Rating: 
Summary: Not the best, but still a good read
Review: After having read the "Club Dumas" without having been able to put it down, I compulsively reached for the Flanders Panel. It is also a very well written, enjoyable book to read. Perez-Reverte's style is not presumptuous, and at the same time, filled with rich details woven into a great plot line and real characters. However, the detailed representations of the chess game may make it a difficult read for some. If you don't enjoy the game analysis (for the author actually employs diagrams and move lists), I suggest you skip those sections. The story will still make sense, although a lot of the symbolism will be lost. If you enjoy the game, by all means, read this book. I had not played in a long time, but the book made me dust off my chess set. Perez-Reverte succeeds in bringing the game, and a murder plot symbolized in the chess pieces, to life like the "Flanders Panel" brought the depicted scene to life with its realism.
Rating: 
Summary: Strategy and Suspense
Review: I'm a chessplayer. The theme of this book caught my attention and, in many ways, lived up to its promise. The chess and real life dramas are woven smoothly, and the chess strategy and reasoning made sense (with one or two moments of artistic license). The opening intrigued me, the middle game complicated matters, and the endgame brought things to a tidy conclusion. I couldn't help but wonder if I was missing some of the writer's heart in the translation. The characters are expertly crafted, but lacked heart and connection with me. Although I enjoyed the moves of the deadly game, I had little feeling for those that give their lives in the course of the chess maneuvering. The language, while tight and European-sounding, seemed to be a bit generic at points. Overall, the threads of the mystery draw tighter and tighter and the author leaves a few surprises for the reader. Some may find intrigue in the chess aspects or the art aspects...I found myself primarly drawn into the strategizing of the villain and those trying to unmask the villain's identity. The suspense was based on the unfolding strategy, such as in a game of chess. And I was captured. Check and mate.
Rating: 
Summary: Clever, intriguing mystery!
Review: Arturo Perez-Reverte is an amazing and truly gifted writer. Not only is he gifted in the art of spinning a creative, sophisticated, literary mystery, but also in jumping the cultural and historical boundaries. Julia, a woman who restores paintings for a living, is asked to help restore a fifteenth-century masterpiece. The painting depicts a chess game between the Duke of Flanders and his knight. But there is a message within -- a message that begins a whodunit search that is flooring... The Flanders Panel is a mystery enthusiast's dream come true. It breaks the tiresome mystery formula by adding bits and pieces of true originality. It is also filled to the brim with fascinating information about art, history and chess. I especially loved the history references centered on art. This effort flabbergasted me. I so look forward to reading more books from this brilliant author!
Rating:
Summary: An intriguing literary game
Review: The Flanders Panel is a fascinating mystery which is packed with riddles, puzzles and allusions. The plot rapidly swings into motion when the protagonist, Julia, who has been commissioned to restore a 15th Century painting, discovers a hidden inscription which poses the question, "who killed the knight?". The painting depicts a nobleman and a knight playing a game of chess. Through consultation and research, Julia identifies the people depicted in the painting, learns that the knight died under suspicious circumstances and figures out that the answer to the question lies in the chess game depicted in the painting. Julia enlists the help of several friends in her efforts to solve the riddle. One by one, those helpers die violent, all-too-co-incidental deaths. This sinister novel is exceedingly well done. Large sections of the book are devoted to analysis of chess problems and interpretation of medieval Flemish art. To my utter astonishment, these sections are so vivid and so expertly crafted that they are the highlights of the book. The characters in the book are, almost without exception, flatly-drawn with little or no depth. This is in such stark contrast to the descriptions of the chess games that I couldn't help but wonder if the author intended the contrast. One of the recurring motifs in the book is the confusion between reality and the reflected image in a mirror. Here, the players are flat while the chessboard becomes multi-dimensional. I rated this book four stars rather than five because the characters were unengaging and unsympathetic. It was as if every person dealing with fine art in Madrid in the 1980s was self-absorbed and hedonistic. Also, the final chapter seems false and contrived. Otherwise, this is the ideal book to take along on a vacation. It is a highly entertaining book. I found it difficult to put down.
Rating:
Summary: A Valiant Effort
Review: I enjoyed reading this book very much. Not being a chess expert I may have enjoyed it more than some reviewers that complained that the chess puzzle was not clever. I suppose it is true that not being an expert of chess helped me be interested in the book, yet, in spite of that, if you are a chess expert, lighten up and enjoy anyway. Mr Perez Reverte is a journalist and a writer, not Jose Raul Capablanca. the plot was nicely laid and the writing very good, and the only reason I did not rate this a full 5 stars was because some of the characters, Julia and Munoz, kind of diasppointed me, but I also suspect that the author never meant to give us perfect human beings. And also, I felt I got the answer of who killed (took) the knight too soon. I certainly recommend this book to anyone wanting a mystery with style. Finally, I simply am amazed that one reviewer called this book homophobic. How can someone so misread a book?
Rating:
Summary: There was a movie made about this...
Review: If I am not mistaken, there was a movie made about this book in the early 90's which starred a very, very young Kate Beckinsale. Seemed to me it was her first movie. I couldn't remember the movie's title. Might be the same but "The Flanders Panel" doesn't ring a bell on me. Although I have not read this book (but I am giving it 3 stars based on the plotline), I would think reading the book is a lot better than the movie - which I personally think stunk bec of the acting. I rented the DVD from Blockbuster only bec I was intrigued by storyline synopsis. Watching the movie just ruined it for me before becoming aware that it was from a book.
Rating:
Summary: The Flanders Panel
Review: A wonderful quirky book. At times it's a bit melodramatic, perhaps from the translation, or the Spanish culture. The answers to the mystery, come out of nowhere: what appears to be clues are just part of the book, and are not intended as red-herrings, this is true of The Games of Chess, "The Flanders Panel" itself.
Rating:
Summary: thinks it's smarter than it is
Review: I wasn't into this book at the beginning because I found all the characters completely unsympathetic. Then Julia, Cesar, and Munoz started to grow on me (the others I never cared about), and I began to enjoy their repartee. I cruised through the middle section, getting interested in the whodunnit aspect, but was completely disappointed and unimpressed with the resolution. It was "unpredictable" in the most predictable way, and relied on characters having hidden sides of their personalities for years from their nearest and dearest. Plus, I just don't buy the emotional impact that chess seems to have on these people. I don't play, so maybe I'm not qualified to judge, but when characters start making major life-changing decisions based on the bishop's "deep thrusting diagonal movement" and how that resonates with their subconscious, that's when I decide those characters are pathetic. Chess might be a metaphor for life, but life is not a metaphor for chess.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Notion...utterly lacks emotion!
Review: I've been eager to read more Perez-Reverte since The Club Dumas, and The Flanders Panel seemed right up my alley for "intellectual" intrigue. I must say that the first half of the book is remarkable and, though the execution of everything falls a bit short, I do think the entire sweep of the story is commendable. However, my criticism lies in Julia's character who, after the mysteroius murders of two of her friends, she goes about attempting to piece together the mystery without a single hint of emotion toward the loss of her loved ones. Nothing at all. It's all back to business for her. Who acts like this??? Even in the end, (which I won't spoil), she turns her back on a 20+ year companion who's about to hurt himself in a very serious way. True, given the elements of the story, their 20 year relationship is in question, but I just felt that it was heartless of her to do. Thumbs way way up for the premise.
Thumbs kinda teetering downwards on the characters.
Rating:
Summary: Four stars only because it was the author's first move.
Review: I picked up this book because of its description of the plot, and because I like chess. I also like Renaissance painting. By and large, I was not displeased with the work. It is just that something escaped me in the end. ...
Why is it raining so often, and in sunny Spain, no less? It adds to the macabre backdrop, that is for sure. As I mentioned, I like chess, and was not let down by the book in this area. The quotes beginning each chapter were pleasing. The endgame was quite captivating from chapter to chapter. The chess player will enjoy the book. So will the artist and weekend museum visitor. Lots of information about historical painting will be found in the book.
The characters and their development could use some help. The chess player is a bit limited in definition. The homosexual "parent" is a bit overdeveloped in definition. And the leading actress, an italian beauty, is just fine with me. Her silence in the denouement was seriously faulty, however. Where was the full-throated rage? The ending was a bit too imaginary, leaving reality behind: not so much with the unspoken choices of the two, but of the far-fetched managerial skills of the one.
So Senor Perez-Reverte gets a generous four stars from me for a first novel. I hope his others are an improvement.
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