Rot ist mein Name

This book is a murder mystery with a side of romance. What was most interesting to me about this book was the way art was created in 16th century Istanbul. Apparently they drew the same pictures over and over, in exactly the same way; to deviate or experiment was dangerous and potentially blasphemy. The structure of the book made it difficult to follow the thread of the story, although this definitely kept me guessing to the end of the story.

Well, I am fence sitting on this one. The overwhelmingly positive reviews from fellow readers make me the outlier on this.

For me I found it a complex and demanding read, yet it was also repetitive and at times numbing in its detail (something I normally find appealing!). While all aspects of the multi-layered story appealed to me, the detail of the miniatures somehow overtook the miniatures as a whole, and I wasn't able to take as much from them as I had hoped.

Without a couple of days off work with a cold, I would probably have laboured harder on this book at its 670 pages of dense text - a larger investment than I am often prepared to make with so many other books awaiting my attention, but it did feel overlong and in my view could have be through a harder edit to reduce page count without affecting the story.

However, I thought it wrapped up much quicker than was necessary (no spoilers so I won't develop that theme much more) with the conclusion to the story of Master Osman and the Sultan's enquiry into the murder left unresolved other than a brief mention.

I am usually a fan of stories with in stories, but I found most of these a distraction - although I realise the reason for having them in the narrative - the formulaic three fables thing seemed to add to the tedium for me as I read.

So, as you can tell, I didn't love this novel. I do think it was masterfully crafted with the continually changing perspective, and aspects were excellent, but for me overlong and drawn out.

On this basis a solid 3 stars.