Wisdom of Dead Men (The Wildenstern Saga, #2)

by Oisin McGann

If you're head of the Wildenstern clan, you can expect someone'll try to kill you at some point or another. And usually when someone does, it's a member of your own family. But, right now Berto Wildenstern, and his brother Nate, have more pressing matters on their minds ...local women seem to be spontaneously combusting and no one's quite sure why! Wild mechanical creatures, explosions, deceptions, twists and turns with a host of fantastic otherworldly characters - imagine "The Godfather" meets Philip Reeve and you have "Wisdom of Dead Men".

• ISBN10: 0552558656
• ISBN13: 9780552558655
• Publish Date: 3 September 2009
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 18 October 2014
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK
• Imprint: Corgi Childrens
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 480
• Language: English

Reviews

[Beth C.]

Ireland in the 1800's, ruled by an all-powerful family called the Wildensterns. A family with some peculiar traits and some vicious rules regarding family succession. They are long-lived, potentially fatal injuries can be cured by gold, and the strongest always wins - after killing the one standing in their way. When a series of strange murders occurs, in which witchcraft is believed to be involved, the Wildenstern family is drawn in by an unknown connection to each of the victims.

Never having read the first book in the series, but hearing it was fairly decent, I decided to give this one a try. Unfortunately, the book needed...something. A reader coming into the series with this book will be able to read the book on its own, but it will definitely make more sense if the reader follows the original order. In addition, the book struggles to maintain any momentum - and therefore, the reader's interest. Frankly, it was just...boring. Having said that, I found the most interesting thing in the book to be the enigmals. I would love to have had more of the book centered around them, and - really - less of the actual people.

Sadly, I cannot recommend this book. I struggled to finish it, and I would hate for someone else to find themselves in the same position.