Well, and as Your Humble Blogger mentioned before, the first book in the Fool’s Guild series, Thirteenth Night, has been reprinted by Crum Creek Press (in a handsome paperback). And, as mentioned before, YHB enjoyed the book enough to read another. The second book, then, was available at my local library, and checked out, and read.
Jester Leaps In. See he’s a fool, sometimes called a jester. And, um, there’s a proverb about fools rushing in where angels fear to tread. And Lester Young had a famous song called “Lester Leaps In”. And that all connects to this book because, um, because ... er ... because it’s a lousy title. And while I’m judging this book by its cover, does that cover image not just scream “lousy Cadfael knockoff”? I don’t know if I have even picked this book up before, but it sure seems like the good folk at St. Martin’s press did everything in their power to prevent me from taking it home. Oh, and the back cover has blurbs in dark green on black, in a complicated font, and the first blurb is from the Rev. Moon’s Washington Times, which calls the first book “An interesting idea well developed ...”. “Put me back on the shelf at once!” might have been another good quote.
The book itself was fine. The plot was more interesting and inventive than the first, and the characters newer and more original, but that was because he abandoned the Shakespeare jokes, which I missed. I had actually hoped that the series wouldn’t follow Feste/Theo around, but take a new fool (and a new play) each book, which would allow for fun with the history of the Guild, rather than restricting the series to a few years around 1200. Leaving off the Shakespeare means that this is a lot closer to a standard Medieval Mystery, and although it’s a good one, there’s less to distinguish it from any of the other series. I enjoyed it, zipped through it quickly, and I am planning to read the next one sometime, although I think I’ll enjoy it more if I wait for a couple of months.
chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek,
-Vardibidian.