missusb21's review against another edition
4.0
I am not a huge reader of historical fiction, but I loved Act of Faith, and I found this one just as engrossing, just as intelligent, just as poignant.
This is a book about ideas and their importance. It's a story about creating and looking after family. We sometimes have to find our own kind, and thankfully Isabella is surrounded by loyal and loving people.
The narrative seamlessly integrates all the history, the intrigue and the cruelty of a time when the Catholic Church went a little mad. The depiction of Constantinople is astonishing, and through the eyes of Willem, quite hilarious.
Loved this.
This is a book about ideas and their importance. It's a story about creating and looking after family. We sometimes have to find our own kind, and thankfully Isabella is surrounded by loyal and loving people.
The narrative seamlessly integrates all the history, the intrigue and the cruelty of a time when the Catholic Church went a little mad. The depiction of Constantinople is astonishing, and through the eyes of Willem, quite hilarious.
Loved this.
rox74's review against another edition
3.0
This book follows on from ‘Act of Faith’ and I preferred this book to the first. The plot was less scattered and the characters were more developed, plus I enjoyed the setting - Constantinople. In this book, it is revealed that there are a couple of LGBTQ+ characters, however it's a minor mention. The strong feminist view continues in this book. Overall, I enjoyed both books, I just didn’t love them.
justabean_reads's review
4.0
Deeply excellent book with a few flaws towards the end. I really liked this take on what happens after the Girl's Own Adventure story of the first of the series. The structure is not, in itself, that different. We still have our polygot young printer sailing to exciting new places, getting total and immediate access to all the most interesting people therein, and having all kinds of adventures. The tone, however, shifted to something a little more sombre.
Our Heroine has managed, over the course of the previous book, to piss off roughly half of Europe, and had implicated her friends along with her. They're not riding in exploration or rescue this time, but again forced to flee. She meets old friends and new and has to figure out how to negotiate her flaws (hot temper, inability to say anything other than exactly what she's thinking, and difficult in both figuring out what she's feeling and discussing it, interestingly, often male flaws), before they do actual damage to people she cares about. There's a lot of growing up in this book, and it was well done. Our Heroine feels like a real teenage girl in an extraordinary situation, and her foibles and hang ups grow very naturally out of her backstory.
Setting the book in Constantinople in 1648 was a lot of fun. I know very little about Ottoman history, but would love to learn more. The book has an extensive afterword with sources and suggested reading. I love the printing and science porn as well. The secondary characters, by nature of point of view, weren't as clearly drawn as Our Heroine, but they're a memorable bunch, and the author does a good job of letting them stand as individuals with their own agendas. And of course, I will always root for the gay couple!
The book ended very abruptly, and the rocks fall everyone runs style of conclusion felt a little more like the author wanted to wrap things up and get on with it then a conclusion that had built naturally. All the events had been set up, so it wasn't that improbable, but it still felt really fast. I also wasn't convinced by either of the romances between the younger characters. I appreciated the dodging of a love triangle, but I didn't seen enough of anyone's feelings to have a good idea of why they were doing all this. Though I guess they're all teenagers, so that may come with the territory. I feel that Our Heroine's realisation of love might have been better saved for the next book.
I do hope the author writes the next book, as I will happily read it.
Our Heroine has managed, over the course of the previous book, to piss off roughly half of Europe, and had implicated her friends along with her. They're not riding in exploration or rescue this time, but again forced to flee. She meets old friends and new and has to figure out how to negotiate her flaws (hot temper, inability to say anything other than exactly what she's thinking, and difficult in both figuring out what she's feeling and discussing it, interestingly, often male flaws), before they do actual damage to people she cares about. There's a lot of growing up in this book, and it was well done. Our Heroine feels like a real teenage girl in an extraordinary situation, and her foibles and hang ups grow very naturally out of her backstory.
Setting the book in Constantinople in 1648 was a lot of fun. I know very little about Ottoman history, but would love to learn more. The book has an extensive afterword with sources and suggested reading. I love the printing and science porn as well. The secondary characters, by nature of point of view, weren't as clearly drawn as Our Heroine, but they're a memorable bunch, and the author does a good job of letting them stand as individuals with their own agendas. And of course, I will always root for the gay couple!
The book ended very abruptly, and the rocks fall everyone runs style of conclusion felt a little more like the author wanted to wrap things up and get on with it then a conclusion that had built naturally. All the events had been set up, so it wasn't that improbable, but it still felt really fast. I also wasn't convinced by either of the romances between the younger characters. I appreciated the dodging of a love triangle, but I didn't seen enough of anyone's feelings to have a good idea of why they were doing all this. Though I guess they're all teenagers, so that may come with the territory. I feel that Our Heroine's realisation of love might have been better saved for the next book.
I do hope the author writes the next book, as I will happily read it.
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