About this title: The author of "Lords of the Horizons," a history of the Ottoman Empire, makes a welcome shift to fiction with the first book in an impressive new mystery series set in the empire's declining decades.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2007-05-15
ISBN-13:9780312426132ISBN:0312426135
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374178604ISBN:0374178607
Description: Good. 0374178607 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374178604ISBN:0374178607
Description: Good. 0374178607 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374178604ISBN:0374178607
Description: Good. 0374178607 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
"I wanted to like this more than I did. And I have hopes that what I didn't like were due to this being the author's first attempt at a mystery. I liked the character of Yashim and the setting in the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul in 1836. The author, Jason Goodwin, also did what I thought was a good job of building suspense. However, resolution of said suspense was usually less than satisfactory. Either the resolution wasn't very complete or was kept deliberately obscure. I also found the "action" scenes not very active. Goodwin's writing style was pleasant and seemed to be designed to fit the time period of the story in pacing, but it lacked concreteness and bite; creating an aura of mystery through continued vagaries only gets one so far.
I figured out half the mystery, but it took me a while, and the other half I didn't figure out (although I thought I should have when it was revealed) so I must give him points for that. After 30+ years of reading mysteries, I'm not an easy one to fool."
"Surprised this won the Edgar Award. Book was pretty dry and a little disjointed. I suppose that when the hero was in mortal danger, I was supposed to be nervous on his account, but I wasn't. The stakes if the eunuch failed his mission were pretty high--four terrible murders about to be committed, the sultan and his mother would be killed, city in flames, revolution and invasion, no more French novels--but I was blithely unconcerned.
Completely lacking in suspense. Also it was pretty obvious who the thief was and who the ringleader of the Janissaries was as well--since there weren't that many culprits to choose from (i.e., two). So when the end reveal happened, I was like "yes, you should have guessed that 100 pages back Inspector but you had to spend all that valuable time making intricate dinners for yourself." This being said, it was not an altogether bad book and I will most likely read the sequel.
I just hope the sequel doesn't have GIANT paragraphs like this one did. Some seemed to stretch on for a page or more. Another thing that royally bugged me throughout was the author's unnecessary vignettes of the crowd and random passers-by. Just leafing through, found this example: "Alexandra Stanopolis, a Greek girl of marriageable age, had her bottom pinched sixteen times and hoarded the secret to her death in Trabzon, fifty-three years later, when she finally revealed it to her daughter-in-law, who herself died in New York City".
What the hell has this to do with anything? Inserts of the following random noise that are sprinkled throughout the book only detracted from the themes and plot at hand and takes the reader out of the story completely (and made me cranky). Instead of the above, would be nice to have learned about the main character more since the author was very coy about details. Or his two friends--the transvestite and the Polish ambassador. Maybe hoarding interesting backgrounds and giving us slices of extraneous detail, author hoped the many plot holes would be ignored."
"Bagus..tapi entah kenapa pertama2nya agak membosankan tapi selanjutnya jadi semakin nyaman dan mulus dalam membacanya..jadi sebenernya kisah ni seperti cerita detektif..tapi dengan latar belakang Jaman Kesultanan di Negeri Turki..jadi agak2 jadul gitu..hehehe..tapi luamyan seru lah untuk dibaca...
oh iya gw baru tau klo disana ada jabatan Kasim..yah kayak semacam petugas kesultanan gitulah..nah yang paling bikin gw terkejut adalah..untuk menjadi Kasim..lo harus DIKEBIRI..hmm..pucet deh gw..mending jadi rakyat jelata aja dah..."
"This book is set in Istanbul in 1836 and the main character/detective is a eunuch named Yashim. The focus of the book is the difficulty of change, as the Ottoman Empire is losing power and the city is undergoing great changes and modernization. Yashim goes from the Sultan's harem to the back alleys to ferret out the solution to some grisly murders that are taking place in the city. Central to the plot is the newly revitalized Janissary Corps, who once were the Emporer's crack troops, and who have now gone underground. An interesting read, and Yashim is a sympathetic but alienated character."
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