Rating: 
Summary: If you love Dickens, then read this book
Review: This book is an homage to the great Charles Dickens. There is a wonderful convoluted plot,dozens of characters,scenes of great wealth and of grinding poverty, all set in Regency England. If you value impeccable research and feeling for period detail, this is the book for you. Palliser honors Charles John Huffam Dickens by naming his central character after him. Treat yourself to this book and escape to another time and place. Follow John Huffam on his journey to find his lost birthrite and identity.
Rating: 
Summary: Ambitious but very disappointing
Review: I'd put off reading this book for ten years, certain that it would provide enormous pleasure over a long vacation one day. In the end I was enormously impressed with Palliser's command of the elaborate plot (and the equally elaborate genealogy it hinges upon), and the details of so many aspects of Regency England are incredibly detailed. In and of themselves, the plot and the detail are tremendous achievements.But I was sad to find out that the book was in other ways enormously disappointing. Although almost every novel by Dickens and Collins is evoked one way or another through the hero's travails, the book offered almost none of the narrative pleasure those authors' works do: in all the 800+ pages, there's hardly a moment of beauty or sublimity or even repose--it's just rush, rush, rush through the enormous events of the conspiracy. There's almost zero character development (everyone in the entire novel--with the exception of maybe six characters--is entirely motivated by greed and thus is ultimately connected to the conspiracy against the hero). Worst of all, the ending is a disaster. This stems in large part from Palliser's desire, at the end of his enormous intellectual puzzle of a novel, to change its rules, so that the hero (and by extension, the reader) learns to change his moral beliefs and not value the Huffam inheritance. But this seems wholly unbelievable, since the hero is given so little character development to allow such an enormous transformation, and because there seem to be no other competing moral systems at work in the entire novel to allow the hero to follow any sort of new ethical model. It's as if the author started writing a new version of THE WOMAN IN WHITE but by the last section wanted it to be THE SPOILS OF POYNTON or MIDDLEMARCH. It just doesn't work.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow...but I didn't care!
Review: I pulled this one off the bookshelf to read after seeing it sit there for many years and was captivated throughout the long, long length of the book. What a period piece! What an intricate plot of whodunnit! Rich in 1800 English settings and in a convoluted family history where everyone was out to claim their title to great, great, grandpa's estate. Unfortunately for the main protaganist, most everyone's claim hinged on whether or not he was dead. But after almost 800 pages, certainly not caring for any of the murderous family members, I realized that I didn't care for the main character either. All of the characters in this book are very flat, two-dimensional; set in a well-wrought, three-dimensional world. I'm torn in my rating....5 stars for plot and setting.....1 star for character development.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous.
Review: This is a fabulous book - something Dickens might have written if he had had an espresso machine in his kitchen. One riveting adventure after another with a deep sense of early 1800's London. I can't wait to buy everything else Mr. Palliser has written!
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: Qunicunx is an extraordinary novel. As with most people, upon my initial reading, Quincunx reminded me of the very best of Collins and Dicken. But unlike the other reviewers, I had the British deluxe paperback edition, containing the author's afterword. The author's afterword made me re-read the book, for like all of the reviewers here at Amazon [and for most reviewers], I did not catch on to Palliser's grand[er] design. Nevertheless, this is an excellent novel, on any level.
Rating:
Summary: An heraldic sign of genius!
Review: Charles Palliser has written a masterpiece. In reviewing all of the other reviews, it is clear that he has captured the imagination of all who have read and deemed it fit to review this book. It is a masterpiece. No need to compare to Dickens because Palliser, like Dickens, is unique. His skills are similar - he evokes all of the emotions and you are there with his heros and villains on every single page. You can smell the Olde London of his book. There 's a strange mustiness in the air when you sit down to read The Quincunx. There's an forgettable excitement when you open the book to continue where you left off the previous evening. It is a stunning achievement; it's only drawback is that how can Palliser improve on this Gothic tale of the misfortunes of the age in question? Without doubt a book to read again and again. A book to share with those friends who have the passion to stay with a lengthy and sometimes difficult novel. Fascinating!
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling, captivating, incredible - now consult Roget's!
Review: Simply put, this is the best book I've ever read, and probably the most well written book I ever will read. I read this over 6 years ago and it still stays with me. I bought the paperback, and after finishing it, bought the hardcover as well, using the paperback for lending purposes. I have "forced" The Quincunx on many friends who, without failure, thank me for strong-arming them. If you haven't already, you NEED to read this book! I would love to see a THOROUGH mini-series - is anyone from the BBC or PBS out there?!!!
Rating:
Summary: All of the superlatives used to describe this book are accur
Review: This book is everything the reviews say it is. It is simply a wonderful work of fiction. It is beautifully written. Its mystery is so compelling, I have read it several times and have written a synopsis in an effort to solve some of the puzzles it presents.
Rating:
Summary: A stunning accomplishment!
Review: I never wanted this book to end. However,I was getting a little tired of the repetition of dire circumstances befalling the boy and his mother. I wondered,will something ever happen to them that will bring them hope or joy. I suppose that is the genre (Dickens referral), but I found it a bit of a downer. On a more positive note, this is probably one of the best written books that I have read in a long while and I will probably read it again.
Rating:
Summary: What more can I say ?
Review: Indeed. I do not normally feel drawn to airing my feelings about books, unlike for movies or other art forms. I don't really know why. Maybe because reading books is a very individual thing. It all happens in the mind. Movies can be seen by others at the same time, books can not. So we talk about an individual escapade, a one-way free rollercoaster ride. This book takes you by the hand and leads you through the cold mist of fog. It will not let go and the hand that holds you is that of an amazingly bright and special boy. Through the journey you get to know the boy throughout and you learn to love him. But what can I say that others have not already said? I was intending not to dive into mass praise or intricate analysis (who am I to do that?). So I will not. So all I want/need to say is : I take the train to work. Every day. Two times one hour. Not much to do on the train. You are never alone on it. You are never undisturbed on it. But I read this book mostly during the train rides. And there was nothing around me. Nothing could trouble me. Nothing existed other than the story in this compelling book. And that, my friends, is an accomplishment. What more can I say?
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