Tom
The Emperor's Coloured Coat
Liked a lot, but not quite loved. I subscribe to the idea “there is no art without constraint” and feel it was an issue here compared to the first book. This was still a wonderful look at history with a ton of laughs and wonderful lines with real insight into the human condition but, where the first book was constrained inside of a submarine, letting Otto roam freely across half the globe made it into a series of unconnected, wacky adventures. The framing device of him telling the stories as an old man was good in the first book, but felt tacked-on at the front of this one and would confuse a new reader. Doubly so given there’s no bookend at, well, the end of the book.
Liked a lot, but not quite loved. I subscribe to the idea “there is no art without constraint” and feel it was an issue here compared to the first book. This was still a wonderful look at history with a ton of laughs and wonderful lines with real insight into the human condition but, where the first book was constrained inside of a submarine, letting Otto roam freely across half the globe made it into a series of unconnected, wacky adventures. The framing device of him telling the stories as an old man was good in the first book, but felt tacked-on at the front of this one and would confuse a new reader. Doubly so given there’s no bookend at, well, the end of the book.