The Star in the Forest: A Mystery of the Dark Ages

by Martha Bennett Stiles

Near the end of the sixth century, the daughter of a Gallic lord witnesses what she believes to be the murder of her brother and the beginning of a plot to usurp her father's title.

206 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Teri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the Dark Ages and I love mysteries, so when I saw this book, I thought it would be a great read. Unfortunately, the writing was so choppy and the characters so flat that I never did settle into the story.

The book wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. I gave it two stars because the history in the book was interesting, even if the characters were not.

I don't know if I'll read more books by Martha Bennett Stiles.

[Dorothy Frye · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not impressed. Was this a romance? The couple barley saw one another throughout the entire story, but spent many very boring pages thinking about each other. Was it a mystery? Both the reader and the main character know who is guilty for nearly the entire book. Is it a 6th century history book? Then why do the characters think and say things people in that period almost certainly didn't (because we can't know what people in the past thought unless they wrote it down, I know, but this doesn't even feel like a good guess). It was interesting enough that I read to the end, but at no point did I actually like reading it. Trigger warning: there was far more rape in the 206 pages of this book then I thought 206 pages could support. Like, a lot.