Customer Reviews

The Music of the Spheres

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is definitely the best historical murder mystery novel that I've read so far this year. The plot is an intriguing and fascinating one, and Elizabeth Redfern's prose style is crisp and colourful -- her descriptions of England in the late 18th century is so gothically atmospheric! Carefully plotted and tightly paced, I found myself simply unable to put this book down until I reached the conclusion of this spellbinding novel.

The events of this mystery take place during the summer months of 1795. The French Republican army is making mincemeat of the European forces that have gone up against it so far (England included), and espionage seems to be the game of the day. Indeed, the consensus at the Home Office is that England must be overrun with French spies right now as the French army seems to be incredibly well informed as to English troop dispositions. The natural suspects are of course the emigres that fled from France in order to avoid the bloody retribution of the Revolution, and it is the job of Jonathan Absey to track down such spies. However Jonathan has another obsession of his own that keeps him up at night and that is affecting his work: three years ago, Jonathan's runaway daughter was found strangled to death, and Jonathan has never given up hope of hunting down her murderer and making him pay. One night, after having spent a few fruitless hours keeping an eye on a group of emigres at a tavern, Jonathan learns that another young redheaded woman has been strangled in a manner similar to that of his daughter's. Further investigation unearths the fact that there have been several other such murders -- all young women, all redheaded, and all killed in exactly the same way. Surely this is the work of his daughter's murderer?

Jonathan's investigations lead him to the fascinating and mysterious de Montpellier siblings, Auguste and Guy; and to an astrological club, the Company of Titius. Here, however Jonathan meets with a dead end -- how to approach the de Montpelliers without raising suspicions? And then he remembers his estranged elder brother, Alexander, who like de Montpelliers, is also an amateur astronomer. Jonathan forces Alexander to make contact with the de Montpelliers and to spy on them for him. In the meantime, Jonathan tries to discover more about the de Montpelliers and their strange household, but someone in the Home Office seems to be protecting them, and Jonathan finds himself being increasingly sidelined to lesser duties. His only hope of discovering if the de Montpelliers are involved in the murders lies with Alexander. But can Jonathan trust his estranged brother?

'"The Music of the Spheres" is an enthralling and exciting read from beginning to end. Elizabeth Redfern has done a magnificent job of bringing the politics of the late 18th century England, with all it's intrigue (both political and diplomatic), to life. The novel was spun out precisely and evenly, with no extraneous bits that could have bogged down things terribly. It's true that this novel is not brimming over with optimism (esp the ending), but this, only adds, in my opinion, to the impact that the book imparts.

This is a very intricate and classy mystery novel that will keep you breathlessly guessing up to the very end; and is also a wonderful study on the nature of obsession and the effects it has on one's life and all those around-- such as Jonathan's obsessive need to find his daughter's killer, and Guy de Montpellier's obsessive need to discover his 'hidden' planet. Make no bones about it, this is an outstanding mystery novel; and is more than worthy of a five star rating.

It always worries me when a novel like "Music of the Spheres" is compared to mysteries by Caleb Carr or Iain Pears when a historical setting is about the only thing they have in common. More accessible than Pears' massive "Instance of the Fingerpost" and with more attention to historical accuracy than found in Caleb Carr, most of Elizabeth Redfern's new novel is unusual and appealing.

London in 1795 is the setting. Redheaded prostitutes are being murdered, and because his daughter was the first victim Jonathan Absey of the Foreign Office is after the killer. This is not what he's meant to be doing in his job, but he sees the chance to redeem himself when he suspects that the killer has ties to a French spy ring. Absey cannot infiltrate the world of French refugees but his homosexual brother Alexander can, and Alexander owes Jonathan a very big favor. Soon shy Alexander, a musician and amateur astronomer, enters a strange universe where he joins in the search for a mysterious star, where for the first time in his life he is respected and liked.

There are lots of elements tossed together in this novel--probably a few too many. Astronomy, spying, murder, the French Revolution, the Age of Enlightenment, deeply flawed characters, and raw and stinky London all stream together in "Music of the Spheres." Redfern manipulates all these strings pretty neatly until the end. There she abandons the careful balance between the various plot elements and goes for an absurd slam-bang, over-the-top resolution quite out of keeping with the rest of the novel. Too bad. Up until that time, this had been a much better book.

Wonderful details do not make a great work of art.

For the first time I can remember in years of reading, a novel writer including details about the stars and planets has gotten the astronomy right! (Although no planet I've ever heard of travels in a 'parabola,' but that's just using the wrong word, not getting basic facts wrong.) The costumes and social conditions seem pretty authentic, too, and anyone who has ever read Dickens or Paliser knows that poverty has exactly the effects this author describes.

As to the mystery aspect of the story, the cipher is both complex and intriguing, and even possible to solve without the author's intervention. In that way, and ONLY in that way, the story is a bit reminiscent of The Name of the Rose.

And, yes, the decadence is a bit similar to that in The Alienist. But there all comparisons end.

Carr and Eco give us characters we can care about, tension to keep us riveted, and mysteries that tax our brains. As another reviewer of this book has said, anyone who has ever read a mystery story will know who the killer in this one is before finishing the first chapter. So it's hardly a whodunit.

What does that leave? Well, it leaves an intriguing cipher to solve, some historical details I'd otherwise never have found out about, some memorable scenic moments, a bit of tension here and there, and a couple of characters who I will never forget, and not for good reasons either! And it leaves some really detailed (and boring) astronomical lore. But that's IT!!! I almost quit reading half way through, but stuck it out to the extremely bitter end just because I wanted to make sure the villain was who I knew it was. (It was.)

There's only one character anyone could possibly ever care about, and she disappears from the plot well before the end!

The language is beautiful, the descriptions are breathtaking, the details are wonderful.

Seldom has anyone written so well about something that matters so little.

Music of the Spheres is billed as cross between a psychological thriller and a gory murder mystery set in 18th century England: think the Alienist (right down to the blatantly similar cover) meets Jack the Ripper. The problem is Redfern is so well-researched she feels the need to throw every single bit of it into the mix, bogging down the story with unnecessary accompaniment when it could have stood very well on its own.

The astronomy angle is an interesting one and, having suffered through a class on it this year it's nice to be able to utilize what little I remember; it makes for an original twist in what could have been an average 'spot the homicidal maniac' story. On the flipside the spy subplot quickly becomes tedious, even devoting several pages to a firefight in France featuring characters we've never seen before or will again, and I found myself anxiously skimming because I was lingering in suspense about the murders.

Characters are nicely rendered in varying shades of gray, which might not sit well with those who like their heroes whitewashed and their villains detestable but makes much more sense in the world they're inhabiting. Nobody here is without a whiff of scandal or an unpleasant habit which leaves them all vulnerable to manipulation that heightens the tension considerably. Absey's obsession with a prostitute who resembles his dead daughter makes him seem tormented but the fact that he neglects his wife and son and then has sex with the girl hits several sour notes. I can't think of many people who will root for a man after implications that he harbors lusts for a daughter who runs off to become a streetwalker; in an age where many molested girls regularly wind up strippers and porn stars those scenes left me feeling uneasy.

The finale is what utterly ruins all of the author's painstaking setup. Culminating in a dark crescendo (I'm sorry! I'll stop) of blood, death, and wholesale cast slaughter you're left feeling more shell-shocked than satisfied. Judging by what is revealed it was less than likely that any of the guilty parties would be brought to justice but killing off just about everyone in the novel doesn't make me any happier. I could live with people not being sent to jail but here they are punished to the extreme, even the somewhat innocent ones. It tries to leave you with the tiniest speck of hope on the last page but by then you'll be too numb to care.

Over a lifetime, I've cultivated an interest in late 18th Century Europe, especially the French Revolution and it's aftermath. I've watched BBC productions on the topic (fiction and nonfiction), read real history books, read historical fiction, traveled to numerous places where hair-raising events took place, taken college courses, and in 1989 on the 100th anniversary I took a week of annual leave to attend a conference on the French Revolution at Georgetown University.

I thought this book would fall into the historical fiction category I appreciate--heavily laced with real facts and enlivened with dialogue that might have taken place if someone had been there to record it. To some extent the book fulfilled my expectations, and I must admit I read it in several successive sittings as it contains many interesting passages.

I appreciated Redfern's "inside" coverage of the events surrounding the failed attempt by the Chevalier de Tinteniac (a French Royalist) who attempted to win back his country via a British-backed invasion of Brittany; 2)I also enjoyed her coverage of the exciting world of astronomers in the late 1700s who still believed Titius mathematical theory concerning the placement of the planets in our solar system was correct.

However, I did not enjoy Redfern's "murder mystery" which she apparently tacked onto an interesing tale already bursting at the seams. The book is simply too busy. There are too many characters, too many subplots, too many acts of treachery, too many corrupt individuals, and too many murders. As I read, I felt as if I was watching a speeded up film.

In spite of the overload of detail, or maybe because of it, before the middle of the book I identified the killer, the mystery woman, and the traitor in the British Home Office. So, I am not sure there was a mystery after all. However, with so many corpses strewn about one must wonder.

So many of the characters proved to be untrustworthy and downright corrupt that I felt very depressed by the end. If you are looking for something to improve your outlook on life or raise your spirits in these sad times--don't read THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

Charles Palliser is one of the great writers practicing his art today. When I read his endorsement of this new author, I didn't feel he was likely to mislead, for his is not a name that I see endorsing every other book I pick up. His endorsement of Elizabeth Redfern's, "The Music Of The Spheres", and his explanation of why it fascinated him, all are spot on accurate.

Mr. Palliser writes very complex novels set centuries ago, so when he feels this author's work is complex, and evocative of time periods that are centuries passed, it is high praise indeed. Late 18th Century London at war is the setting for this debut novel. England and France are once again at each other's throats, and London is not just a haven for French refugees, but for France, her spies, her duplicitous ex-patriots, scientists, and men and women of evil.

The spheres and their movement are the planets both known, and those that are sought by a variety of characters. Some search for fame, others search to bring closure to madness. The music of the spheres is the beauty they contain as much of nature does. Planets have a purpose, they are predictable, and they are not so much reduced to the beauty of the equations that prove their behavior, as they elevate the art of mathematics.

People can also be depended upon to be reliable especially when driven by a dark obsession, when others, for gain or for sport, manipulate them. The dark side here is that women with hair that is red have become the target of a killer. A murderer who kills consistently, methodically, and has who shadows another who precedes him, and who he cares for in his own demented way.

The author adds a detective who not only has suffered the loss of a daughter; those who seek not only to discredit him, but also protect those that may have cost him his only child constantly hamper him. Even a stargazing family member wavers between his loyalties, who are his real masters, where do his loyalties lie?

Place all of this and so much more in a beautifully rendered London when she is not at her best, when she is dark and duplicitous, and you are placed in a powerful setting of gloom and treachery in the streets, and in the hearts of those who move upon them. Explanations can turn on what appears to be chance, a comment made in passing, or the contents of a man's purse.

Ms. Redfern has written a tremendous debut, a book I recommend without condition, and an author who I hope is producing many works to follow.

Remembered for his readings of numerous audio books, including the Dune books and Morgan's Run, talented stage and screen actor Tim Curry seems to be ubiquitous as he makes simultaneous appearances in various venues. His energy level appears to be as high as is his unique ability to give voice to the sinister and enhance suspense.

Such is the case in his rendering of Elizabeth Redfern's enthralling and atmospheric debut novel which takes place in 1795 London. There's espionage and evil walking the shadowy streets of that city as England is at war with France. Jonathan Absey of the Home Office is charged with tracking down spies. He attempts to soldier on but he is also consumed by the still unsolved murder of his 15-year-old daughter. There have been a number of killings - all young red haired ladies of the night.

As Absey seeks a murderer he comes upon a strange band of astronomers, the Company of Titius. This group is looking for a star. Is their search intertwined with Absey's investigation?

Elizabeth Redfern shows great promise as a writer, smoothly blending history and a breakneck thriller plot. Tim Curry excels in his reading.

Hey, we've got music, we've got stars, we've got intrigue, we've got murder - this should have been right up my alley. But despite the elegant prose, I had a very hard time getting into this one. It's always a bad sign for me if I have no qualms about putting a book down in the middle of a chapter if, say, the phone rings, or I get hungry; when after two days I hadn't hit yet hit page 100 I knew there were some problems. With that having been said, it does pick up somewhat once it gets rolling, though the characters as a whole are flawed to such a degree that it's hard to like any of them, save perhaps the two boys (Thomas, Absey's mentally retarded son, and Daniel, Alexander's - um - servant, let's say).

There are just too many focal points - Absey's hunt for the killer (um, DUH, by the way...); the astronomers' hunt for "Selene" (which doesn't really even work as regards tension, since present-day readers are well aware of the asteroid belt out there), the hunt for the traitors, on a scale both large and small; in fact, this might have worked better as a trilogy, taking one at a time. And the ending is positively Shakespearean - Hamlet-style, with corpses strewn everywhere. Perhaps even the author got sick of most of her characters and just killed them off in disgust.

It does have its redeeming qualities - though one may not like the characters, they are, as a rule, well-drawn, and the writing style is well-suited to the period it's portraying. The quotes at the heads of each chapter are interesting and taken from many highly-varied sources as well. Yesterday I saw this book on the "beach reads" table at the local megabookstore - no, bad idea there, it's way too intellectual for that - but for quiet evenings at home, it's not bad. Perhaps it might be better to wait till winter and read it curled up in front of the fireplace, with a CD of Corelli or Rameau as backdrop (both composers are mentioned). I think I'll try that for my next go-round with this one, see if I like it any better.

I don't like fiction. I don't like mysteries. But I do like history and astronomy, so when I saw the book I figured, Why not? I started reading and was hooked. The story got progressively more exciting, building toward a climax...that sucked!! The ending was heartbreaking, which after the depressing-ness of the rest of the novel practically killed me. But I could have lived with that except that the whole last scene was so hackneyed, poorly conveyed, and out of keeping with the rest of the book.

Some of the things I liked were that none of the characters was perfect, i.e., things were not black and white but with a lot of shades of gray. Also, the chapters are short, which is nice because you can grab a portion of the story and not have to remember later what was going on. And I liked the sex scenes--they may not have furthered the plot, but sometimes you need a little breather and what better way?

But I can't give it four or five stars because the ending was just too apocalyptic and contrived. What I would like to see is a sequel in which at least *somebody* ends up happy.

If you're looking for an atmospheric. well plotted book set in 1795 London during the heat of French Revolution intrigue , this is for you. Throw in some serial murders, and state of the art astronomy (for 1795). Terrific plotting and descriptions keep this book a real page turner thruout. Would make a great movie too! Nominal criticisms are too many unnecessary sex scenes, and an ending which is good but could be tightened up by a good editor. even so, a whale of a good first historical novel!