Map of the Invisible World in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 15, 2017 Bogdan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: asian-flavor

I feel there is something definitively wrong with this novel, even though I usually like historical novels, and especially the ones set in places and times that are not so common to me. I hope while I write this review to be able to point out what it is.

Regarding the premise I believe this is one of the weak spots of the novel, the plot being quite pointless for the regular reader, thus the message of the book is almost non-existent at this level. Thankfully, the premise is saved by the historic I feel there is something definitively wrong with this novel, even though I usually like historical novels, and especially the ones set in places and times that are not so common to me. I hope while I write this review to be able to point out what it is.

Regarding the premise I believe this is one of the weak spots of the novel, the plot being quite pointless for the regular reader, thus the message of the book is almost non-existent at this level. Thankfully, the premise is saved by the historical background, but this is not enough for a work of fiction. Thus my rating for premise will be 2.

Regarding the form, even though recently there is a trend of sentimental (I could not find a better word) novels. This is part of the same trend along with Khaled Hosseini's novels, Parinoush Saniee or Abraham Verghese. But I simply don't like this style and I prefer a more crisp, concise prose, something where facts are more important than feelings and poetry stays out of prose as much as possible. Thus I will rate it with a 1 for form.

In terms of originality, the story historical background is quite new to me, but the actual story in itself (an orphan searching for his sole parent) is not too new. So I will give it a 4 for the level of originality.

Again the characters are another big issue with this novel. They are simply boring, unlikable, paper puppets that never change during the entire novel. I simply cannot close my eyes to this as this is a great differentiation between good and mediocre novels, so I'll rate it with 1.

Regarding the complexity and difficulty, as with many recent novels, the author tries to make the reading as easy as possible. The contemporary readers have no longer the time and patience of 19th century so this is a good thing. Thus, I will rate it then with a 4 for complexity and difficulty.

In terms of credibility, I checked out on the internet and the historical background is quite accurate. Also the events that influence the story and the characters in it seem to be veridical. Overall not too much to comment on this side, but being a believable story, hardly makes it a good one. So my rating for credibility is 4.

The last criteria is edition. I appreciate the translation and the proof reading that is almost flawless. It is obvious that even this is a paper back edition, the novels from "Raftul Denisei" collection are all well taken care of. I will rate it with a 4.

To summarize, I did not had too many hopes when I started reading this novel so I was not too disappointed. But I did not liked it either. All in all, my final rating for it is 2.86, which I will round it to 3 on Goodreads system.



Criteria - Rating

1. Premise - 2
2. Form - 1
3. Originality - 4
4. Characters - 1
5. Difficulty/Complexity - 4
6. Credibility - 4
7. Edition - 4
Total - 2.86

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