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Loading... A Cruel Fate (Quick Reads 2014) (original 2014; edition 2014)by Lindsey Davis
Work InformationA Cruel Fate by Lindsey Davis (2014)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Set in the English civil war times, this is about the cruelty of the times at the hands of one Oxford Castle Jailer Capitan William Smith, who tortures, beats starves and deprives his captives. Story is told for 2 peoples perspectives, Martin Watts a bookseller and Nat Afton who does anything for an easy life. Both end up being Prisoners of war and suffer horribly at the hands of the Smith. Really well written and engaging from the start. great lunch time read no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Publisher SeriesQuick Reads (2014)
Martin Watts, a bookseller, is captured by Royalists. Jane Afton's brother Nat is taken too. They suffer inhumane treatment as prisoners-of-war. In Oxford Castle jailor William Smith tortures, beats, starves and deprives his helpless victims. Can Jane rescue her sick brother before he dies of neglect? Will Martin dare to escape? Based on real events in the English Civil War, Lindsey Davis retells the grim tale of Captain Smith's abuse of power in Oxford prison - where many died in misery though a lucky few survived. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresNo genres Melvil Decimal System (DDC)428.6Language English Standard English usage (Prescriptive linguistics) Primers (Readers) - English languageRatingAverage:
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I liked the idea of the quickread books; I love books and think that it would be great if more people realized how wonderful they are. I love Lindsey Davis, and figured anything she'd written would be great. I expected a short, well written historical novelette with great characters, humor, and plot twists, and since I could get the ebook for less than a buck and read it immediately, how could I lose?
The best thing I can say about it is that I only wasted 99 cents, and not much time. I was sadly put in mind of proofreading high school fan fiction (with historical rather than pop culture characters). Given that it's Lindsey Davis, I assume the research was good. The events on which it was based were gripping.
However, I cannot imagine something less likely to convince people who don't like reading to read books than attempting this one. The sentences may be short and the words simple, there's even gripping human drama: fighting, torture, escape, love, true history (to paraphrase William Goldman), but somehow it was still boring, more like notes and outline for a story to be written.
Perhaps Davis shouldn't have attempted to "dumb down" her writing? It's not that the potential wasn't there. The book burning, abuse of prisoners by William Smith, Jane trying to rescue her brother Nat, the English Civil War, it all has so much potential. I was excited to get another Davis book, however short, to read while waiting for Deadly Election to come out, but we would do better to go back and reread her other books. ( )