Helpful Score: 7
Two novels in one, set hundreds of years apart. In the last pages of the book, the point at which the two stories intersect is made plain. Both stories held sufficient tension to keep my interest in each separately. (Sometimes when I read books with separate plot lines, I'm bored by one storyline and resent the reading time spent in it when I could be reading the other! :) That was not the case with this book.)
Helpful Score: 7
This is a very intriguing story that takes place in Midevil times and present times and how they come together in the end. I didn't know how it was going to end and really enjoyed the outcome of it.
Helpful Score: 6
The Plague Tales consists of two parallel stories: one an account of a king's physician in 14th-century England, the other a tale of futuristic London--a time when antibiotics no longer cure and "Bio-Cops," empowered to exterminate those suspected of carrying disease, prowl the streets.
Helpful Score: 6
The is two interconnected stories about outbreaks of the bubonic plague in England--one set in the near future and one set in 1348. The stories were somewhat interesting with characters you might care about, but somehow I just couldn't suspend belief enough to get into this. And things just got more outrageous as the story progressed--especially the near future story. For starters, characters fell in love and changed long-held beliefs at the drop of a hat. Then they did totally unbelievable things--I'm sorry, but I don't care who you are, when you find you lover-of-the-week's boss's corpse decomposing in your missing research assistant's hotel room, are you really going to cut off his rotting hand and put it in your briefcase for a ride on the subway instead of notifying some sort of authorities? And why do none of the doctors or microbiologists who specialize in infectious disease have any inkling of what Yersinia pestis is without looking it up? Did nobody with any medical background proofread this book before it went to print? A couple of doctors talk about intubating a patient but instead insert an orogastric tube. And that's just a few of the myriad examples of the ridiculousness found in this book. Perhaps if you have as little medical background as this author does, this won't bother you as much as it did me. A little more research on the part of the author and a lot more care taken with what a real person might do would've gone a long way with this story. Overall this book was ok, but the high points weren't that high and I found lots of it to be quite aggravating.
Helpful Score: 5
this is a wonderful book that spans hundreds of years. there are 2
ongoing stories;one set in 2005 (called the future as this book was
written in the 90's) in England. the entire world fought the good
fight
with diseases and there are many people who did not make it. no
antibiotics work anymore and many medical professionals are being
re-trained in other areas.
the other story is set in Span and England during the plague times.
the
main character is a jewish doctor who is hiding from the
christians. he
finds himself in England being the physician to King Edward and the
royal family.
there are a few romances along the way.
ongoing stories;one set in 2005 (called the future as this book was
written in the 90's) in England. the entire world fought the good
fight
with diseases and there are many people who did not make it. no
antibiotics work anymore and many medical professionals are being
re-trained in other areas.
the other story is set in Span and England during the plague times.
the
main character is a jewish doctor who is hiding from the
christians. he
finds himself in England being the physician to King Edward and the
royal family.
there are a few romances along the way.
