Waterstones A Plague On Both Your Houses
1610 ratings
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Price: £9.99
Brand: Waterstones
Description: For the twentieth anniversary of the Matthew Bartholomew series, Sphere is delighted to reissue the first three books with beautiful new series-style covers. Matthew Bartholomew, unorthodox but effective physician to Michaelhouse college in medieval Cambridge, is as worried as anyone about the pestilence that is ravaging Europe and seems to be approaching England. But he is distracted by the sudden and inexplicable death of the Master of Michaelhouse - a death the University authorities do not want investigated. But Matt is determined to get to the truth, leading him into a tangle of lies and intrigue that cause him to question the innocence of his closest friends - and even his family - just as the Black Death finally arrives.A Plague on Both Your Houses is the book that introduced Matthew Bartholomew to the world. Waterstones A Plague On Both Your Houses - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: Waterstones
Product ID: 9780751568028
Delivery cost: 2.99
ISBN: 9780751568028
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Author: ancientruin
Rating: 5
Review: I am a recent convert to Susanna Gregory and I have a lot of catching up to do because there are over 20 of the M B books. This is the first one and got me hooked and I have now read six of them and won't be stopping any time soon. SG is a wonderful writer. Her command of description is vibrant and compelling and her research is faultless. One would be forgiven for thinking that she had lived in medieval 13th century Cambridge herself. The story lines are addictive and although the various MB books are set in the same places (in the main) she never seems to run out of things to say about the living conditions, the type of people (and she is superb at giving her characters distinctive personalities which she sticks to throughout), the murders themselves, the state of medicine in the medieval period, the general historic background and the architecture. She uses a lot of real facts about the growth of the town and University in this first century of its history together. Her plots have so many twists that she has to keep reminding the reader of where we are at but this is done in a masterly way because it is never boring or repetitive. The books are real page turners and I find them difficult to put down. A wonderful writer and I am amazed that her academic career is not in history. As an historian myself I know that when you have to fill in the gaps that your sources leave you need a lot of imagination and SG has this in spades.
Author: Amazon Customer
Rating: 2
Review: I think I made the crucial mistake of reading this book (my first of this author) after finishing the Shardlake books, one after the other, voraciously. I loved every single one of them and simply couldn't put them down. I began hoping that A Plague might improve. I sampled the first chapter on kindle and against my better judgement concluded that it had to get better or it wouldn't have been published in the first place - big mistake. From pretty early on I had to keep going back (not an easy feat on kindle) to check on who was who. One reviewer had already mentioned that a cast list would be good and I agree. I ended up feeling that the book had been badly edited. It seemed not to flow as well as it could have done and the development of plot left me wondering what the plot actually was and how many there were. At one point I considered a flow chart of people and plots to keep up. I mean, I am all for a good historical whodunnit and I love Cadfael (oh so much more than this to the reviewer who thinks the opposite) but it was almost as if the author ran out of steam towards the end and didn't really explain the plot properly - eager to finish it, perhaps or simply lost themselves? I am still at a loss as to which side Richard is on if he is a leech! Which bit of the conspiracy was Stanmore (Oswald) for and which bit against and why? And the Phillipa and brother plot and the Abbess and nephew plot only served to confuse further. I really hate the feeling when I have finished a book of 'what the **** was that about???". It could really also have done with the author explaining a bit at the end about the context of the novel and what research they did as many other historical novelists do - perhaps the absence of this (at least in my kindle edition)explains why the book felt as if it had simply been knocked out. I found the absence of any bibliography or notes or references a trifle odd in the circs. The key elements could have been really interesting - the plague, the competition between Oxford and Cambridge, the relationship between the Church and the centres of learning - but they weren't adequately developed - at least in my opinion. Characterisation, plot and language were just not up to the task of really engaging me. Also, forgive me for being Miss Fussy but how likely is it that someone could haul a dead body up into an attic single handed with no mention of ladders or stools being used? I felt that the description of how this was done was lacking in realism and this extended to other parts of the storyline too. And when he and Michael were captive under the stables, no mention of you know what.. wouldn't it have smelt a bit down there after a couple of days? And as a doctor, you would think that Matthew would advise against lighting fires in confined spaces with no ventilation, or would you? If they had fire, why didn't the daring duo try to attack with it when the door opened? This part of the story really made me think that even the author was bored. So so twee when he wakes to find them there - did he really think that they would just forget all about it? I also couldn't fathom the Master's original reason for being in touch with the King through his seal - perhaps I missed this. I was reading it through several time changes and I may have simply been too jetlagged to follow the plot and if so, my humble apologies. If I hadn't bought it on kindle and had paid full price in paperback, I think I would have been setting fire to it by now. Should I bother with another? Perhaps - if only to see if I was wrong. Wouldn't want to be guilty of premature closure. I hate to rubbish a book because I keep thinking how hard it must be to write one but this is one of the worst books I have read in YEARS.
