Very well-researched.
A town in the grip of a witch craze, children gone missing or turn up dead, treasure, torture and forbidden love. This is Jakob Kusil's world where he looms over the town like a dark shadow as he plays the role of the hangman. Can Jakob and his trusted friend Simon solve the mystery and discover the perpetrator before all is lost? Okay first off, this book was beautifully written. even though it was written in another language originally it translates very beautifully to English. A lot of times when I read books that were originally written in a different language and then translated to English they come out very choppy. Not so with this book. I found the book astonishingly well-researched for the time period and especially the torture devices mentioned in the book. I also found it surprisingly and delightfully gory which I was not expecting at all. I got the Kindle version of this book and it is the first book that I've ever encountered that has the animation in it. I think that it was a nice touch because it helps you to envision the scenes a little bit better however the animation and illustrations themselves seemed a little juvenile especially for the content of the book. Perhaps if they would have made them more shadowy black and white figures instead of in color cartoonish characters it would have been more flattering to the story. There is a lot going on in this book. The storyline in the beginning is like a murder mystery but it does not read like one. Then towards the end you get to treasure hunting. There is just so much going on in this book and it's hard to keep track. I personally think that it is a good read and it does keep your interest however it also falls flat in places because there is so much going on. It's almost like the author couldn't decide where he wanted to go with the book. Because of these things perhaps the book was a little longer than it should have been. I have one last quirrel with this book and that is the title. Magdalena does not have a big enough part in this book in order to warrant the name of the book itself. I think that she should have gotten a bigger role in the story. this sets the reader up for disappointment because as you are reading you keep waiting and waiting for Magdalena to have a bigger role and unfortunately she never does. Perhaps she does in the series but that still doesn't warrant the first book to brandish her title. All in all it was a very good and enjoyable read. I really did enjoy it. And I would definitely recommend it to those looking for a good historical fiction.
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