Customer Reviews

The Raven King: Matthias Corvinus and the Fate of His Lost Library

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I had never heard about King Matthias Corvinus, nor of his valuable Hungarian library of rare manuscripts, so I was eager to read this. However, I found it often became boring and much too repetitive. There are too many detours as we get the mini-biographies of just about every tangential person possible. Once we get to the eyewitness descriptions of what people actually saw when they entered the vandalized rooms, it becomes interesting. But I often grew tired of the long lists of Latin titles and the gossipy political intrigues of people arranging marriages and lining up heirs for thrones. I would rather have read this as a short magazine article, not as a full-length book.

There is a generous section of black-and-white pictures, but with all of the description of how beautiful these colorful manuscripts are, I would have preferred to see them in color.

I enjoyed this book by the well-informed Marcus Tanner. It will be of interest to those seeking information on the history of Hungary and surrounding lands as they emerged from medieval times; the Ottoman Empire's clash with Europe; King Corvinus; and, most of all, the formation and eventual dispersal of one of the world's great libraries.

Last spring I visited Vienna and happened to stay at the "Corvinus Hotel Pension." I now know who Corvinus was and how this Hungarian king came to be tied to Vienna, so many centuries ago.

Untidily written and edited; no attention to diacritical marks / spelling in Hungarian- / German-language words and citations (suggesting a slapdash approach), and imprecise garrulity that is content to describe Matthias Corvinus as an "alpha-male". Not a book to keep.

I did enjoy this book, but I would have liked MORE of a timeline for Mathias. The Hungarian King had a most interesting life. There were many things that I learned and very much enjoyed and wanted to know more. It is a sad thing that many books do get destroyed over the years, as Mathias' did. These books are our legacy. Our History is so very important. Good Reading. I recommend it.

THE BOOK WAS NOT WHAT I EXPECTED. WHEREAS I DO USUALLY LIKE SCHOLARLY BIOGRAPHIES, I FOUND THIS ONE TO BE OVERLY SCHOLARLY AND NOT AT ALL ENTERTAINING. I HAVE RETURNED THE BOOK FOR A REFUND.