okumak Dissolution (Highbridge Distribution) internet üzerinden

A winner This first novel in the Shardlake series cemented Sansom as one of my favourite writers. We are introduced to Matthew Shardlake, a hunchback lawyer, who is sent to a monastery that is being dissolved - Cromwell's commissioner has been murdered and Shardlake must discover the killer. Shardlake is a great creation, empathetic but not without his flaws (throughout the series he gets obsessed with a series of uninterested women). The period setting is well realised, and the plot is complex but always effective.

Enjoyable Very enjoyable and informative. Have read many Tudor novels but never from the side of the religious communities which faced the destruction of their ways of life, loss of their homes,banning of the faith which had determined their lives. Some for their entire lives. For the older ones especially, it must have been a nightmare. The majority of this murder investigation takes place in a monastary so affected, by an investigative officer of Thomas Cromwell, Shardlake, and his assistant. With them, we experience a little of the human face of the monks and their ways of life. I did feel sad when the community had been disbanded at the end, several clearly not coping well with the enforced change, plus the elderly or disabled left to cope in the outside world as well. Shardlake found the murderer, lost his assistant, and learned a sad truth along the way. I'm looking forward to getting into the next in the series.

Great read! Have read and enjoyed CJ Sansom before but had not tried the Shardlake series. Had good reviews so thought I'd give it a try. Really enjoyed this book, so much so have now bought the whole series! His writing style really flows and he has you guessing all the while as to what the outcome to this thriller will be. Although I enjoy history I wondered if the setting at the time of Cromwell would detract from the writing but I found it gave it a more interesting take. Recommend you try it and I bet you are hooked!!

Not sure why I was disappointed I feel bad for not enjoying this more, and I appreciate that I'm in a minority. It was recommended to me by someone whose opinion in books I usually share, so perhaps as she raved about it so much my expectations were too high. I just found none of the characters particularly engaging, I didn't feel very strongly about the fate of anyone, I got all the monks mixed up and guessed "whodunnit" very early on, as it was more or less spelled out. It was interesting to read the historical detail and have another viewpoint of Thomas Cromwell. I understand this is one in a series, perhaps if I had read the others I would have been more engaged with Matthew Shardlake.

Interesting start to the series - I'll get the next one now I've been aware of this series for a long time but wasn't convinced that the mix of historical fiction and crime would work (although I'm not really sure why as I enjoy both genres). Finally I was persuaded when a friend, whose reading taste I respect, said how excited she was about starting the seventh in the series and how much she had enjoyed them all. The novel has 439 pages and 32 chapters. At the start there is a plan of the monastery which is worth pausing on and absorbing. I suspected I would be referring back to this a lot and I was right. The first word is "I" and that makes it very clear that Matthew Shardlake is to be the focus of this story with the reader only able to see what is happening through his eyes. The author manages to combine all the modern techniques of a well structured crime novel within the solid setting of a historical period which is will used in fiction. Tudor times saw huge political and religious changes which always add to a good plot. Shardlake is well drawn as a detective He has many frailties yet these vulnerabilities seem to be the features which make him realistic. A web of intrigue is developed as we gradually get to know the people in the monastery. A reader will flip around the various suspects as Shardlake gradually reveals more and more. It took me a while to read this book which is not always a good sign but I think I needed to come to terms with the unusual setting. A few decent reading sessions though and I was hooked, curious about who would be the killer. The novel didn't blow me away but I certainly enjoyed it very much and definitely enough that I will get the next one in the series. Shardlake is fascinating and he is an interseting observer of the changes being imposed by Cromwell. He is a reformer and an enforcer but, as the reader sees inside his head, we have access to his uncertainties. He is an intelligent man and able to question everything around him - even if he often makes the wise decision not to make his concerns known.