And some reading

 I finished "Uncle Bernac" (Arthur Conan Doyle) last night

I am not sure how I feel about it. It sets up a bit like a suspense or thriller novel, where you're dropped into the action with very little backstory (which makes it interesting because you have to figure out what's going on along with the protagonist). Then it shifts to Napoleon's headquarters and I admit all the advisors and hangers-on kind of confused me, I couldn't keep the names straight as many of them were barely introduced.

It's also weird how de Laval (the protagonist) continues to exalt Napoleon even though (a) in the original Revolution, his family had to flee to England, and I always associate him with the French Revolution even if maybe he didn't do some of the very worst excesses of it and (b) Napoleon is a real piece of work, at least how Conan Doyle portrays him - capricious, authoritarian, probably unstable. He insults his wife (he says he can't stand fat women) and also cheats on her. He tells younger members of his court who they will marry - and that's part of the final twist and I guess he does an OK thing for once with that in one case.

But his whole "I want to control everyone's actions" and "I am free to insult whomever I choose" and "I can have giant sulks" remind me a bit of some, ah, modern-day politicians, and it wasn't super comfortable to read.

And yeah, I get it: Napoleon was a dictator and probably did have a lot of issues, but it makes for less than pleasant reading. 

It does end somewhat abruptly, and like I said, some plot lines are not very developed. Apparently it was part of a "saga" published in parts and maybe if you'd read the rest of it, it would feel more complete.

It was also sold as a "murder mystery" but while there's a murder, there's not really any mystery about it - de Laval and a couple of Bonaparte's soldiers witness it, so they know who did it (and why: the victim was regarded as an enemy).

I think the next book I start will be that one about the Moon that I posted a photo of the other day.