The Dark Monk: A Hangman's Daughter Tale 

So we all know I am a bit of a book junkie.  I devour nearly anything in print.  However, after looking at some of my reviews (here and elsewhere) I have realized that I tend to judge each book on its own merits, which leads to some rather biased reviews.  In order to rectify this, I have decided to judge each book on several criteria which, hopefully, will allow me to be more objective.  My new reviews will contain those things we are taught in elementary creative writing to look for: Plot, setting, conflict, characterization, point of view, and show and tell.  If you are unfamiliar with these concepts, trust me, they will be made clear by the reviews.

Before I begin to tell you about The Dark Monk, I must impress upon you the need to read The Hangman's Daughter first.  I am not normally someone who tells others that they need to begin a series in the beginning (especially since I frequently do not), but in this instance, I strongly encourage starting at the beginning to gain a much better feel for the characters, time, and setting.  As with most historical fiction, the place and time is so vital to the story that the background provided in The Hangman's Daughter is almost necessary.

The plot of The Dark Monk is one that flows very fluidly.  When one considers the time, place, and characters the plot is entirely plausible and almost seems to fit.  A group of undesirable citizens along with the sister of a murdered priest are the ones who must discover who the culprit was.  However, finding a murderer is never as simple as it would sound, and discovering the reasons for a murder is even more difficult.  However, Potzsch manages to make this story so much more than just a whodoneit novel.

The setting of The Dark Monk is amazing.  Of course, we will expand setting to include time in this instance as well.  The novel takes place in a town in Bavaria called Schongau in the 1660s.  Now, this is not my particular area of history, much too late and in a different part of the world than what I am familiar with.  However, the descriptions of this novel force two separate reactions within me; first, it makes me want to hop a plane and go for a visit.  Second, it makes me feel as if I have already been there.

The conflict within this story is very well done.  There is physical conflict, personal conflict, and conflict between characters.  This conflict is not so overdone that it seems unlikely, but it is there in amounts that would be expected within the parameters of the setting.

The characterization is very well done.  The characters are so real.  Each has their own positives and negatives, virtues and vices that are shown.  There is nothing I hate more than a hero without a weakness, and all of the characters in this novel have enough weakness to be realistic.

The point-of-view is tricky in this story.  The novel does jump between main characters, however it is not done in such a way as to be distracting.  The only point of view problems I had within this book were that there seemed to be a few flashback sequences that don't add much to the story (in terms of characterization or conflict explanation).  These I could do without, however, they were rare enough that they did not cause any problems.

The show-and-tell within this story is amazingly done.  There is enough description within the story that you know how everything looks and feels.  However, there's not so detailed of descriptions that the reader will grow bored.  There is a nice balance here, which is something I was very fond of.

One other thing which must be discussed when dealing with this book series is that it is translated from the original language.  As many would agree, books can either be very well translated or very poorly translated.  This series seems to have a wonderful translator.  Rarely have I seen so many modern translations which don't contain the random "let's add something for the English-speaking reader to make them feel at home in the story".  I suppose translating within a historical fiction setting would make it easier to relate to an audience without having to pander to them.  But, honestly, this translation is spot-on.

All things considered, I would give this book 4.5 stars out of 5.  It is a wonderful read that will captivate the reader and keep them interested until the end.  There are enough plot twists to ensure that you will read from digital cover to digital cover.  The fact that the author has written historical fiction based on real people in his family is daring and something he does a very good job at.

Seriously, go give these books a try.  They are available both in print and in all of the standard e-reader formats with the third book in the series coming in January of 2013.  You can check out the books here at the author's Amazon page.

I would like to thank BzzAgent for the opportunity to review these stories.  I did receive a complementary copy of these books to review, however, the complementary copy did not influence my review.