Reviews

insane incredible love this book love this series i’m so obsessed with the characters i would literally die for minou and piet and their family and i spent that majority of this book in high level anxiety hoping and praying that they would turn out okay cuz they really deserve it. like MAN do they deserve it with all the shit they have been through. my poor babies were out through hell in this book and my heart could barely take it. which was what made it so addictive to read of course. as it happened it took me a while to read but that was just cuz of the stuff happening in my life at the time so i didn’t have as much time to read, cuz when i did pick it up i legit couldn’t put it down. i will say though that i found myself not gravitating to pick it up to read it as much as the first one.
but yeah i loved how minou and piet’s relationship progressed and the marta -minou-piet storyline was fucking PAINFUL but SO GOOD and that ENDING like

Spoiler

“‘I am Marta,’ she said. Minou nodded. There was no need to say more.”

AHHHHH DAGGER RIGHT TO THE CHEST. if you ever want to read some mother-daughter angst this one is for you.

Spoiler

slight bummer that the epilogue ended with some slight (if unintentional) incest but i suppose it is historical fiction lolllll

but yeah i’m just so obsessed with the characters Kate Mosse creates in this series i care about them so much. And the way she interweaves their lives with the political situations of the time so i feel the stakes more and understand the history better too as an added bonus? unparalleled.
so yeah, suffice to say i loved this book. this series has been a real unexpected favourite for me - proof that pushing outside your comfort zone is worth it!

aimeeinwonderland's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous hopeful tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A

4.5

sunic's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

susannelucyluisa's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional informative fast-paced

4.0

wherethewildreadsare's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

jessie_pea90's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous informative medium-paced

Strong character development? No

3.0

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.

More...