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ladyphlogiston's review
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Really enjoyed the plot and setting, though the author played fast and loose with certain historical attitudes. The theme of glory and reflection was really well done.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Child death, Genocide, Hate crime, Slavery, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury
Author is clearly anti-Catholic/Christiansoberdionis's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Before I started this book, I didn't even realize that I was in a reading slump. Althought the pacing is a bit uneven, the story and characters are so captivating I couldn't wait to return to the book. Marvelous!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
medochan's review
Long, drawn out, purple language without explanation I could follow. Very frustrated (might have been that I’m an idiot).
lauralauralaura's review against another edition
3.0
Perhaps I have grown too cynical in my old age for the story of a naive young woman stumbling her way into a happy life by being incredibly good at lots of unrelated things, seeing through her prejudices about people who live in the sea to form a fast and deep connection with one, and successfully resisting both the King of France and the Pope without getting exiled or executed. This book is pretty silly.
books_and_keys's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
tasharobinson's review
3.0
In some ways this is a marvelous novel, full of researched detail and big emotion. The plot is very well constructed and creative, and after watching the belated movie version (The King's Daughter), I was astonished at how grim and unsentimental and ruthless this story is, compared to the movie's Princess Bride meets Free Willy meets Pirates of the Caribbean version of the tale.
And yet. It took me a couple of weeks to stumble through this book, because I kept bogging down in the repetition, the pages and pages and pages of pageantry, and the mundane wash of life in Louis XIV's court. There are some extraordinary details in here, like the way everyone at Mass with the King is expected to face and worship him, rather than facing the altar, until he gives magnanimous permission for them to turn. And the author is clearly pretty taken with the hilarity of fontanges and perrukes, and describing everyone's excessive, fanciful clothing. But the action, where the heroine begs the king for the life of a captured mermaid about a thousand times and is rejected over and over for a thousand different reasons — including, as the book wears on, because she's just a woman and everyone knows that a good Christian woman is silent and modest, and if she doesn't shut up, she's a heretic or a hysteric or both — after a while it just wore on me. So did the captivity of the mermaid, whose torments are described at length over and over and over until they become pretty exhausting. I stuck with the book because I wanted to know not just how the situation finally resolved, but how we eventually got there. But I wished for about 50 pages less of clothing and custom and processional description, and about 50 pages less of women in severe physical and emotional pain being ignored because they're women. This is a strong novel, but it's definitely meant for someone more interested in historical-novel detail and injustices causing anguish than I am.
And yet. It took me a couple of weeks to stumble through this book, because I kept bogging down in the repetition, the pages and pages and pages of pageantry, and the mundane wash of life in Louis XIV's court. There are some extraordinary details in here, like the way everyone at Mass with the King is expected to face and worship him, rather than facing the altar, until he gives magnanimous permission for them to turn. And the author is clearly pretty taken with the hilarity of fontanges and perrukes, and describing everyone's excessive, fanciful clothing. But the action, where the heroine begs the king for the life of a captured mermaid about a thousand times and is rejected over and over for a thousand different reasons — including, as the book wears on, because she's just a woman and everyone knows that a good Christian woman is silent and modest, and if she doesn't shut up, she's a heretic or a hysteric or both — after a while it just wore on me. So did the captivity of the mermaid, whose torments are described at length over and over and over until they become pretty exhausting. I stuck with the book because I wanted to know not just how the situation finally resolved, but how we eventually got there. But I wished for about 50 pages less of clothing and custom and processional description, and about 50 pages less of women in severe physical and emotional pain being ignored because they're women. This is a strong novel, but it's definitely meant for someone more interested in historical-novel detail and injustices causing anguish than I am.
frederica49's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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
Loved it!
mermahoney's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
This had amazingly detailed descriptions of the court of Louis XIV at Versailles and what is was like for a woman who was not rich (but at the same time not a servant) to live there. I read a lot of historical fiction, but it's usually mysteries and not in this era. There was a lot going on and the court politics sometimes got too much, mostly because a lot of the the people were awful. The sea "monster" was well done even though it took a while for her to really come into her own in the story.