I quite enjoyed this novel with historical settings in XIIc China. Contrary to other reviewers I found flow of story good and never felt lost. I really enjoyed fist parts of the book, showing main hero struggle against the odds. Antagonist is mostly naive or even ignorant in his dealings with the world but this only adds credibility to the later development of the story. I also find it fitting in the context of the era described.Second part of the book, starting from Part 5, are not so good. Authors focus swap from introducing us to Chinese world to solving a crime. I felt that behaviour of people was too Europeanised here. This is the most reason for 4stars.Despite those shortcoming it is still a good novel to ready especially if you enjoy crime stories. I struggled between giving this 3 or 4 stars. I thought the first 1/3 was rather weak. More of an adventure story of a young man, his exploits, narrowly getting out of trouble at the last moment...that sort of thing. The balance of the book dealt more about Chinese medieval forensic science, based on a real person. The best parts of the book dealt with a seemingly accurate portrayal of how the Chinese were structured (politically and culturally), and how Chinese forensic medicine seemed to move into a more empirical world versus one based on superstition. The few appendixes at the end of the book probably would have been worth reading BEFORE reading the novel since they provide interesting insight into the medieval Chinese world.
What do You think about The Corpse Reader (2011)?
A wonderful combination of mystery, history, and forensic science - loved it!
—Boarding90
Good story line - but a bit winded to get to the heart of the story.
—gio
Me ha encantado. Un libro sobre los comienzos de la criminología.
—mikki2049
