Freedom and Necessity

Mass Market Paperback, 608 pages

English language

Published Dec. 15, 1997 by Tor Fantasy.

ISBN:
978-0-8125-6261-3
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OCLC Number:
38114043

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4 stars (7 reviews)

2 editions

Review of 'Freedom and Necessity' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Je n'ai lu qu'une petite moitié de ce roman épistolaire se déroulant au milieu du XIXe siècle, mais je pense en avoir lu assez pour me faire un avis : c'est un récit bien écrit mais qui à mes yeux manque d'une certaine énergie pour me faire vibrer. Il y a sans doute du potentiel, mais les personnages m'ont plutôt laissé indifférent, au point de ne pas m'intéresser plus que cela à leur sort. Pourtant, je ne peux pas dire que c'est un mauvais roman, je pense juste qu'il n'est pas fait pour moi, ou en tout cas que ce n'était pas le bon moment pour moi de le lire.

Review of 'Freedom and Necessity' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I loved this book! It's written entirely in the form of an epistolary novel, set in 1849. Letters, some journal entries, and the occasional snippet of newspaper story. It started out a bit slow (to me, at least), but by page 55 or so, I was riveted. Like a good mystery novel, there's a puzzle, and you're piecing it together from the observations in everyone's letters to each other—but each of them, at least some of the time, is obfuscating to protect each other from danger or unpleasant truths. How I love an unreliable narrator! I couldn't put it down. I suspect that people who like Patrick O'Brian's series would like this, too.

There's a very tiny echo of P.G. Wodehouse in the references to a Battalion of Aunts. There's a sense of a more modern Three Musketeers in swirling coats with pockets deep enough for pistols and references to …

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Subjects

  • Fantasy - Historical
  • Fiction / Fantasy / General
  • Fantasy fiction
  • Fiction - Fantasy
  • Fantasy