Victoria (YSB) - reviewed on 11/23/2009 + 636 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 6

This 760-page book had only two redeeming points - the rather great title and the HILARIOUS author photo - of a man who looks twelve years old from the nose up and sixty from the gray moustache down. I have NO idea how this book wasn't more heavily edited. It was WAY too long and the sentences were MUCH too long, and the whole thing was heavily bogged down with irrelevant detail. It would have been an intriguing story if it had stronger characters (like Miss Temple - a 25 year old who seemed like a spinsterish 60-year-old virgin) that weren't so utterly unbelievable. And the mix of real places with fictitious ones wouldn't have been so infuriating if it had only mentioned the name of the land they were supposed to be in (England seems most likely). Either way, it wasn't good. I've never fallen asleep during reading more. I'm just glad to have it done with. The only explanation for all the detail is showmanship and tone but all it did was drag out a plot that would have been much stronger had it been genuinely more suspenseful.

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