Pythagoras' Revenge by Arturo Sangalli

Pythagoras' Revenge: A Mathematical Mystery by Arturo Sangalli<br/><br/> My rating: 2 of 5 stars Pythagoras' Revenge: A Mathematical Mystery by Arturo Sangalli could have been a much better book than it turned out to be. The core story, a group of modern day neo Pythagoreans who call themselves "the Beacon" set up a team to find the reincarnation of Pythagoras. They scour the world for evidence, find a manuscript page that provides clues, and seek the scroll they anticipate will solve their mystery. There is even a clever twist at the end, which I rather liked. The problems, though are too numerous to overcome. To begin, I had an expectation that math would be needed to solve a mystery of some sort. For the most part it wasn't. Pythagoras and the main character were mathematicians and the screening involved math, but for the most part, the only math in the book came in the form of lectures to the uneducated on topics that were not central to the progression of the story. At times the book read like a textbook, and at one point, one page referenced by page number an example on another. Not something I'm accustomed to when reading fiction. The chronology of the book is off as well. I have no problem jumping from the modern day to ancient times, but the modern day accounts were out of order (a chapter on Thorn being reported missing is prior to chapter when he is abducted). This didn't work for me. For this type of book, it was short in length and this resulted in a lack of depth for too many of the characters. Lots of potential for the story but it came up far too short, which left me glad it wasn't another hundred pages in length. View all my reviews >>

Posted via email from Ross Nunamaker