The Beggar King: A Hangman’s Daughter Tale by Oliver Potzsch

It’s depressing to me that it is February 1st, and all I’ve read this year is a Young Adult fantasy by Terry Pratchett and… this.

The author lives in Munich, and comes from a line of executioners, so obviously he’s done some family research to come up with this tale.

Let’s be clear: I’ve never written a book. I don’t know that I could write a book of any worth.

But I would not have been happy with this book had I written it.

I guess there’s a lot of historical research of the time period, and I’m sure it’s accurate. The novel was originally translated in German, so perhaps it just didn’t translate very well.

But I was annoyed with the bizarre reactions of the characters. The heroine and her beau were always getting in fights at these really critical times. I mean, they are in real, physical danger, surrounded by enemies, and one of them stomps off in a huff. Repeatedly. They are under suspicion by the entire town for arson, and the heroine is not bothered by the fact that her boyfriend has wandered out of the inn unannounced and not returned, so she goes off to a fancy dress ball.

Other than that, not a very interesting story, dull characters, little humor.

I only read it because it was available through Amazon’s lending library. I need to be more particular.