This book intrigued me, but fell a little flat when I started reading. I just couldn't connect with the story and it felt quite slow. This may be more entertaining for another reader, but for me, it just didn't really work.

I’m not generally a fan of legal dramas, but I’m
Definitely a fan of stories set in the near east during this time, so this one seemed intriguing.

Unfortunately, despite a setting and a group of characters with a lot of potential, this is mostly just an endless parade of legalese and slow, plodding courtroom exchanges. It’s dead boring, which is a shame because the writing itself is lovely.

A lot of the problem is the legal droning of course. But it’s also greatly disappointing to get a book set in Constantinople at this time that makes very little use of the setting. The legal and political (and to a far lesser extent) cultural situation is prominent, sure, but there’s no atmosphere, no sense of place, and nothing to help the reader take an interest in the world in which the book asks us to slog through the legal system.

A genuinely wonderful depiction from 1860 of life in the Court of Constantinople, a favourite haunt of mine, therefore the descriptions and flavours poured from each page. The story itself is a dramatic tale of how life was enjoyed and suffered at a difficult juncture in life. Following the lives of the characters opens up the immense gulf between cultures, genders, and classes. An absorbing book - read it!

At times this book was weighed down with legal jargon but overall it was an intriguing story. The British/Turkish conflicts were interesting but it felt like it came more from the British perspective. There were some interesting parts but it felt more like nonfiction.

There is a lot of sexual assault mentioned in this one. Beyond that it was ok. The story is only slightly interesting and the characters were not very well fleshed out. All in all I think some people might like it but it's pretty underwhelming.

The narration was good and timing was good.

Set in the mid-1800s, the book follows a young British lawyer seconded, against his will, to serve at the British overseas court in the Sublime Port at Constantinople. This little-known corner of history sets the backdrop for musings on the nature of empire, civilization, freedom, class, gender, and law and justice.

The elegant writing style is well-suited to the book's historical setting; it reminded me of A Gentleman in Moscow. In fluid, natural prose, I think the author explains complex history and concepts of law, philosophy, politics, diplomacy, and culture rather well, but it helps that I personally find legalese interesting. Nevertheless, for the sake of the book and the story's impact, the editorial team would have done well to steer the author more towards accessibility.

The audiobook narrator (Jill Mills) gives a lively, expressive performance that adds breath and verve to content heavy with historical and legal details. The narration also brings the unique (if not always believable) characters to life.

This is to say that there are good qualities to the book, and particularly the audience. Overall, though, the book is just not very satisfying. Nothing is really resolved. I'm not sure if the author's intention was to leave the plot open for a sequel, but if so, a degree of closure would still have served the story well. From beginning to end, aside from the main character gradually coming to terms with a personal loss, nothing really changes.

The coterie of secondary characters are difficult to follow. I also found myself continually wanting more of the Ottomans, more of Mehmed. He's a fascinating character, but we hear so little from him. Few of the secondary characters really pull their own weight in the plot, so I would have been happy to see some of their page space given instead to Mehmed.

This is something of a niche title. If you have a background in British-Ottoman history or law, especially colonial law, you're likely to get a good deal out of it. For a general audience, it's quite chewy.

Overall entertaining book.
There's a lot of characters and there's a couple of storylines in this book. So it's not the easiest audiobook to follow while multitasking.
Having said that, it's a very enjoyable story, there's an eccletic mix of characters and they're not a fantasised bunch.
The story about the integration of Constantinople in the "civilization" is a fresh topic in period dramas and one that could have been explored a bit more The reaction of the locals seemed a bit forced to fit the narrative, though.

DNF.

Unfortunately I just couldn't enjoy the subject matter, not for me. I found the narrative long-winded.

I agree with a lot of the other reviews of this book that I have seen. I was drawn to the setting and time period, but the book has too many characters and almost none that I could sympathize with. The court case with the young girl was a deal breaker for me. I wish there was more to get caught up in, in a good way.

*TRIGGER WARNING: if you choose to read this book the central story and other side stories directly involve SA and child SA. It is off page, but there are detailed on page descriptions of the events, including court cases where the victim(s) are questioned for their actions, and it is implied and outright stated that they or others supporting them are lying about the SA in question*

A Court at Constantinople felt absolutely insufficient at conveying itself to the audience. The ideas and lives of British and Turkish people working together to manage the laws and jurisdictions set by the Ottoman and British Empires sounds incredibly intriguing, complicated, and nuanced. However, most of the nuance this text provided came from the British perspective, which is acknowledged multiple times within the story as being the perspective of the powerful, elite, and privileged within this society, despite existing in the middle of the Ottoman Empire. The British have the power to dictate what is right, good, and just in their own courts, and have used the power they do have to infringe and interfere upon the lives and laws of the Turkish residents because of the fact of colonization of the British. Although there is a character who is Turkish and studies Turkish law, we do not receive his perspective often, and he is usually relegated to a background character even in his own chapters, as narration of thoughts and events takes precedent over showing his thoughts and the actions he takes (though this could be said of the whole book, it is especially egregious here).

This whole mess and political theater, though based upon real events that took place at the British Consulate Court in Constantinople, was written in such a way that it could have taken place anywhere involving any oppressed group. The existence of and involvement with the Ottoman government and Turkish people felt secondary to the main story being told because no Turkish people got to have a primary voice in the story. It was all secondary opinions either being told to the main characters of the story, or tertiary opinions being told to the audience from the British characters as they were informed by some nebulous Turkish people.

*Trigger Warning for mentions of SA*


On the matter of the court cases themselves, while the author states that the cases used in the story were references of and/or actual cases used in history by the judge(s) of the British Consular Court at Constantinople to discuss politics, jurisdiction, and law, I found it distasteful to utilize the sexual assault of a child as a plot point and means to this end. Whether or not the case exists in real life, it’s use within this story was to further the discussions on court matters, which does a disservice to the harrowing nature of these cases for the victims and their families. It was used as theater and for philosophical banter, dehumanizing the people affected and how they were treated. The book then throws them away. There could have been a way to tie this case into the story without being so disrespectful, but as it stands, the case is a first act shocker that is used as a callback in the third act for dramatic gravitas. But we never get the character who is affected the most’s emotions or perspective on the affair. Just like with the Turkish perspective in the rest of the book, the SA survivor perspective is secondary to the British Christian Male perspective.

*Many thanks to Anthony Earth, David Fidler, and NetGalley for a free audiobook in exchange for my honest review.*
Interesting take on the two judicial systems in the form of historical fiction set in the second half of the 19th century Istanbul. The book kept me invested up to a point mainly thanks to Gill Mills whose narration was well-done. I had expected more dynamics regarding both the plot and characters, at times the novel dragged on. On the whole, a good listen but not as captivating as I had hoped for.

This book took a bit for me to get into. Usually when I listen to audiobooks I can go through it pretty quickly but not this one. There was a lot going on throughout and you really had to have your full focus on the story line otherwise you might get lost. The first case was interesting to listen to which kept my interest. There were times I wanted to zone out but than scenes like that ball and the last 10% really got me interested in it. It wasn’t the typical historical fiction I’m used to and if you have a good understanding of law I’m sure you will love it.

This was not really for me. I expected this to be a fun, interesting historical fiction where I would learn about Turkish history/ how there judicial system worked whilst also going on an adventure with the characters but that wasn’t this. I felt the writing was a bit flat and I couldn’t get absorbed into the story. Maybe it’s for an older audience than me but I needed a bit more of a quicker pace and something else to hook me into the story.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. It certainly sounded interesting - a young barrister sent as a law clerk to Constantinople to help calm the troubled waters of disparate law systems in Turkey. The English demand a "civilised" law based on their model but the Muslims work to Sharia Law. A horrific crime is committed against the daughter of a rich merchant but who is to blame and which law will prevail.

Sounds exciting right? Sadly the whole thing is couched in interminable legalese. In fact at one point I thought I'd requested a non-fiction book by mistake. The explanations about how the judicial system in Turkey worked simply dragged on and the story was lost for quite a lot of the time.

I'm afraid the story also fell short of expectations. I'd worked out what was actually going on quite early on leaving me little to think about except the irritating characters.

The narrator, Gill Mills, was okay for most of the story but unfortunately her older characters all sounded the same and I did get a bit lost at times trying to work out which nasal whine belonged to which man. Otherwise she had a good brisk delivery.

This book wasn't for me I'm afraid. Early promise that fell short on delivery.

A book is going to have Istanbul in it and I'm not going to read it?! Ha! You would think. I don't know how many weeks I have spent studying the capitulations and its impact on the Ottoman Empire when I was taking History at high school. Every time it was mentioned, I felt PTSD trickle in.

Can everyone keep their hands, laws, soldiers within borders of their own countries please, because you see what kind of problems that could create in this book? You cannot try to apply your own laws in some other country because people in question are your citizens. You extradite them and put them through trial in your own country. You cannot interpret rules and/or capitulations based on your need. Because someone will come up and beat you in your own game!

While I requested this book because it has Istanbul in the title, I also loved how it shows little nuances and tricks in how law was interpreted. Some explanations were like tongue twisters that made me laugh out loud to reactions of folks in the story. I don't think there are a lot fiction books out there combining capitulations and love. If you are interested in late 19th, early 20th Century History, this is an interesting take of that time.