Customer Reviews

The Aristotle Quest: Black Market Truth

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I absolutely loved this book! Once I started reading it, I could not put it down! I thought I might be a bit overwhelmed due to the philosophy involved but that was absolutely not the case and I found myself looking forward to the sections that explained Aristotle's "lost diaglogues". This book is a must read for anyone who loves a good story full of intrigue and suspense.

Kaye has written a fun, thought-provoking novel. The lost dialogues of Aristotle are one of the greatest scholarly mysteries of all time, and BLACK MARKET TRUTH delivers a highly entertaining rationale for their disappearance. It's a real page-turner. I'm usually a pretty slow reader, but I whipped through in no time. Now I have to wait a year for the sequel.

In the Kindle edition, the size of the font changes oddly and there are missing or extra characters occasionally. Very annoying to read, unlike anything else I have seen on the Kindle.

This book was outstanding, with a compelling and intelligent plot. I could not put it down, beginning on a Friday and finishing by Sunday. It was that good! Through created "lost dialogues", Kaye brings Aristotle to life and lets the reader into the philosophical world (in a user-friendly way). Tying together current events and historical events in a believable and intriguing storyline, this book is both fun and academic at the same time--I highly recommend it!

I bought this book for my husband as a holiday gift based on reviews I'd read. After reading the book, I'm sorry to say I found the book poorly written and not particularly compelling. ** SPOILER ALERT ** Especially annoying is the way the author has imagined and described moments in Aristotle's life, and then presents these biographical imaginings as dreams reported by the main character of the book. Having the main character "dreaming" about Aristotle in this way comes off as a silly device.

I just had to comment on this book which sounded so interesting but has turned out to be utterly disappointing. The author, Sharon Kaye, employs some of the worst writing style I have encountered in a long while. For one, she uses the main character, Dana's 'dreams' as a means to include historical story-line about Aristotle's life. This is highly unbelievable and a rather poorly thought out plot device. I also have reservations right from the start about Dana - who - rather than being the heroine, comes across as a tarnished character whose motives and musings are highly questionable. And, speaking of musings; the author chooses a rather annoying writing style in her usage of italicized print to denote 'Dana's thoughts on various issues. I have not seen this method employed before in the many books I have read and it really is irritating to say the least. The book is just poorly written. There are endless 'odd scenarios'..... one in particular had me incensed....the character, Dana, (thinking in italics) about the Italian detective Conti who she meets for the second time, in her office,
"You don't really have time to pack anything when you're tailing a killer, do you?

Then the story goes on to say, "Nevertheless he looked as fresh as could be. Europeans were used to being less hygienic than Americans." (this one blatant sentence is written as if fact - it implies that (all )Europeans are less hygienic than (all) Americans...how absolutely ridiculous - fiction or not! Then again in italics (character thinking again)

"I wonder just exactly what you might smell like if I got close enough..."

How pertinent is this to the storyline I ask? This is absolutely bizarre and pathetic writing to say the very least. I cannot believe this book actually has some good reviews; and not to be too harsh, but the good reviews can only be coming from those who are easily satisfied and/or have little appreciation for the very basic of literary skills - none of which are employed by this author. I can go no further in reading this book.... the author had better stick to being a historian and forget writing fiction all together - it's just plain awful!

It should have never made it to market and that's the absolute 'truth'.