Scholar's Plot

Knight and Rogue #5

by Hilari Bell

I was done with being a squire... When squire Fisk quarreled with his knight errant, Michael Sevenson, neither of them wanted to meet again. So of course, just six weeks later they find themselves in side-by-side cells, when Michael is accused of murdering the man who got his brother Benton fired from the university. Michael needs to help his brother and Fisk needs to get out of jail-so when Michael's sister bails them out, on the condition that they work together to find the man who framed Benton, Michael and Fisk are forced to agree to her terms. But will unraveling the tangled web of blackmail, sabotage and murder bring knight and squire back together? Or will it drive them apart for good?

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Mystery, High Fantasy, Fiction, Teen, Magic

368 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 2014

About the author

As far as writing is concerned, I call myself the poster child for persistence. Songs of Power, the first novel I sold, was the 5th novel I'd written. When it sold I was working on novel #13. The next to sell, Navohar, was #12, and the next, A Matter of Profit, was #9. The Goblin Wood was #6, and the first Sorahb book, Flame (later renamed Farsala: Fall of a Kingdom), will be #15. You get the picture.

My reviews: Mea culpa! I got onto Goodreads years ago, and haven't been reviewing--but I now mean to start! I should add that as writer, I tend to read a bit more critically. Or at least, when I think a book is going off the rails I usually see technical, writer problems with it. In short, any time a book stops working for me, that author becomes an honorary member of my writing critique group--whether they want to or not! So I apologize in advance for any technical critiques my fellow writers may recieve.

Biography: My personal life? I was born in Denver in 1958—you can do the math. I'm single and live with my mother, brother and sister-in-law. I used to be a part time reference librarian for a mid-sized public library, but in the beginning of ’05 I achieved a writer’s dream and quit the day job. Librarian turned writer is a very schizophrenic state—when I try to urge people to buy my books, I have to beat down a lifetime of professional reflexes demanding that I tell them to check them out at the library instead.

I enjoy board gaming and fantasy gaming, both table top and live. But my favorite thing to do is the decadent version of camping my mom and I practice. We have a pop-up trailer with a fridge, a sink, a stove and (if electrical hookups are available) a space heater, heating pads and a toaster. Our motto is "No unnecessary work." We don't cook, we don't wash dishes, we don't...you name it. What we do is spend all day, every day, reading and hiking and reading some more. Camping is the only time I can get in enough reading. Well, I take that back—when it comes to reading, there's no such thing as enough.

Reviews

[Tessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I like this one even more than Rogue's Home. I never thought that would happen! I loved the mystery in this one (though one of the villains was really obvious) and the whole university town setting and the nod to the Dewey Decimal system was great. And Fisk and Michael together have some of the best characterization ever. I also really liked getting to know Benton better. And Kathy and Fisk! I've seen that coming for a few books now, and while the declarations of love could have been pushed off for another book, I love Fisk's realization about caring for people. Meep. I ship it.

I do have one problem, one REALLY BIG problem, and it's also a really big spoiler so proceed at your own risk: I did not like the very end at all. I hate the fact that they are going to argue for Clerk Peebles to have a light sentence simply because they like her. Can you say MORAL RELATIVITY? Dayless, nasty as she is, didn't kill anyone. There is no justice in letting Peebles--who committed cold-blooded premeditated murder--get off easily. Dayless falsified some data and tried to commit murder. Peebles actually did commit murder. You will never convince me that Peebles is not the greater villain.

Next book at once please!

Reread: 2/15/15

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review coming soon!

[Mary E. Dipple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gosh, I love these books. I'm sad there's only one left. 😢

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I waited ages for this book until I finally gave in and bought it on Kindle, which I never do . . . but it was so very much worth it! Michael and Fisk gave me all the feels at the beginning, but it was so great to see them start to patch their friendship back up. And I ship Kathy and Fisk so hard! And the mystery was really well done- I guessed who did it fairly early on, but I didn't put together the why or the how until our heroes did. And the setting and continued revelations about magica were interesting as well. Basically, this book is awesome and I'm so very glad I bought it.

[Aurora Dimitre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need Lady's Pursuit, like, now .

Thief's War left me in shambles. I was so devastated, even though I knew there were two more books and what happened at the end wouldn't be totally what it was going to end with. But, wow, all of the fighting and arguing and squabbling that took up the majority of this book really made up for it.

Also, I've always sort of favored Fisk - he's funny, and his "What's the difference between a [blank] and a bandit?" jokes are just the best sort of running gag and I adore them. But... I think Michael's my favorite now. I don't know. I just adore him. He's so wonderful. And his character development from the first book is stellar . Fisk's is, too, of course. But Michael, man. Michael.

I'm not totally sure how I feel about Kathy and Fisk getting together. I mean, I do really like Kathy, and she was definitely fun to read about. I just feel like I saw this coming from the start. And I'm not sure if I like the idea of it. It's... okay, I guess? Maybe I'll grow to like it more in the next book, because I'm pretty sure it's here to stay. Hopefully I'll grow to like it. I'm conflicted.

This book has sort of one of the most complicated mysteries of the series, I think - I didn't even come close to guessing it. There were false leads and there were things that I should have caught but didn't until I finished and was like "...oh. Yeah. Yeah, I should have seen that." I'm constantly impressed by these books. They are crazy good.

Also, the development of Michael's magic. We got to see more of it in this book - and I'm really liking it. I really like seeing it develop, and seeing it take shape and it was so great when him and Fisk went into that burning building and the air bubble! And Fisk was so surprised and! It was great.

As well as that, there's a lot of worldbuilding in this book - it's sort of been sliding in throughout the series, but you learn a lot in this book. It was seriously interesting, and we got little bit of science behind the magical elements, which was also cool. Maybe it's because this one was primarily set at a university, but I thought there was a lot more worldbuilding and it definitely filled in some holes. And I really liked it.

Overall, I seriously love this series - and, nothing to do with the story, but this cover is absolutely gorgeous - and I'm totally ready to re-read the entire series next year when Lady's Pursuit comes out. Because, my God, these books are great.

[Bridie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm disappointed. I feel like I should just come out and say that, followed by this assurance: Scholar's Plot is a good book! I'm pretty genre savvy, and this far along in the series, I've usually got a sense of how the mystery will end by the middle, if not before. I was only able to guess the villains and a handful of the details! The twists kept me guessing in a way that I've grown unused to. It was a lot of fun. In addition to the exciting fantasy mystery adventures, there's plenty of Michael and Fisk snark and shenanigans to help heal the wounds gouged in readers at the end of Thief's War.

My disappointment is rife with spoilers, so read on accordingly.

Kathy deserved better. Women characters deserve better than Scholar's Plot gave them. I've always loved Kathy, and at first I was delighted to see she would play a major role in this installment of Knight and Rogue. She's clever, strong, and no-nonsense, balancing off our heroes perfectly. If there's one thing K+R has long lacked, it's women playing major roles across novels. But here's the thing: She appears to have been reintroduced to the narrative because the author felt Fisk needed a girlfriend. I'm not sure if she realized many fans of K+R had long felt that Michael and Fisk were themselves going to become an item and wanted to retaliate or if the relationship was actually planned, but it seems horrendously thrown together. To establish the relationship, Kathy and Fisk act like utter idiots and profoundly out of character. And not in an "ah, love" way. In a dumb way. Add to that Fisk's realization that he has in fact grown to love Kathy over the years...17 year old Kathy...whom he met as a 14 year old...and has not seen since...and sister to his best friend. Fisk is what, 21? No evidence of this supposed gradual love made it into the books, of course. It's patchy, and unsettling and poorly paced and just kinda icky, to be honest. 17 year old girls are not women. This is fantasy. This is fiction. You don't have to write worlds where they marry adult men.

I'm disappointed. Read the book. Draw your own conclusions. But I thought K+R was better than this, having spent a whole novel establishing that convincing yourself that the person you idolize is your true love doesn't make up for the lack of an actual relationship. Don't get me wrong: I want Kathy on the team. But not as a man-feelings and/or "no homo" style accessory to the male protagonists.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

this one gets two stars from me because the main draw of this series, called the knight and rogue series, is the relationship between michael and fisk, yet for a good portion of this book they refused to get along and acted very childish which took a lot of the fun out. it was especially a bummer after the fourth book where they were separated for almost all of that one.
once again, the mystery wraps up very quickly, although i was able to piece together half of it this time, so i do think it was better written, if still rushed. however, there was a whole red herring plot about blackmail that just seemed to muddle everything. i wish the time devoted to that had been spent making the ending better paced.
also i wasnt a fan of fisk just sort of randomly falling in love with michael's sister. i think there is a basis for them to like each other, but similar to the mystery it came together so quickly that i didnt really enjoy it.

[D.L. Morrese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael's brother Benton had been ousted from his university position for plagiarizing his thesis. The librarian who brought the plagiarism to light has been murdered. Michael and his sister have come to help Benton clear his name. Fisk is also there, attempting to break into a tower, to check on the well being of the crazy jeweler they met on their last mission. Fisk is in jail for trespassing as a result when Michael is caged next to him, having been implicated in the librarian's murder. Things become complicated after that, as things can be when murder, arson, forgery, magic, and love are involved.

I'm still enjoying this series. The characters have evolved but remain quite likable. The Kindle edition of this book has copy editing and formatting issues I did not notice in the others. I found nine of them without really looking (one case of a missing word, some misplaced hyphens, a questionable comma, and an inconsistency between 'Captain' and 'Capitan.'

[Merenwen Inglorion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things I liked:
-As always, non linear character arcs
-character banter
-a smidgen of romance that didn't overwhelm the primary story (and has been in progress for a majority of the series, so glad it finally happened!)
-more info/prodding on the nature of magica!
-crazy bloke
-the inevitable chases/re-calculation resulting from foiled plans
-delightful mystery; frustration due to knowing exactly as much as the charries and no more, excitement when things are tied together

Things I didn't like:
-Honestly, just the fact that these aren't available as audiobooks. I haven't had much time to sit and read lately, and having these in audio format would be so very convenient...

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thief's War really suffered from a lack of interaction between Michael and Fisk, and from a lack of a mystery. Fortunately, both those factors are back in this one! While the characters are changing and maturing, their interactions are still hilarious and what I love about the series.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an intricate plot, kept them and me guessing! Still feeling a little blindsided by the Fisk/Kathy romance but I'm soooo relieved that Fisk and Michael are back together! One more book/adventure with them to go....:(

[Grace Crandall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going into reading this, I was pretty nervous. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to deal with the fallout from the end of Thief's War, or if the book series could ever really be the same after it.
On that score, I should't have worried. Every turn the story takes works for its advantage, and I love the way Michael and Fisk's friendship is forced to mature and become deeper through conflict.
The story begins with Michael and Fisk, newly estranged, stumbling across one another as they both attempt to break into a university for widely differing reasons. Then when on of the university faculty is murdered, they're forced to work together again to prove not only their own innocence, but the innocence of Michael's brother Benton as well.
most of my problems with this book are fairly petty. For me, it seemed to read a bit more choppily than the other stories in the series. the writing's not bad by any means, but it pulled me out of the story once or twice, and that's not a problem I'm used to having with Hilari Bell books. There also seemed to be something missing from the story, though I couldn't really say what.
By far my favorite part of this book was the jeweler. it's been long enough since I last read Thief's War that I'd forgotten about him, but he was an awesome addition to this story, with his sing-song dialogue and propensity for squirrel collecting. I've loved Kathy ever since she first came on the scene, and it was epic to see her take more of leading role in this story. The budding romance between her and Fisk is one of the few romances that I was really looking forward to seeing, and it's perfect.
All in all, this is a good continuation to an absolutely fantastic series, and I can't wait to start the next book!

[Gabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilari Bell is still one of my favorite authors, and this book had all the charm, fun and feels of the others in the series. As a librarian, it was great to have such a librarian-centered plot, hinged on classification and plagiarism. But I was frustrated with the 'mysteries.' For one, I felt that if they were trying to clear Benton of academic dishonesty, they should have spent more than a page or two investigating the forgery. They could look at papers and fonts etc for the ticket, but not for the chief piece of evidence? I thought the links to the other two crimes were too tenuous for them to devote ALL their attention to them and be so convince that by solving them they would help Benton, especially as time got shorter for him. Also, the solution to the murder was obvious (to me) before page 200, and then watching Fisk and Michael stupidly floundering about on that for the next 150 pages, when I knew they weren't that stupid, was very frustrating. I had to put down the book and yell a few times.
Nevertheless, the rest of the ride was still fun; the friendship (and other relationships) still rewarding. The writing is still great. I'm still glad I read it, will recommend it to others, and want to read the next one. But I'm hoping the next one won't make me want to hit them characters, at least not for the same reasons.

[Leann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made up for any shortcoming found in the previous title. Which is to say that the banter between Fisk and Michael is back, and their petty fighting to be the one in charge of solving this installment's crime only makes the banter all the more glorious.

The crime itself is well handled. All the details wrap up nicely, with even a few threads that looked like they were only meant to be false leads tying in neatly. But what I've always really loved about these books is the character interactions. I've already mentioned that Fisk and Michael are back to working side by side, even if they aren't getting along perfectly, and the addition of Kathy, and particularly her dynamic with Fisk, was entertaining to watch. Although I did feel that while Fisk's stance on the matter was easy to see, her feelings towards the whole affair weren't quite as obvious. (Fisk being a POV character and her not might have a hand in that, but still.)

All in all pleased with the book. I accomplished nothing between when I got my hands on it and when I finished reading, and plan to go through it again soon to pick up on any hints towards the crime that I overlooked before not knowing their significance.

[Channah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really need to switch to a five star rating system; I hate bringing down averages noticeably (excellent, now that it has enough I'm going to give it the full three stars). Therefore I won't be rating this one. It was great, but the mystery was solved quite easily less than halfway through. More when I'm not typing on a touchscreen.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally, we have a book in this series with multiple female characters who actually seem like people. However certain spoilers kind of count against that. The mystery was good, and Kathy is definitely a good addition. A pity she wasn't there all along through her letters. That would've improved both the previous books and her sudden promotion to love interest in this one.

*sigh*

[Karie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the interweaving mysteries and the character development--looking forward to the next book!

[JP Govindavari · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved that it took a more academic turn than the usual action/adventure which I still love

[Deena · Rating 5 out of 5]

More people should know about these books.

[Sol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just blah. It was a boring story that didn't really do much for me. Disappointing.