Sign up
Search
Advanced search settings

Search only in certain items:

Search results
All (1003)
Content
People
Apps
Books
Orbs
Movies
Music
Podcasts
Shows
Tabletop Games
Tech
TV
Video Games
YouTube Channels
Videos
40x40

Ross (3284 KP) rated Rotherweird in Books

Jul 8, 2019  
Rotherweird
Rotherweird
Andrew Caldecott | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A very strange book
The premise for this book was strong - a number of suspiciously intellectually/artistically gifted children are identified in Elizabethan England and rather than being sent to their death as ordered, they are secreted away somewhere where their gifts can be nurtured. The country estate of Rotherweird is their destination.
However, the book that follows doesn't really pick up on this premise, and instead the book is more of a modern day Little England countryside romp. For within the area surrounding Rotherweird (now a private town cut off from the rest of British rule) there are access points to a secret other world, where a number of odd creatures are known to reside.
The plot relies on a number of tenuous crossword-type anagrams (but as everyone has such an unusual name, spotting them is impossible) and ridiculous puzzles as to be quite annoying.
A mysterious outsider has arrived and started to upset the introvert community, and more and more of the population begin to find odd relics or events, and once they start to team up they piece them together.
There is very little to distinguish the characters, and I frequently had to try and remember who was who from Finch, Flask, Fanguin, Ferensen, as well as the two almost identical young female characters.
A very frustrating read.
  
40x40

ClareR (5890 KP) rated The Sin Eater in Books

Oct 5, 2021  
The Sin Eater
The Sin Eater
Megan Campisi | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Sin Eater is set in an alternative Elizabethan England, with so much attention to detail that it could be true! I mean, there WERE Sin Eaters, but in reality I don’t think their diets were as varied and rich-sounding. I had a google, and it seems as though some bread was left on a coffin for a Sin Eater to eat. Until, that is, the Church got involved. Sin Eating had to many Pagan connotations.

Each sin in this book has a different food, which is how 14yr old May Owens learns that something sinister is going on in the Queen’s court.

May can’t tell anyone what she knows. It’s a terrible punishment for a young girl: sentenced to a life of silence and ostracised by everyone - all because she stole bread to eat. Ok, she’ll never go hungry, but some of the combinations are pretty grim!

I really enjoyed reading about the travelling entertainers, and the homeless people who decide that living with a walking, breathing curse (May) is worth the risk when it’s cold outside.

This is a really atmospheric book, steeped in the sights, sounds and smells of a 16th Century England-type-place, and it ticked a lot of boxes for me as a historical fiction, occasional fantasy fan (amongst the other types of fiction!!)