historical fiction and as I was right out my comfort zone here I decided to try this as an audiobook. Maybe listening to this style is easier than reading it? Well I was pleasantly surprised initially - this is actually not too bad and what’s this….it’s kind of….interesting?! However, it wasn’t too long before it became just another story about men accusing women of witchcraft. It also had a tendency to be unnecessarily wordy in parts which is one of the reasons I am not so fond of historical fiction. Between that and the constant return to the menfolk whining about witches, the mystery aspect of this book got swallowed up. However, I made it to the end despite this being an epic 12 hour listen so it can’t have been too bad! The narrator was a good choice for this style which helped immensely and I did enjoy some of the humour!
At the end of the day, this isn’t a bad book. It’s really personal preference. This style really isn’t for me. If you love historical mysteries I think you should definitely check this book out and I believe there is a whole series?
One of my favourite quotes from this book!
I am not a fan of historical fiction and as I was right out my comfort zone here I decided to try this as an audiobook. Maybe listening to this style is easier than reading it? Well I was pleasantly surprised initially - this is actually not too bad and what’s this….it’s kind of….interesting?! However, it wasn’t too long before it became just another story about men accusing women of witchcraft. It also had a tendency to be unnecessarily wordy in parts which is one of the reasons I am not so fond of historical fiction. Between that and the constant return to the menfolk whining about witches, the mystery aspect of this book got swallowed up. However, I made it to the end despite this being an epic 12 hour listen so it can’t have been too bad! The narrator was a good choice for this style which helped immensely and I did enjoy some of the humour!
At the end of the day, this isn’t a bad book. It’s really personal preference. This style really isn’t for me. If you love historical mysteries I think you should definitely check this book out and I believe there is a whole series?
chapita4's review against another edition
3.0
The beginning is pretty graphic and there are sporadic burst of gory details throughout (but c'mon the guys an executioner). Story line is interesting and kept me turning pages. I thought the end kind of fizzled out a little but over all I enjoyed the book.