Company of Liars

Product Information

My relief lasted until the final page and then BAM, I suddenly knew exactly what those reviewers were talking about. In a book that is set in the medieval times and a book that is quite lengthy in its prose, I felt that there should have been more information or description rather than mere actions. The character of Rodrigo is the character who most suffers from Maitland inserting her thinly veiled views on homosexuality and the Christian Church into the text.

Company of Liars, Used - AbeBooks In the Company of Liars, Used - AbeBooks

The approach feels somewhat gimmicky, but skilled writing and a tricky storyline make it work, even if it is slowgoing. It has an interesting backdrop (in this case, historical: the beginning of the Black Death), and a cast of characters with complex desires and secrets worth protecting. If the original book was published in multiple volumes then this reprint is of only one volume, not the whole set and contains approximately 13 pages. Maitland combines the story-telling traditions of The Canterbury Tales with the supernatural suspense of Kate Mosse's Sepulchre in this atmospheric tale of treachery and magic.And the characters in this book felt just like XXI century people - and probably that's one of the reasons they seemed so likeable: you can identify with them! Camelot grew on me, however; maybe it was his kindness toward strangers, which is the origin of the formation of the eponymous "Company of Liars. There is a reason for the Inquisition to exist after all and Medieval Europe was a period rife with non-conformity and heresies. This novel reached a large number [ weaselwords] of people in Britain due to the first few chapters being given away with The Daily Telegraph as a mini-paperback, in 2008.

Company of Liars by Karen Maitland | Goodreads Company of Liars by Karen Maitland | Goodreads

There’s enough high-level corruption to keep several investigative agencies busy, and some wonderfully mordant scenes of the underbellies of law and government in action. Then I settled on it being an enthralling story of mystery and intrigue inspired by Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' but darker.Company of Liars reads more like a tale of psychological horror (with the odd unexplained, paranormal element) and the setting – time and place – are intrinsic parts of it. It takes a while to get going as the nine come into the story and the initial interactions and suspicions play out.

Company of Liars - Wikiwand

A daring new mystery written in reverse chronology—read the “ending” on page 1 and then go back, day by day, to the shocking beginning! As this print on demand book is reprinted from a very old book, there could be some missing or flawed pages, but we always try to make the book as complete as possible. It's a relatively slow-paced story, I suppose: the actual threat doesn't come into the open until almost the end. The travelers tell tales around the nighttime fire, revealing parts of the past, though not always the truth.Although the conclusion may be unsavory; Maitland’s after word describing the historical merits and liberties of her novel plus a glossary of terms is well-received and notable. The story is peppered with aspects of fairytales, myths and legends, making the travellers' journey chillingly atmospheric. I liked the fact that the characters escaped the the plague but couldn't escape the consequences of their lies.

Company of Liars | David Ellis In the Company of Liars | David Ellis

And circling them all: a group who would prefer to eliminate her quietly and anonymously, but who also are not what they seem. The fear and paranoia brought by the spreading plague as well as certain medieval customs and beliefs compound to form with the particular tale of this particular group of people a gripping story. First things first: Company of Liars has been described as “a dazzling reinterpretation of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales”.They are all hiding from their past, and the lies they tell are to protect themselves from society, the church or the law. The story unpeels like an onion, layer by layer, as it moves backward day by day until it reaches the beginning, which is the end of the book. It was after all a very superstitious era, and Camelot clearly believes many of the folk beliefs and tales. Camelot decides to travel with two musicians, a magician, a painter and his wife, a swan-boy storyteller, and a soothsayer as they travel away from the pestilence a. There are criticisms in other reviews about the range of characters and how well they took each other's secrets: there's little shock and outrage at a character who is gay or characters who commit incest.