In this, the first of the two-book series “The John Dee Papers,” Dr. John Dee is tasked with a Quest to obtain for his queen, Elizabeth I, the bones of King Arthur. As a bonus, Robert Dudley, Queen Elizabeth’s Master of the Horse, comes along for the ride.

I wrote a more detailed review of the 2nd book in the series, The Heresy of Dr. Dee. The two books are very similar in tone and plot, so I’ll provide my rating here: Four stars for character development, four stars for plot, and five stars for the creation of a well-developed world. Phil Rickman does not disappoint. (Well – I am disappointed, but only because the series is truncated. Luckily, he has many more titles I can dip into.)

Sean Barrett narrates admirably. ( )

Interesting story. ( )

Bit slow at the beginning, it picked up speed in the second half. I liked the conclusion and that some plot twists came as a surprise.
Some grammar errors, misspellings and other, similar, mistakes were annoying enough to interrupt my reading pace. ( )

Disappointing. Binned.

I didn't find the style very engaging and gave up at 12% when I began to find the use of "modern" swearing irritating. The choice of invective was lazy and jarred with the historical period. It also felt inappropriate to some of the characters concerned. ( )

Really enjoyed this although it did flag a little in the middle before picking up again towards the end. I liked the twist towards the end although I do think it was made a little to obvious that Nel hadn't killed anybody, that she was a victim of intolerance. ( )