Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

If you're looking for a high-quality historical fiction book that will entertain you while teaching you about a fascinating time and place, this is NOT it. I've been on a historical fiction kick that started with The Kite Runner. I came across this book because some review somewhere suggested it as a good historical fiction book. With so many praise-filled reviews I thought I'd found a winner. Was I ever in for a disappointment! This is silly lightweight drivel, full of implausibilities, threads that are started and then dropped, actions and decisions that make no sense, and way too much sex. Then there is the detailed account of torture and rape that is almost as sadistic as those in Pillars of the Earth, another highly-praised historical fiction book I have had the recent misfortune of reading. Make sure you read as many one-star as five-star reviews before you buy this book. I can only imagine all those favorable reviews are written by people who love harlequin romances. As convenient as the reviewing system may seem for finding just the right book (usually one of my favorite features of Amazon), it can't always be trusted. I so wish the system were better at matching up it's customers with other *like-minded* customers. I know such technology exists but it's not being used here.