Reviews

The Embroidered Book by Kate Heartfield

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laileanah's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This very closely follows the history of these characters and associated kingdoms really well.

I'm familiar with many of the characters' true history, and I can tell the author allowed the research to guide her.

I truly love how this played out, a triumph!

Yet I don't like the ending at all. 😬
I wanted this to continue with the history of Maria Carolina's struggles with Napoleon Bonaparte. The magic angle would've fit beautifully, and I feel this ended too soon.

sophiereads21's review against another edition

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3.0

Maria-Carolina (Charlotte) and Maria Antoine (Marie Antoinette), princesses of Austria discover their governess's book of magic and begin to sue it to influence events. As one is sent to France and the other to Naples, they may decisions about how and when to use magic that have far reaching consequences. Revolution sweeps Europe, magicians fight magicians and the politics behind the scenes has far reaching consequences.

As much as I love historical fiction, overall this didn't grab me. Firstly its incredibly long (600+) pages and very detailed about the daily lives and connections around the princesses. I think the overarching message go bogged down in the shear level of politicking it describes. I also did not really feel any sympathy for either character, especially Marie Antoinette. I think the author was partly trying to show how events out of their control led to the revolution and generate empathy for them but it didn't really work for me. The end point of the book was also odd to me, especially as we essentially shadowed every moment of these 2 characters lives for 600 pages. It didn't quite feel like the right sort of ending?

shani_hod_'s review against another edition

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tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

lehc1984's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

thenexthing's review against another edition

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I will come back to this at some point

crrieandrsn26's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I wanted to like it and Kate’s writing is good but good lord…there are anachronisms and then there’s this book where the author seemingly has forgotten that it’s set in the 18th century because she frequently writes like they’re in the middle ages in Italy and THEN talks about how a town is a “short drive up the hill” and how the empress “drives” her and her friend to the town.

It was an interesting premise but the mixture of fantasy and historical fiction felt forced and fell flat. I also had a hard time sympathizing with either of the main characters bc they were literally supposed to be these real life aristocracy who in real life were responsible for famine and death of their nations. Not to mention the fact they were loaded with very modern mindsets despite being two individuals intrinsically tied to the zeitgeist.

It was also way too heavy handed and cliche with the metaphor of magic as female empowerment. As others have also pointed out it never had any real weight to it and could have been left out altogether