Jacquie South's Reviews > Dublin

This was nowhere near as good as Sarum or London, though it was still enjoyable and educational. While Sarum and London really described history so vividly through the stories of the characters, this book relied a lot more on pages and pages of pure historical description and facts, which definately got tedious at times. What was so wonderful about Sarum and London was the way he made history come to life through his characters, the way their fortunes rose and fell through the ages, and the way he brought strands of their lives together beautifully. This book really lacked this detail and vitality, although the last quarter (and maybe the first part) was more character driven and therefore (for me anyway) a lot more interesting to read than the middle section which really got bogged down in history to the detriment of charcter, story and atmosphere. I'll still be reading the follow up book though ...once you know these characters you want to keep on finding out more of their lives and the lives of their families through time.