Reviews

Another book where due to time constraints I decided to try on audio instead, and unfortunately I feel the audio probably did not do this book justice.

The sequel to The Burning Chambers, I wasn’t sure where this book was going to start as it had another ‘modern’ chapter to begin before getting back to France in the 1500’s, the War of Religions and our characters from book one, Minou and family. Thankfully that first chapter did later make a little sense but I’m still to see the point of these and wonder if they will come to fruition in book three.

This book includes most of the same cornerstones as its predecessor: history, family drama and a heap of secrets but this time no love story, although I didn’t miss it.

I found it a little hard to follow at times, and felt that the plot dragged in parts. I feel this could be partially due to the narrator who I found didn’t have the most distinction between voices and also the amount of names of characters and the range of locations and timeframes of events. All of which I found hard to keep track of when it was easy to zone out.

I felt that after the drama of the first section (set against the St. Bartholomew’s massacre) the story became stilted and fell into ‘middle book syndrome’ territory.

Despite following the same characters as the first book, my previous sentiments still stand that it’s not a sequel that needs reading and I feel if I had rated book one lower I wouldn’t have bothered. However this book does end of a bit of a cliffhanger which makes me interested in book three - The Ghost Ship.

bunniesandbooks123's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

helm108's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? No

4.5

jmatkinson1's review against another edition

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4.0

Minou has come through the worst of the religious wars around Carcassone but still there is not religious tolerance. She and her husband Piet travel to Paris for the wedding of Henri of Navarre to Margot, daughter of the King. However the catholic faction are opposed to this union and the Duke Of Guise orders the assignation of a prominent Huguenot leading to a massacre. The Reydon's escape but lose all including their daughter Marta but make a new life in Amsterdam. However Piet's nemesis Vidal is still on their trail and they are never safe.
This is the second in a proposed quintet and I enjoyed it more than the first. Possibly because the majority of the setting is around the events of St Bartholomew's Day and 'La Reine Margot' is one of my favourite books. I felt that the initial chapter set in South Africa was unnecessary, it was not returned to and was not referenced at all. Whilst it was link with the first book and presumably part of the thread throughout the five novels it was pretty isolated here. However for the rest, Mosse is getting into her stride and this is more like pure historical fiction rather than the slightly magical earlier novels which I didn't find as convincing.

jeremie_p's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? No

4.25

rioyoung's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

tdk's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective slow-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

4.5

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