Official Review: Gift of the Gods by Diana Bricknell

[Scerakor]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Gift of the Gods" by Diana Bricknell.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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As a child, Lou’s parents brought him to the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Although he thoroughly enjoyed most of the exhibits, he was particularly stricken by the Mycenaean gold. When this memorable day was over, Lou told his parents that he intended to own that gold when he grew up. Lou’s parents had no idea just how serious he was about making that dream a reality.

In Gift of the Gods by Diana Bricknell, we follow Lou and his fellow conspirators as they steal and sell the priceless Greek artifacts. We watch slack-jawed as the story proceeds through the heist itself, to the dangerous navigation of the gold’s sale, and the myriad hoops the team needs to jump through to try and get away with their crime. Jumping perspectives between the various conspirators, to the museum curator, and even to the police attempting to track down the criminals, the reader is treated to a multitude of colourful characters.

This great book was like a travel memoir, crime thriller, and a cultural journey rolled up into one neat package. The action surrounding the gold's theft was enough of a story on its own, but the additional attention to detail made the novel even more special. What I liked the most about this book was how the author’s personal knowledge of the locations in the novel, from Athens to Istanbul, came to life in the pages. The reader can easily picture the expanse of white and blue Mykonosian villas overlooking the Aegean Sea. Beyond the descriptions of the various locations, the book even touched on interesting cultural aspects of regions involved.

A couple of small details within the story irked me, however. First, and what I disliked the most about the book, was how smoothly the actual theft occurred. I believe there would have been more hurdles for the duo to encounter when stealing priceless Greek artifacts. In the book, however, this took surprisingly little effort and only a few pages. The last item I’ll mention is the editing. There were a few too many errors, in my opinion, to say that it was well edited. Despite the quantity of errors, the majority of the issues were due to incorrect capitalization, and they didn’t take too much away from the story.

Given the great plot, amazing backdrop, and cultural insights, I am happy to give this book a solid three out of four stars. I took off one small star for the editing and the issues I had with the heist itself. This, however, shouldn’t deter fans of the crime/adventure genres to whom I wholeheartedly recommend this book. If you are a reader that needs constant action or despise idle chitchat in your novels, you may want to stay away from this book.

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Gift of the Gods
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[sharon titus]

The book sounds amazing, I'll add it to my shelf. Great review. Thank you for your hard work.

[Sakura5]

I love books that can take you to another country with their descriptions, it's one of the best ways of traveling with imagination. Thanks for the nice review!

[MarcellaM]

Your review perfectly described all the occurances in the book. It certainly sounds like a good crime novel to read. Thanks for your honest review.

[Michael Jerry_]

I actually thought this would be an inspirational book where the boy would go on to get rich and finally buy the gold I didn’t see the stealing part coming

I’m intrigued and would love to give this one a read

[Michael Jerry_]

Your review perfectly described all the occurances in the book. It certainly sounds like a good crime novel to read. Thanks for your honest review.

I wish the reviewer didn’t let us know much of what really happened in the book but at the same time what was given is just enough to actually get someone pumped about this book

[Michael Jerry_]

Your review perfectly described all the occurances in the book. It certainly sounds like a good crime novel to read. Thanks for your honest review.

I wish the reviewer didn’t let us know much of what really happened in the book but at the same time what was given is just enough to actually get someone pumped about this book

[Kenna Ridzi]

It sounds like the author put plenty of imagery and a good amount of detail into this book, I'd love to give this a read!

[NetMassimo]

It looks like the heist is almost an excuse to talk about the ancient Greek civilization, which is probably what makes this novel intriguing, so it's not necessarily a flaw. Thank you for your great review!

[Hunter Tester]

Ohhhh this sounds so good! Being able to explore other cultures as well as the heist aspect is intriguing! You can tell I’ve been watching Money Heist recently.

[Bookxicillin]

Thanks for this Review, I am now adding this in my TBR list. This is exciting for me since I rarely read novels with heist/ancient artifacts trope and this sounds an adventure!

[Suzer6440 xyz]

I love that this book is described as many things all rolled into one! This review makes me want to find out more about what you are describing. Sounds like there is a lot of detail to this thanks for this summary of “Gift of the Gods”

[dickweed]

The book sounds amazing, I'll add it to my shelf. Great review. Thank you for your hard work.

Well said, I just hope I could write like her --- Bricknell. Thanks and more power.

[Hogwarts03]

Sounds incredibly intriguing! I'm glad I've come across a book that is a package, with so many instances in one, especially a heist. Your review definitely makes me want to explore the rest of the story...I'm definitely going to add it to my reading list

[oluwalonimi29]

I enjoy reading a book and feel like I have been to the locations in the books through the description of the author.Thank you for the honest review
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