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Hello Hive!
Starting on the right foot, Lobook is an episodic initiative that I decided to launch by creating a very simple logo. As usual, and I stress it, it will only deal with my experience, nothing more.
What does it consist of? I'll summarize it like this, with the key steps of the process.
I get a book, usually buying or borrowing it. I read it. I take some illustrative photos to add as attachments. I provide a brief introduction and my personal opinion. In short, basically a blog like many of those that provide reviews. My vision, however, is more focused on providing a general and very concise idea of the book I have read, focusing little or nothing on anticipations of the plot and focusing more on my personal buying and reading experience.
And now let's get started!
This episode takes inspiration from the James Rollins novel with the original title The Judas Strain (2007). The italian translation is Il Marchio di Giuda, curated by Marco Zonetti/Grandi e Associati: it's this the one I read. In the photo below you can see a cover image from which I have removed some parts to try to avoid possible direct advertisements.
Like the previous time, I purchased the book in paperback format, a format that allows access to the book for a sum suitable for almost any budget.
Excluding various discounts applied and instead considering only the official cover price, the price range with which it's possible to find this physical book in Italy varies approximately between € 5,00 and € 18,60. The cheaper editions are the pocket-sized softcover ones, while the hardcover editions raise the price to the maximum I have reported. At the moment, it seems all the formats are anyway in a pocket-size version.
An adventure novel among the classics of James Rollins, which intertwines the history and science of today's world. Adventure and suspense mixed together. The style is good, rich on the action side and less on the mysterious side of the thriller. This time it mixes the vicissitudes of an ancient story dating back to the time of Marco Polo, a lethal virus steeped in mysteries, and an equally obscure statuette.
Overall, I notice the difference between his writing style and other thrillers with similar plots: it is less direct, but perhaps also less effective. Perhaps this is one of the sides that lead me to abandon the logical threads that bind the chapters together. The writing is still good, punctual, and precise.
The plot is discreet, even if I personally found new difficulties in following the common thread in its entirety. Broadly speaking, yes, but I struggle to relate to it. The first few pages captivate me, I think there is just the right amount of mystery and the ingredients for an excellent storyline. Leafing through the pages, however, I find myself leaving out one detail after another, not finding a clear contrast between what is important and what is not. I do not find that classic novel in which the fantasy element enriches the plot with mystery to the end, a method that helps to keep the reader glued. According to a general view that I have after reading the novel, it seems to me that the fantasy element instead goes to lose as we proceed, perhaps too much. But it is a personal experience, I repeat.
Below, you can see the photos with the back of the Italian cover, from which I took the descriptive text you can find in the various online libraries. I add an English translation immediately below: to get it faster, I use an online Optical Character Recognitor (OCR) and an online translator.
"Indian Ocean, 1293. During the return voyage to Venice, Marco Polo sets his fleet on fire, sacrificing six hundred men: what terrible secret does he want to hide forever?
Indian Ocean, today. A devastating epidemic spreads on a remote island: what is the origin of this virus that scientists have never isolated before?
United States. A woman breaks into the home of Grayson Pierce, head of the Sigma division, a covert section of the US Department of Defense. She is a member of a terrorist organization. Before she passes out, she leaves a small stone obelisk in Grayson's hands ..."
Personal Rating
The personal rating system is still in its infancy. Since I rely primarily on my involvement and not on the quality of the texts, this is the fundamental parameter that guides my first vote. The second is a vote - once again personal - which takes into account how I received the quality of the novel. I will call the first vote with the title INVOLVEMENT Vote, the second as GENERAL Vote. The grading scale for both will be a number between 1 (worst rating) and 5 (best rating), represented as stars (1 to 5).
To Il Marchio di Giuda, I give 4 stars to the General Vote and 3 stars for the Involvement Vote.
If this article has intrigued you, you can find info by online searching for news of the author, or contacting retailers in the sector. I greet you, and I hope I have left a useful opinion. I will periodically publish other articles of this kind. If you are interested in discovering new books - mainly novels - on the market, you can continue to follow me on the #lobook tag. CLICK HERE if you want to access the collection of posts I publish on this tag. For the moment the number of published posts is very small, but I hope to expand the index over time.