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(More customer reviews)Although I had read partial reviews that were somewhat negative saying this wasn't the next big thing or certainly not "The Da Vinci Code for kids", I have to admit that I expected more.
The story is told in two parts. One is the creation of the spectacular book around which this story revolves, and then the story itself, told in present time at Oxford University.
I had two main problems: I wasn't terribly intrigued by the "spectacular book", and I enjoyed the medieval "back story" more than I did what I believe to have been the main story.
The main character and supporting characters from the 15th century were considerably more tangible than the brother and sister team from present time. Honestly, I didn't care much for either of the latter. The boy, Blake, was too whiny, grumpy and downtrodden to really root for, and his sister was too much of a pain to be likable. Sometimes pain-in-the-rear characters are immensely likable, but I didn't find myself rooting for either.
Also, this was written from a "third person limited" point-of-view. In each part - medieval and present day - there was one main character. In third person limited, the narrator is generally limited to what that one character could theoretically observe. Therefore, I was puzzled as to several usages of British English. To cite one example, when Blake thought of a flashlight, it was always referred to as a torch. In third person limited, it would be referred to as a flashlight - because Blake speaks American English.
Perhaps it was my dull brain, and this is entirely plausible, but I'm not sure that the mystery of the book was entirely resolved. Perhaps it was and I missed it. If so, it's probably because I was a lazy reader at times, frustrated with the material in front of me and looking to push forward and finish the book so I could move on to the next one on my stack.
Somewhere in here was a terrific story dying to be told. But somewhere within Delacorte was an editor not doing a very good of tightening things up.
Honestly, I don't believe the fault lies with the author. Every great writer will admit that they would be lost without their editor. This book was one good editor away from being a terrific read.
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