It takes a while to get going as the nine come into the story and the initial interactions and suspicions play out. If there is one thing I didn’t like about the book, it was the concept of someone “whipping up a mist”. It felt a bit corny but thankfully in one section of the book. However, this is overshadowed by a story that is atmospheric, complex, and beautifully written. Simply brilliant. On her trail–or perhaps not, but on someone’s trail–is FBI agent Jane McCoy, a cunning woman who, as is the way with everyone in the novel, plays everything close to the vest.

COMPANY OF LIARS by Karen Maitland ★★★★ | Kara.Reviews COMPANY OF LIARS by Karen Maitland ★★★★ | Kara.Reviews

Ellis keeps us in suspense and curious about Pagone, mostly by having us see her involvement in plots and crimes through the eyes of determined FBI agent Jane McCoy. There’s also enough high-level corruption to keep a roomful of paranoid investigators busy. They were just the ordinary sounds of of people beginning their day, silly raucous, discordant, but they were the most beautiful sounds on earth, the sounds of living people.”

So I have no idea what people in Middle ages were like. Sure, they weren't completely alien to us. But there must have been some profound differences in the worldview, right? I would end by saying that this book had a lot going for it but it was not followed upon. Most of the twists were something that I had already figured out, so it held no mystery for me. Neither was the writing so great that I could write reams on it. All in all, a disappointment for me. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone but if you feel like taking a dip into these waters, please do so. Who knows, you might end up liking it, as tastes always differ. Although minor, there are some errors with the text such as a character leaving the scene and then is said to have spoken but it was clearly meant to be another character. I am not sure if that made sense, but the point is that there are some errors which the editor appears to have missed. For example, Narigorm read Runes (which, as far as I know, is a Germanic thing?) but worships an Irish Goddess through them – I am not sure how the two work together? Similarly, some of the character’s world views seemed far too modern? Camelot’s easy acceptance of homosexuality (which ok, is awesome and cool), incest (which is not so awesome) not to mention a certain abjuration of religious beliefs felt too out of place?

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

Una Inglaterra arrasada por la peste. Unos variopintos personajes que se unen, más por necesidad que por ganas, en un recorrido hacia el norte donde puedan dejar atrás la epidemia. Estos personajes, y el recorrido que realizan, son lo mejor de esta atractiva novela de Karen Maitland, que, aunque publicada en 2008, no hubiese conocido de no ser por alguna reseña en este medio. This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. You cruel woman Maria!! This is one of my all time favorite stories and I wouldn't change a thing! I loved the sense of inevitability One of Maitland's jobs took her to Nigeria for eighteen months where she lived in a rural village, without running water, electricity or sanitation. She was in Nigeria when the civil war broke out.I wasn’t aware of the Canterbury Tales marketing comparison when I read this one, but yeah that would be pretty wrong. It’s not a re-interpretation as far as I can see (and I’ve read the tales, dull, dull, dull as I found them – it was for uni) but a sort tenuously of related story (it’s about a group of people travelling and about pilgrimage sort of I suppose). Superstitions of the era influence the journey. They believe in witches and the supernatural. They think a wolf or werewolf is following them. Dramatic tension is maintained by wondering what evils will befall the group. The narrative is driven by the sequential uncovering of secrets. The tone is eerie. The reader will feel a sense of foreboding. We know something bad is going to happen and are waiting for the axe to fall. You’ve heard tales of beauty and the beast. How a fair maid falls in love with a monster and sees the beauty of his soul beneath the hideous visage. But you’ve never heard the tale of the handsome man falling for the monstrous woman and finding joy in her love, because it doesn’t happen, not even in a story-teller’s tale. Men say many things under the cover of darkness which, come the cold light of dawn, they bitterly regret revealing, and Zophiel was no exception. He was clearly furious that he'd been forced to confide in us the night before. And as usual with men like Zophiel, they don't blame themselves, but blame those who witness their moment of weakness. He was not going to forgive any of us for having seen his wretched state the night before and it was evident he had no intention of giving way to his fear again. But then, it is always easy to dismiss the terrors of the night when it is day, not so easy when darkness falls.” It is I suppose comforting for some to believe that the social issues of today’s Britain are perennial, that there is a national character, perhaps, which continuously muddles through the same problems over and over. This is one explanation for Karen Maitland’s imagined world of England in the Middle Ages. The way she portrays the state of the nation - from immigration to the condition of the roads; from sexual harassment to fake news - suggests that the problems we have to deal with have a constancy that define the country.