Tuesday 26 March 2013

Review: SHAKESPEARE'S COUNSELOR

Shakespeare's Counselor by Charlaine Harris
Book 5 of the Lily Bard mysteries
Narrated by Julia Gibson
Genre: murder mystery
Format: paperback & audiobook

About Shakespeare's Counselor:
Welcome back to the sleepy little town of Shakespeare, Arkansas, where secrets come to hide. Lily Bard has joined a group therapy session, determined finally to face her past. It sounds positively enlightening, until the murder of a fellow member sends a warning. But who was the message meant for? Why? And who's next to fall victim to a killer's head games?
Source: Info in the About Shakespeare's Counselor was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32513.Shakespeare_s_Christmas 21/05/2012.

Narrative Evaluation:
This series started off with Lily Bard, our main protagonist, sharp and spot on. For some reason in this book she suddenly gone dimwitted. Everybody else gets it already but her!?! WTF?!! And ironically this is the book in which the story line actually suggests that Lily is suppose to be sharp and spot on! Character development here took a nose dive from quite a high altitude. Good thing Charlaine Harris gave it some sort of parachutting capabilities towards the end, so to speak, and did not end up a splatter on the sidewalk! Still Lily's stupidity is quite annoying. That "parachutting" element is the twist in the plot which slowly unfolded towards the end. I say that this book has the most complex plot thus far in the series.

This seems to be the last book in the series though I am hoping for more. If this is the last and Charlaine Harris is not writing anymore books in this series, then I would say that the Lily Bard saga ended quietly as opposed to a big bang as most serieses would usually craft a series ending. No round up and finale to the over-arc-ing plot of the series. Just dead-ended suddenly.

I think I've been reading/listening to too many Charlaine Harris books. I can now deduce that Ms. Harris is probably very fond of Cracker Barrel. In the Harper Connelly series, Cracker Barrel was Tolliver's favourite. Here, it is Roy's. Cracker Barrel just keeps on cropping up in different serieses in Ms. Harris's work. I wonder if it would show up in Sookie Stackhouse too.... In the end I still enjoyed this book given that Charlaine Harris is a talented and compelling story teller, but at the same time I am now so, so very tired of stupid protagonists, I would rate this book a 3 out of 5.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 2
Story itself = 4
Ending = 4.5
World building = 4
Cover art = 2
Pace (paperback) = (so so, probably 3) (read with audiobook)
Pace (audiobook) = N/A
Narrator = 2.5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 cherries


Thank you to the RCT Library for letting me borrow this book!!

FTC Disclosure:
The audiobook was borrowed from the library. The paperback was purchased with private funds. No money received for this review.

3 comments:

  1. So she is a Cracker Barrel addict ;) Interesting

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  2. Gah! Seems her characters don't work well for you. Bummer. And hope she ends with a better book for you.

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  3. Cracker Barrel? How funny. It is a fabulous place but you're right, it shouldn't be something that keeps popping up.

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