I have no idea what led me to buy this book, and wish I had not. I read over half of it and don't know why I continued that long. I think maybe it was because I was a bit familiar with Bohemia in the late 1500's and King Rudolph II from reading the All Souls Trilogy. There is a bit about alchemy and science in the book which made me curious. I should have stopped reading when I was turned off by the concept of the blood letting and the life of a girl whose mother owned a Bath House. The mother alternated between encouraging her daughter to do personal things with the clients and offering her to a disgusting man and then turning around and protecting her from him. King Rudolph's disgusting lunatic son has some obsession with this girl....I quit reading. Perhaps I should not rate it when I did not finish, but I read almost 300 pages which is a pretty good taste of a book. Speaking of tastes I didn't even like the tastes and smells described within the pages....except perhaps the baker's daughter who had sugar all over her body and in her hair....not very appealing either. While I give this book an overall 3 star rating, up until about halfway through I was enchanted and this absolutely would've been a 5 star experience. The story had that gut churning quality of foreboding and horror that I felt was setting the stage for something truly amazing. And Marketa as an anachronistic heroine with her love of science and medicine, I felt, was an interesting twist. But when Don Julius and Marketa actually begin to interact my hopes fell. This was a missed opportunity to portray some pretty poignant topics in a historical fiction adaptation (mental illness and rampant misogyny). As one other goodreads reviewer mentioned, the ending was "Disneyfied" with an unbelievable last minute rescue.The Bloodletter's Daughter could've been a truly remarkable read because it's certainly immersive, and the events themselves are captivating. But shying away from the true terror and gore, as well as misrepresenting a untreated and overindulged schizophrenic as a (momentary) prince charming is where this plot totally lost me.
Do You like book Hacamat (Bir Bohemya Romanı) (2013)?
Fascinating historical novel. Not the best thing I've ever read but it was certainly enjoyable.
—email0042
One of the worst books I have actually finished. Sad thing is, potential to be good.
—emdog567
Great historical story but this book is just too long.
—ruk9211
