Black Madonna
A short review of "Black Madonna" by Marc Gascoigne and Carl Sargent. The book doesn't have anything to do with the religious icon. It deals with the supposed secret history of the origins of Christianity. It shares the core of its plot with the popular "Da Vinci Code". However, this book was published in May of 1996 while Dan Brown's novel didn't come around until March 2003. Both seem to take information from "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" published in 1982 in the UK. I will leave to the reader to determine why the book was nearly universally panned by serious students of history.
Back to the matter at hand.
This book can be read by anyone who is familiar with the cyberpunk genre but I would not recommend it to anyone else. Specifically designed to sit in the Shadowrun universe (a pen and paper role playing game) this book only lightly touches on that mythos. However, the terminology is from the Shadowurn universe and the timeline matches the game (the book is set in the year 2057).
The book is your standard paperback fare, easy to read with no real thinking required. The best part of the plot is that the protagonists don't know what they are doing early in the book. The actual plot isn't as important as the idea that there are clues to follow and you as the reader can follow along too. I knew where they were going but still didn't see the end from the beginning. Too often I pick up a book and can tell within the first few chapters who did it and sometimes even why. Breaks the mystery for me. This book did well here.
The other interesting thing was a character named Streak who provides much of the comic relief. However, some of it is unintentional.
End of the line: I would hihgly recommend this to anyone who plays (or has understanding of) Shadowurn. Additionally, anyone who likes cyberpunk should give it a read. Everyone else, take your chances.
Back to the matter at hand.
This book can be read by anyone who is familiar with the cyberpunk genre but I would not recommend it to anyone else. Specifically designed to sit in the Shadowrun universe (a pen and paper role playing game) this book only lightly touches on that mythos. However, the terminology is from the Shadowurn universe and the timeline matches the game (the book is set in the year 2057).
The book is your standard paperback fare, easy to read with no real thinking required. The best part of the plot is that the protagonists don't know what they are doing early in the book. The actual plot isn't as important as the idea that there are clues to follow and you as the reader can follow along too. I knew where they were going but still didn't see the end from the beginning. Too often I pick up a book and can tell within the first few chapters who did it and sometimes even why. Breaks the mystery for me. This book did well here.
The other interesting thing was a character named Streak who provides much of the comic relief. However, some of it is unintentional.
End of the line: I would hihgly recommend this to anyone who plays (or has understanding of) Shadowurn. Additionally, anyone who likes cyberpunk should give it a read. Everyone else, take your chances.
posted by ludomastro | 21:37
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