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semziza's review against another edition
4.0
A standard murder myster with plucky young girl. But the setting is great, with enough references to show the author knows the time period.
sophronisba's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Meh. There were lots of things about this book I found frustrating: it is not what you might call tightly plotted, there are constant perspective shifts, many of the revelations are accomplished by the author just showing them to us instead of the protagonist figuring them out, and the entirety of the final chapter was a bit out there. Still, I did like the setting (even if the author didn't make as much of Heloise and Abelard as she might have) and I think the main character has enough potential that I am willing to pick up book two.
affiknittyreads's review
3.0
Well, this was pretty good. The plot was a little convoluted. Occasionally Catherine, the protagonist, does things that seem a little crazy but not so much that it completely strains credulity. I'll keep reading the series.
powermetalgirl's review against another edition
I read this book for a book club, and while I don't think it was exactly poorly written, I didn't enjoy it either. I had hopes for it when it started, as I've been to Paris and seen the tomb of Heloise and Abelard, and thought it might be fun to read fiction about them. But the story was slow, the characters weren't interesting, and everything that happened seemed so far-fetched and forced. Catherine was supposed to be this amazingly smart woman, but she spent the whole novel getting injured or being on her death bed. In the end, during the "reveal," I didn't even care. I just wanted the story to be done with.
joaniesaltzman's review against another edition
3.0
Preemptive tl;dr: I recommend the Catherine LeVendeur mysteries for excellent medieval settings, strong character development and likable, engaging characters, and compelling writing of marginalized people, which can be hard to find.
I started this series with the seventh book, then the third, and then the first. I think the seventh book might have benefitted from having some previous context, but the first book certainly benefits by having read later books first. Knowing who Catherine is as an adult makes it very charming to meet her as a naïve eighteen-year-old, newly returned to the outside world from within a convent. I can see where, starting from the first book, her innocence, self-doubt and clumsiness would make her a tiring protagonist. There's really very little need to read in order, though, so just start with a later book and revisit young Catherine later.
I really only write reviews if other people's reviews annoy me, so here are the main complaints I saw: (1) It's poorly plotted and (2) No woman at the time could do these things. I actually can't speak to (1) because I just got into mystery very recently and I have very little to compare to (I read some other medieval mysteries last summer and that's it). I will say that one if the major draws for me in Newman's work is that, as a medievalist, her understanding of the medieval world is very rich, and she really brings medieval France to life in a way that the other medieval novels I've read don't.
The other major draw for me is her treatment of marginalized people in the setting. Catherine is an exceptional woman with exceptional privilege for the time, but the other women around her life with the expected constraints and that reality is something that Catherine runs up against often. In addition, [MINOR SPOILER] she discovers late in the novel that her father was born to a Jewish family and converted after the murder of his mother and sisters, and she has a Jewish aunt, uncle and cousin she was unaware of. [SPOILER ENDED.] In each novel I've read, conflicts between Jews and Christians sit close to the heart of the story.
Which brings me to (2) "No woman could do these things." So first, yes, you have to suspend some disbelief to read a novel about one woman in 12th century France solving ten murders. Just like how the towns in Father Brown and Murder, She Wrote would be insanely dangerous places to live based on the murder rates. There's an element of fiction to fiction. The idea of an exceptional woman carving a place for herself is not the fiction. Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, and Joan of Arc all managed to do exceptional things in a time of male dominance. Historical women were not as weak as we think they were. Historical women were not weaker or stupider than modern women. Catherine is ahead of her time, but there are always real people ahead of their times or we wouldn't get to these times. I like books that treat oppressed people with respect. Catherine is not a likely woman, but if Margery Kempe could get her husband to agree to abstinence (she did) then there's no reason to believe it's impossible for Catherine LeVendeur to get her father to let her read.
I started this series with the seventh book, then the third, and then the first. I think the seventh book might have benefitted from having some previous context, but the first book certainly benefits by having read later books first. Knowing who Catherine is as an adult makes it very charming to meet her as a naïve eighteen-year-old, newly returned to the outside world from within a convent. I can see where, starting from the first book, her innocence, self-doubt and clumsiness would make her a tiring protagonist. There's really very little need to read in order, though, so just start with a later book and revisit young Catherine later.
I really only write reviews if other people's reviews annoy me, so here are the main complaints I saw: (1) It's poorly plotted and (2) No woman at the time could do these things. I actually can't speak to (1) because I just got into mystery very recently and I have very little to compare to (I read some other medieval mysteries last summer and that's it). I will say that one if the major draws for me in Newman's work is that, as a medievalist, her understanding of the medieval world is very rich, and she really brings medieval France to life in a way that the other medieval novels I've read don't.
The other major draw for me is her treatment of marginalized people in the setting. Catherine is an exceptional woman with exceptional privilege for the time, but the other women around her life with the expected constraints and that reality is something that Catherine runs up against often. In addition, [MINOR SPOILER] she discovers late in the novel that her father was born to a Jewish family and converted after the murder of his mother and sisters, and she has a Jewish aunt, uncle and cousin she was unaware of. [SPOILER ENDED.] In each novel I've read, conflicts between Jews and Christians sit close to the heart of the story.
Which brings me to (2) "No woman could do these things." So first, yes, you have to suspend some disbelief to read a novel about one woman in 12th century France solving ten murders. Just like how the towns in Father Brown and Murder, She Wrote would be insanely dangerous places to live based on the murder rates. There's an element of fiction to fiction. The idea of an exceptional woman carving a place for herself is not the fiction. Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, and Joan of Arc all managed to do exceptional things in a time of male dominance. Historical women were not as weak as we think they were. Historical women were not weaker or stupider than modern women. Catherine is ahead of her time, but there are always real people ahead of their times or we wouldn't get to these times. I like books that treat oppressed people with respect. Catherine is not a likely woman, but if Margery Kempe could get her husband to agree to abstinence (she did) then there's no reason to believe it's impossible for Catherine LeVendeur to get her father to let her read.
exurbanis's review against another edition
3.0
Set in 12th century France, this features Catherine, a young novice and scholar at the Convent of the Paraclete, who is sent by the Abbess Heloise on a perilous mission to find out who is trying to destroy the reputation of the convent and, through it, that of the abbess’s onetime lover and patron, theologian Peter Abelard.
I was uncomfortable with the amount of religious rigmarole, the “right’ of the church, and the solution: madness – or something darker? 3 stars
Read this if: you would enjoy a mystery more because of the religious element, rather than despite it.
I was uncomfortable with the amount of religious rigmarole, the “right’ of the church, and the solution: madness – or something darker? 3 stars
Read this if: you would enjoy a mystery more because of the religious element, rather than despite it.
michelleful's review against another edition
4.0
Continuing my historical fiction quest with this book, set in medieval France. It was pretty good, a bit complicated plot-wise, ending was a little on the meh side for me. The heroine, Catherine, a novice whose convent life is interrupted by a mission given to her by Heloise (of Abelard and Heloise fame) is intelligent and lovely, but I found it very disconcerting when the POV switched from her to an interlocutor and back again. Still, I'm interested enough to read the next in this series.
reginaexmachina's review against another edition
3.0
This was fun and engaging for a medieval mystery. I found the protagonist's constant conversations with the "voices" a little odd. It wasn't quite clear to me if the author intended them to be the character's personal conscience or actual voices in her head. However the mystery was interesting and kept me on my toes. I would definitely read more by the author.
saragale's review against another edition
4.0
I love the clumsy, intelligent, realistic Catherine. She's so much fun to read because she's not perfect.