Company of Liars by

20 November 2016


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Part of my -YourShelf- bundle #1

The year is 1348. The Black Plague grips the country. In a world ruled by faith and fear, nine desperate strangers, brought together by chance, attempt to outrun the certain death that is running inexorably toward them.
Each member of this motley company has a story to tell. From Camelot, the relic-seller who will become the group’s leader, to Cygnus, the one-armed storyteller . . . from the strange, silent child called Narigorm to a painter and his pregnant wife, each has a secret. None is what they seem. And one among them conceals the darkest secret of all–propelling these liars to a destiny they never saw coming.

Company of LiarsI’ll admit straight away that the prologue to Company of Liars almost put me off reading the book. I can’t even say what it was I objected to, but there was something about it I didn’t like, but I kept going. And once the story proper took hold I was glad I did.

I really enjoyed the writing, Maitland kept me turning the pages and reading on, even when I should really have clocked back into work. The story itself I”m not 100% sold on, parts of it are excellent. The first two thirds are really good. But it sort of sputters a bit in its finale.

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I’m certainly interested in reading more by Maitland, especially her novel The Owl Killers which I think is about a town of women in medieval England.

And there is plenty to like in this book, the characters are well drawn, the story well told, and for such a big book, over 500 pages, it is an easy read, and a relatively quick one.

So all in all, I’d count that as two successes for the curators at -YourShelf-

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