Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant idea, great start, but peters out with weak ending
Review: I read this book in French while touring France in September 1993 and greatly enjoyed both the chess angle (being a poor but longtime player) and the historical and artistic angles. Makes you look a bit closer at those paintings in the Louvre between chapters. However, as many other readers found, the characters were simply boring except Munoz the chessplayer. The psychology of chess bit was very interesting for all chess lovers as were the philosophical tidbits. The ending is poor as if the author couldn't figure out a decent ending. So I give it a 3 stars out of five for a decent ride, but in no way can this book be compared to the Name of the Rose as a mystery-thriller.
Rating:
Summary: Promises more than it delivers
Review: Before getting into details, I'll second the view those who say that the book starts well & ends poorly. It promises more than it delivers (like many mystery novels). First, there are some positive things to say: the translation from the Spanish seems very competent (But here's something odd: the instances of weak English that I observed are all within 6 pages: p.37 - p.42. E.g., p. 37, near the bottom: 'TALK of the devil' would be better rendered as 'SPEAK of the devil'. P. 39, near bottom: 'He's got the gift of THE gab' should be 'He's got the gift of gab'.) There are some good descriptions: the ambience of gathering twilight, as the characters view the painting (p. 49); the description of fear on p. 84 (2d paragraph). The book ends with an interesting ambiguity: will the 2 protagonists accept the rewards of crime? It seems that way (see upper P. 292)). So Cesar's cynicism is justified. Now for the negative side: the correspondence between the chess pieces and the characters is pretentious and inconsistent: at one point, Munoz is a pawn (p. 245, next to last paragraph; p. 255, 3d paragraph) while at another point, he's a knight (p. 260, 3d paragraph). Cesar is queen (p. 130, 4th paragraph; p 217, bottom paragraph; p. 255 4th paragraph from bottom) yet he's also a bishop (p.245, next to last paragraph; p. 255, 4th paragraph). Second, the author spends a lot of time expounding on the background of the painting. And on p. 273 (bottom paragraph) and p. 292 (next to last paragraph) he comes right out and claims that the story behind the painting foreshadowed the story of the novel's characters 500 years later. But in fact there's no correspondence at all between the plot of the painting and the plot of the contemporary story. For example, Roger de Arras, symbolized by the white knight in the painting, was murdered with the connivance of a woman who loved him; but Arras' fate is in no way similar to the fate of the character who is the contemporary white knight (see p. 260, 3d paragraph). Another example: 500 years ago, there was one murder -- of Arras, who's represented by the white knight. However, in the story that unfolds 500 years later, there is more than one murder, and none of the victims is represented by the white knight.
Rating: 
Summary: Really 2 books in 1
Review: The idea is fantastic. A painting has a chess game, reverse solving which leads to the solution of an ancient murder. But the author does not stop there - he wants to strech the plot into modern times instead of leaving well enough alone. The last half of the book was not beleivable - some of the writing and ideas were beautiful but the story lost its reason for being after the initial mystery was solved. But the first half was exactly right! I was involved in the chess moves, found the connection between the chess game, the painting and the characters very real and in general had a great time reading it. The sheer enjoyment of the first 135 or so pages carried me the whole way through, but in retrospect I wish the author waould have stopped sooner - I would have then considered it a masterpeice
Rating: 
Summary: Too fine
Review: The first 100 pages were quite a delight - there's a strong feeling of old-fashioned European intelligence in this book, as well as some impressing ponderings on the basic questions of existence. The beginning was also quite slow, and I thought the story would speed up towards the end, but as it is, this never happened. It seems to me that the author simply didn't know what to do with his ideas. The intelligence fades into snobism, the metaphysics go totally out of control, the plot drags on and makes in the end every page a battle you have to win. And the solution of the mystery... well, that was just unbelievable. And artificial. Two stars for the great European irony, which I prefer any day over American banality, and also for the chess-player Munoz, which I think was the only interesting character in the book. Did someone mention The Name Of The Rose? Well, there's a difference wider than the ocean between Spain and Italy...
Rating:
Summary: Thriller but predictable: stereotypes people and Animals.
Review: I found this novel a real romp, even though it was predictable. I loved the mingling of art and deductive reaasoning. I found the characters uncomlicated, dull and every reference to animals in this novel was barabric or dismissive. On this ground alone should we stereotype the author as a typical Latino? It makes me curious about the author's other novels, but makes me not buy them.
Rating: 
Summary: An exquisite wodunit.
Review: This is an exquisite whodunit, drawing the reader into worlds only liberal arts professors dare dream about to solve some fairly bloodless murders. Perez-Reverte deftly interweaves the worlds of art and medieval history, chess, and music to solve the crimes, providing the necessary background and even pictures to aid the novice in any of these fields. If one doesn't know art, chess, or Bach, this book will inspire deeper delving into all three. If one knows any or all of these, the book reads even better.
Rating: 
Summary: A sad waste of a fine premise
Review: When I first started the book I was captivated with what I took to be a refreshing old-world obliviousness to political correctness. And, I thought, amid such a promising intellectual atmosphere the stereotypes would surely deepen into real characters eventually. But instead the context flattens out to match the stereotypes. The mystery plots (both historical and contemporary) turn thin, the chess and musical analogies go off-key, and to find the conclusion at all persuasive you have to buy into some pretty nasty prejudices. Since the professional reviewers have overrated this so badly, for the sake of fairness I'm giving it only one star.
Rating:
Summary: Great read, but ...
Review: I tend to agree with most of the previous customers' reviews (although I did not read them until after I finished the book). The book started out great, the premise certainly original. It was a page turner until about the last quarter when I could almost predict what was going to happen next. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the book, especially the occasional "sidelines" or cultural/artistic digressions ... sort of Art History 101 in 6 easy lessons! But I love art and I love mystery novels and a combination of the two can not but give me pleasure! (All ye who are of the same ilk - check out Douglas Skegg's 'The Triumph of Bacchus', 'The Talinnin Madonna' or 'The Estuary Pilgrim' but not so much 'The Phoenix of Prague'). I am now reading Perez-Reverte's 'Club Dumas' and being thoroughly entertained! Somewhere on my constantly 'evolving' to-read list is his 'The Seville Communion'.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing start. Flat finish.
Review: The book started out with an interesting premise: After 500 years, a hidden inscription on a famous painting is revealed right before the painting is to be sold at auction. And murders occur which seem to be connected with the mysterious story of the painting. And the best way to uncover the mysteries of the hidden message and the murders is by decyphering a chess match depicted on the painting. Oh, how exciting. Well, it is interesting for a while and the chess puzzle is cute, but in the end... The ending was a disappointment. And the story about the painting just got to be too much. It had potential.
Rating:
Summary: Good Until the End
Review: It was an interesting milieu for a mystery novel. There was a fascinating beginning. Unfortunately, the steam ran out by the end. Real let down...but good until then.
|
