medieval | Broken Penguins

DARKMONK When I first bought my Kindle, I spent months reading free classics. And then, I finally made my first ebook purchase: The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch.

The Hangman’s Daughter series takes place in an old Bavarian town named Augsburg where the hangman Jakob Kuisl and his daughter Magdelana live. The first book was all about the father-daughter team exonerating the town’s midwife. This is medieval Bavaria where the town demands to see violent torturing of their criminals — especially a midwife that has been named responsible for witchcraft and the killing of innocent babies.

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The Hangman’s Daughter was an absolute page-turner. Kuisl’s wise antics and his daughter’s stubbornness makes them very memorable characters. Potzsch also has a knack for creating the atmosphere of Augsburg whether it’s the warm Kuisl living room or mass hysteria throughout the town.

The Dark Monk is the second book in the series and it continues with the same great characters and setting. The story begins with one of the Ausberg priests being murdered in a tomb behind his church. Kuisl soon learns that the tomb houses secrets of the treasures from The Knight’s Templar.

I wasn’t really a fan of the religious overtones in the second book. There was too much running around and I found it hard to keep track of where all the characters were. But it was still a page-turner and there’s plenty of foreshadowing of what’s to come in book three, The Beggar King.

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Photo credits: loveage-moondream.tumblr.com, pinterest.com

This is my third edition of Waiting on Wednesday, a weekly event held by Breaking the Spine.

Sometime last year, I read Oliver Potzsch’s The Hangman’s Daughter and loved it! It was the top seller on Kindle at the time. So I’m delighted to hear that the sequel, titled The Dark Monk, has been translated by Amazon and will be released on June 12, 2012.

The Hangman’s Daughter is based around a Bavarian village executioner Jacob Kuisl and his daughter, Magdelena during medieval times. What really adds depth to the story is that author himself is a descendent of the Kuisl clan, a long line of executioners. In The Hangman’s Daughter, Jacob and Magdelena try to prove that the village midwife is innocent after she’s been accused of practicing witchcraft and murder.

There’s nothing quite like a village mob to get your heart racing! Being such a big fan of The Hangman’s Daughter means that I have big expectations for The Dark Monk. If dissapointed, I will likely go medieval and burn my Kindle at the stake.