Review: The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue

Title: The Sealed Letter
Author: Emma Donoghue
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: 2009
Pages: 416

Rating: 5 out of 10

In Victorian London, Emily "Fido" Faithfull randomly runs into Helen Codrington on the street one day. Years before, the two were inseparable best friends, but their close relationship faded away when Helen's military husband was deployed overseas, and Fido's letters were met with no answer. Now, Fido has grown up into a respected female publisher, and Helen is still the same married woman. After their chance encounter, the two begin their friendship where it left off, which had Helen unhappily married and Fido caught in the middle of the distressed couple.
Things turn out not to have changed much, because soon enough Helen reveals that she has a lover and is still unhappy with her husband. When Helen begins drawing Fido into the affair, Fido struggles between being a good friend and with doing the right thing. Eventually, things culminate into a messy, very public divorce proceeding, which Fido is also unwillingly drawn into when Helen reveals a devastating secret.

A snippet review I found online said that this book was about "British Law in the 1800's." For some reason, I thought that that sounded fascinating. I pictured musty courtrooms and piles of papers piled on desks, about to fall over. It made me think of meticulous detail and political maneuvering.
However, this book was much more lightly written than I anticipated, and while it isn't chick-lit, it can get 'fluffy' at times.

Within the first few pages, I was struck by the immaturity of the characters. Two grown women meet on the street after years of separation, and Fido snottily asks Helen who has "taken her place" as a best friend. This feeling continued through-out the book. I cannot recall exactly how old the characters were, but I know that it was closer to 25 than 15. That didn't stop them from behaving like silly little girls. Helen was supposed to act this way, as that is the way she was written, but Fido seemed juvenile to me as well. She is portrayed as the more sensible, mature of the two, which for the most part she is. But she sometimes broke out of character to do something silly, which ruined any chance of her becoming believable.

As this book is about early divorces, and women's legal rights in court, I was expecting a strong book about strong women. But rather than a book with brave female characters making their way through a man's world of both publishing and law, I got more a feeling of two silly girls running about bashing men.
Fido runs a printing press that publishes material aimed toward women, a revolutionary thing in her day and age. Fido runs her business with an iron hand, and the author seems to want us to think of her as a 19th Century businesswoman. I thought it suspicious that the few male employees Fido had were all either stupid and useless, or conniving and evil.

One thing I did like about the book was Helen. I wouldn't call her well written, but she was entertaining reading material. I rolled my eyes at her swooning over Anderson - it is pointedly obvious that all he wants from her is sex, but she is too naive to realize it. Helen is extremely selfish, and in the few scenes where we see her interacting with her two daughters, she seems to concern herself only vaguely with them, and in turn the two little girls treat their mother with an offhanded dismissal that Mommy is too "distracted" or "stupid" to bother with.
Helen's abuse of Fido's friendship was appalling. She comes by her friend's house and then says that she has invited Anderson over (without asking). At Fido's horrified objections, Helen makes up a lie that she is planning to break up with him. Reluctantly, Fido agrees, but then she hears the two of them having sex in her parlor. When she furiously confronts Helen about it later, Helen leads Fido to believe that she was forced. Later, when things escalate and she is found out, Helen blames Fido, saying that if she had only let her keep meeting Anderson in her parlor (snicker), her husband would never have found out. You have to admit, Helen hasn't many scruples, and it admittedly does make for entertaining reading.
I was truly shocked at how low Helen sinks in her lies to Fido during the trial. She truly would have said anything and hurt anyone - even her best friend - in order to get what she wanted.

*Mild spoilers - you can just skip to the next paragraph* I was annoyed at the revelation toward the end of the book that Helen and Fido had had a sexual relationship in the past. It was utterly pointless to the story, and to me it just seemed like a gratuitous, exaggerated furthering the not-quite-right feminist leanings this book had. Already written man-hating, hearty women who always seem to outsmart every male in the book? Looking to go further? Why not randomly throw in the fact that these women are also lesbian at the end! Sigh.
Feminism isn't about being lesbian or how stupid men are.

I like when characters refer to period books that they are reading, and here, Emily and Fido discuss their reads together. It was a fun, tiny little piece of their conversation, but I was annoyed at a small bit of inaccuracy. Helen says that her favorite scene in Lady Audley's Secret was when a woman pushes her husband down a well. However, there is certainly no such scene. I know this and I read the very same book only a few months ago.
On the other hand, besides the tiny mistake, it gave me a good feeling to hear Victorian Londoners talking about reading the same books that I read today, and the characters mentioned a book that I hadn't heard of called East Lynne. I thought that it sounded very good, and was pleased to find it was a real book when I looked it up. If nothing else, I'll have gained some new Victorian reading material.

In short, though, this book never impressed me. It was alright, I suppose, and the legal proceedings that took up the second half of the book were intriguing and not such light page turning as hearing about Helen's reckless secret meetings with her flippant lover. Average, I suppose.

Review: The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

Title: The Thirty-Nine Steps
Author: John Buchan
Genre: Classics
First published: 1915

Rating: 5 out of 10

Richard Hannay is an engineer who has traveled the world, and now finds himself living in London. He also finds himself bored with life with nothing to do. Conveniently, that very night, a mysterious little man named Scudder appears at his doorstep, and tells him a tale of spies, running from the German secret service, faked suicides, and codes. Hannay agrees to help the man by hiding him in his apartment, but on returning home the next day, he finds Scudder murdered and his home ransacked. After investigating a bit, he finds a black book that belonged to his late house-guest, filled with an illegible code. Knowing this to be what the killers were searching his home for, he assumes that they will be after him next. He also assumes that the London police will find evidence enough to convince everyone that it was he who murdered Scudder. Believing himself to have no choice, he leaps aboard a train to Scotland. He journeys about the countryside on foot, in disguises, on bicycles, and in stolen expensive cars, all the while deciphering the code in Scudder's black book and unraveling the mystery of what is going on around him.

Knowing absolutely nothing of the genre, I was curious to read this book, which even I know is famous for inspiring the spy / thriller genre. Minus the hot girl on our heroe's arm, I certainly could find a lot of similarities to other spy movies I've seen (I have to limit my knowledge to movies, as I haven't read nearly enough books to make comparisons).

This was a lot dryer than what I expected, and there was never any tone of desperation or stress, like I would expect from a man running from two formidable enemies. Even when he is captured, Richard seems to look upon all of the events with a collected, factual state of mind.

This book was very unrealistic - and I know that spy stories always are, but this was different.
Such as, wouldn't it have been better for Richard to disappear in London (where he already was) instead of head for the country? He is always bemoaning the fact that there is nowhere to hide there, while in London, this would certainly not have been the case.
Also, a suspiciously high number of absolute strangers were willing to help, and sometimes take risks for Richard. This was, of course, highly unlikely, but the main character never seemed to see anything odd in it.
Little things like this really took my mind away from the story, and annoyed me. There is a difference between probable (boring) and believable (well written).

At first, this book started off at a racing pace. Within just a few pages, Scudder has appeared at Richard's door, with tales of spies and intrigue, and a few pages later, he is murdered and Richard goes on the run. I absolutely loved it. It was Victorian with a dash of James Bond.
However, after this point, the book got progressively more and more boring up until the very end. The middle is all just about Richard traveling, and besides the stolen cars, most often not in very glamorous or "thrilling" ways. At one point, he is even riding a bicycle.
I actually wondered, after Richard had been traveling for awhile, if the author was tricking us, and the spies didn't exist at all. In fact, I found myself surprised when the spies finally materialized later, and proved themselves to be, indeed, real.

Scudder was the very best part of this book, and I fervently wish that he had lived, and gone traveling with Richard. That would have been interesting, as the man got to know his traveling companion without revealing too much, keeping Richard and the reader in constant suspense.

Though it did not lend itself to the "fleeing" scenes (code here for peaceful bicycle rides in the charming countryside), the British writing was a good combination in the more exciting scenes. Again, the beginning was the best portion of this little book, and though I loved the tone and overall feeling of the writing style, I wouldn't call this a "great book."

Review: Prophecy by S.J. Parris

Title: Prophecy
Author: S.J. Parris
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher: Doubleday
Published: 2011
Pages: 384

Rating: 6 out of 10

The 2nd book in the series of mysteries following Giordano Bruno, a former monk now turned detective / writer / philosopher / spy, leaves Oxford University and brings us to Whitehall Palace in London. The year is 1583, a year that astrologers proclaim will bring about great tragedy. Bruno, who is still working for the Queen's spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham, is sent to befriend and reside with the family of a suspicious French ambassador, who may or may not be plotting to put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne in place of Elizabeth. Only a few nights after arriving, one of the Queen's ladies in waiting is murdered, and soon afterward, another. Bruno embarks upon a feverish search to find the killer...

I enjoyed this book in the series, and felt that it was a good continuation of the first one. We do get to know our hero Bruno a bit more as his character is filled out, which I had mentioned in my review of Heresy. Bruno is still, as a sub-plot, seeking the lost Copernicus volume, which he believes contains revolutionary secrets about philosophy and astronomy.

I enjoyed seeing more of Walsingham, who I have always thought a fascinating historical figure. And Merritt portrayed him just right, in my opinion.
Bruno also becomes a close friend of John Dee, the famed scholar, and I had to re-read the decadent descriptions of his house and library a couple times. It sounded as if my dream house was being described - beautiful books absolutely everywhere.

On the negative side, this book is very similar to the first one. I have to admit that I do often have this complaint about a lot of mystery series, because they all just seem so repetitive. People solve a mystery, the end. Book 2 - people solve a mystery, the end. Book 3...
Mystery series that I have enjoyed in the past, I realize, all have strong main characters, inventive plots (not just the same mystery every time), and a progressive plot to the series that involves a bigger picture than this and that mystery.
So far, Bruno isn't a strong enough character for me to say that he really comes alive in the stories. As for inventive plots, this one seemed like a repeat of book one, except in a different setting. Bruno is still spying on some people, and solving crimes that have religious, symbolic undertones, as people try to dissuade him from his sleuthing. As for an overarching plot that encompasses the series in its entirety, though we are only on book 2, I would guess that that isn't very existent here either. Sure, Bruno is still looking for that book, but it would have to be something bigger than that.

Yet again, I was annoyed by the females of the story, notably the red-haired lady in waiting that Bruno begins feeling attracted to after she helps him collect evidence about the killer's first victim. Unlike with Sophia of "Heresy," nothing ever actually happens with girl two. However, she still felt so very obligatory, as if the author felt that she had to throw in a pretty girl somewhere along the lines. Like Sophia, the redhead (I have forgotten her name, as you can see) is also conveniently thrown out of the story later on, though it had looked as if she was being set up to become a major character. At least her exit wasn't so tailored and ridiculous as Sophia's, though.

Despite having quite a few complaints about this book, I still enjoyed reading it. For all of my saying it was too similar to the first installment (which I hold with, nonetheless), I enjoyed the two about the same. It was quickly paced and interesting, and the musings about philosophy and astronomy and religious politics of the day were very interesting.

Perhaps I will read Bruno's next adventure, but it would have to be something new and completely different to the first two books.

Review: The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin

Title: The American Heiress
Author: Daisy Goodwin
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Headline Review
Published: 2010
Pages: 480

Rating: 1 out of 10

Set in both New York and England during the Gilded Age, this book follows the story of Cora Cash, a beautiful heiress famous for being the wealthiest young lady in America. Her scheming socialite mother only wants one last thing for her daughter: a title. And so, Cora is sent to England to find a husband of nobility, where she finds herself soon engaged to Duke Ivor of Wareham.

My Last Duchess (later published in the U.S. as The American Heiress) was a weakly written, predictable, and insipid book that I was only too happy to eliminate from my shelves.

The first thing that annoyed me was the author's constant throwing about of stilted descriptions of grandeur, obviously meant to be impressive. Rather than give the book an atmosphere of elegance and wealth (which is what normally comes to mind at the mention of the Gilded Age), I simply felt that she was tossing names and sums of money about at random.
An example from the first few pages:

The Cash household had its own Hall of Mirrors, which the visitors who had been to Versailles pronounced even more spectacular than the original.

Rather than show us the finery that the heroine is privileged to, Goodwin only ever tells us. Everyone in the book is aghast at the fact that the Cash family has their own trans-Atlantic steamer, and then the author throws in the fact that Cora brought along eight of her favorite horses on the voyage. But we never actually 'see' this ship for ourselves, or get a description of it. We are simply told that it is enormously expensive, and that's all that we really need to know.
Cora is constantly referred to as "the richest girl in the world," or "an American princess," or "a billionaire."
It just all seemed so very over the top and silly.

All of the characters are neglected, even the main character of Cora. I never liked her - at the beginning, she was a spoiled, foolish girl. At the end, she was the same.
She says to a man at one point: "Would you like to kiss me? Most men want to, but I am just too rich."
I certainly never felt that I got to know her. In the first few chapters, the reader is given the impression that she is a strong-willed girl longing to break free of her mother's controlling grasp. It could have been an interesting plot development, but it is dropped within the first twenty pages.

Cora's mother seemed set to become a major, interesting character, but she fell out of the plot entirely less than halfway through. Much the same for Teddy, a love interest of Cora's, who leaves and then weakly re-enters the book later on without ever being in much focus.

None of the characters were focused on enough, and none of their relationships made very much sense to me.

The supposed "romance" between the Duke, Ivo, and Cora was trivial and uninspiring. In fact, I would have to say that no love ever existed between them, and nor is it ever likely to.
Cora conveniently (but utterly by chance) takes a fall off her horse while riding through the Duke's property. Also by chance, he happens to stumble across her and rescue her.
Before they have shared even twenty minutes together, they are engaged. The society and gossip papers of two continents are obsessed with the couple's wedding, but they themselves approach it nonchalantly. The book seemed to always be highlighting the fact that their relationship lacked passion, and was cool and distanced - boring, even. I assumed that this was some sort of set-up so that Cora could leave Ivo in the end, and realize that wanting a title was no excuse to marry someone, but it turned out that it was just the way that their relationship was. Despite their obvious lack of any chemistry, the book insists that they love each other.

There is a revelation at the end of brothers falling in love with the same woman, who cheated on both of them, leading one brother to attempt suicide. His brother encouraged him, but then tried to save him, but failed, and convinced himself that he had killed his sibling, then went on to convince himself that the woman had actually made him kill his sibling, whilst both hating and loving her. The woman, to make the man angry, married a rich man, who was another sibling...
All this boggling information was dumped on the reader in exactly this manor - rushed and nonsensical. Perhaps if it had been built up, and written with a bit of finesse and talent, it would have been interesting.
But here, it was so B-grade soap opera, I skimmed the paragraph without even trying to make sense of it all.

This was an extremely obvious, shakily written book that was sorely in need of an editor. Not recommended. Just no.

Review: The Confession of Katherine Howard by Suzannah Dunn

Title: The Confession of Katherine Howard
Author: Suzannah Dunn
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: 2011
Pages: 320

Rating: 3 out of 10

This brief story recounts portions of Katherine Howard's girlhood, as well as her days as queen and her disastrous fate. It is told from the viewpoint of Cat, a naive girl who grew up with Katherine and now serves as her lady in waiting.

The book starts out ominously:
"I was thinking... this is who we are: the perfect queen and her faithful retinue. Now, I wish I could go back, patter over the lavish carpets to tap us on the shoulders, whisper in our ears and get us out alive." (page 4)
I found this to be a good example of Dunn's writing. Almost well written, but not quite. The potential is there, but an amateur quality remains. In actuality, the above sentence is relatively flattering, being more eloquent than most others in the book, but it still doesn't exactly fit. First of all, Cat never views Katherine as "the perfect queen," and with good reason. And who in the world "patters" over carpets?? I suppose next will be carpeted tap-dancing.

Worse than people's shoes tapping on carpets is the modern style of Dunn's writing. There is a whole lot of sex talk between the girls, and while I don't doubt that girls of any time period are capable of being curious, their wishful conversations sounded just a bit too unrealistic.

Something that greatly annoyed me was that the main character Cat is so drastically overlooked. She remained definitively faceless and without personality for the entire story. Coming into the book, I didn't read the back cover, and I had been assuming that Katherine Howard would be the narrator. When it became clear that the story was being told by someone else, I kept thinking that on the next page, this person would introduce herself and reveal her identity. But she didn't until about page 50!
Her name is never, ever mentioned until quite far in, and we have to guess for ourselves that she is the queen's lady in waiting or maid or something of that nature.
I got a strong impression that the author expected readers to just know that our main character was "Cat Tilney, ladies maid" from the description on the back cover. And absolutely no book should rely on that, in my opinion.

In the same way of forgetting to mention her own main character's name, Suzannah Dunn fails to mention or feature a lot of other things, too.
Before Cat and Katherine come to court, they appear to enjoy gossiping about the latest royal news with their friends. As girls, they hear about the queen being taken away and replaced by a new one, who is later beheaded.
Of course, I know who they are talking about - Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Later, they converse about Anne of Cleves as well. But it struck me as very strange that they would never once mention any names. Anne Boleyn's name is not featured once in the entirety of the novel, and neither are any other of Katherine's many predecessors.
Katherine's affair with Thomas Culpepper is mentioned often, but we never actually "see" him. He is mentioned, but never featured in any scenes, turning him into just a name of some guy.
The words "London" and "England" seem to be avoided. Absolutely no sense of setting is given whatsoever, which is always a major negative point for me, especially with historical fiction, and especially with historical fiction that deals with royalty. Kings and queens are ingrained so deeply in their countries and their cultures, a writer ought to find it impossible not to mention them.
I can't fathom why the author seemed to go out of her way to avoid specific names and titles, but it certainly didn't do any favors for the story.

Before this one, the only other book that I had read that prominently focused on Katherine Howard was Philippa Gregory's The Boleyn Inheritance. Though I know that Gregory is not exactly known for her accuracy, I have to say that that book is leagues better than this one.
I also felt that Gregory's Katherine was much more believable and probable: a beautiful, flirtatious, silly girl who is ignorant and not all that intelligent.
Here, Dunn's Katherine is described as not being all that pretty or charming. She seems a grim, flinty girl who is wise beyond her years, mysterious, and ever so solemn - a stark opposite of Gregory's version.
But it doesn't seem to fit the history - Henry VIII had just left the plain, solemn Anne of Cleves looking for something more entertaining, and chose Katherine. Why would he choose another ugly girl with a grey personality? And why would a wise, cunningly intelligent girl make herself so easy to trap by continuing an affair with the king's favorite? Perhaps this could be excused if Katherine was written as being desperately in love with Thomas, but she wasn't. Katherine struck me as an un-feeling, passionless girl.
So, the entire persona of Katherine didn't ever seem right to me, always a bit off.

After the culmination of events with Katherine being investigated, the book ends rather suddenly. It would be easy for a reader not educated on the events to miss the fact that Katherine was actually executed.
The historical note at the end focuses far more on the executions of Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpepper, for some reason.

Since I have now said so many negative things about the book, I am trying to think of a positive one.
I suppose that I did like how I finished reflecting to myself how unlikely a contestant Katherine was for the throne. Unlike her cousin Anne Boleyn, she was never groomed and pushed to catch the court's eye, and grew up as practically a commoner. As she talks about news, faraway at court, she obviously doesn't see herself ever becoming one of those people she hears about.

The book wasn't actually quite so terrible as my review probably makes it sound. It was easy to read, and moved at a quick enough pace (though it did get bogged down whenever there was a flashback to girlhood days). It was definitely below average, but I didn't hate it.

The Confession of Katherine Howard was a book that I simply didn't have strong feelings for either way - though if I did, they would be more likely to lean toward negativity. Don't expect any of the characters to have strong identities, or the events any gravity, either. Like the vapid main character, this was a dry book vacant of personality.

Review: Maid Marian by Ella Watson

Title: Maid Marian
Author: Elsa Watson
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Published: 2005
Pages: 314

Rating: 7 out of 10

I began reading this book with reluctance. After all, the story of Robin Hood has been told so many times, and I was mostly expecting this one to be just another Robin Hood book.
However, I was pleasantly surprised right from the beginning. Elsa Watson's writing is grounded, realistic, and elegant. I really felt as if I was there in her medieval world. The vivid setting and the fact that I love the Middle Ages prompted me to read the entire book in one sitting.

The story is about Marian Fitzwater, a girl whose young fiancee died when she was a child. Now, her fiancee's mother, the deceptive Lady Pernelle, is vying to convince Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine that she can rightfully take over Marian's lands. As Eleanor prepares to have Marian married off into a loveless arranged marriage, Marian sees no choice other than to flee along with her beloved maid. From there, she ends up joining the band of Robin Hood, a roguish outlaw, and finds herself falling in love.

Something that I loved about this story is that it doesn't try to be a re-telling of Robin Hood. It isn't about Robin, it's about Marian. The author has truly created a new character, who isn't defined or characterized by Robin or the legend that she is a part of.
All of the characters had their own personality. Marian's was well written, and I loved her loyal maid. Robin's character wasn't exactly original (it's exactly what anyone would expect from the well-known outlaw) but he wasn't awful, and I liked him. It was also interesting that the author portrayed Eleanor of Aquitaine in a less than favorable light.

The only thing that I didn't like about the story was a section in the plot that I didn't think made much sense. Robin is about to go and fight a vicious battle that he may not live through. Marian begs him to stay, because she wouldn't be able to bear it if he were to be killed. Of course, Robin goes anyways, and Marian is so outraged, she decides to leave without warning. She wanders aimlessly through the country, disguised as a peasant, and ends up living with a kindly poor woman and her family. I thought that this was all rather dramatic. And yes, the woman that Marian met was very likable and a well written minor character, but there is no point to her or Marian's departure and journey. All of that has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Wouldn't it have been more exciting to have Marian sneak off to join the fight? Or have the men return, but without Robin, so she has to go find him? Save him, maybe?
But no. Instead the author decides to send her on a pointless journey across the country.
And then, one day, Robin himself shows up! Tada! He's alive! He and Marian joyfully ride back to Sherwood Forest.
I have to say, this seemed highly unlikely to me, even a bit suspect. I kept hoping that there was some secret plot detail that the author hadn't revealed yet - How exactly did Robin find Marian? Did someone in the village tell him? What about the family she was staying with?
But no. All pointless.

However, thankfully Elsa Watson is brilliant at spinning characters off of her descriptions of rolling hills and lush countryside. Through out the book, the prose and details are wonderful. I will certainly be looking for more of her work, for this very reason. Whether pointless or relevant, all the characters were believable, especially the female ones. And her writing is graceful but without becoming unrealistic or overly dramatic.

This is a great book that I recommend. Most likely, you won't even notice the plot detour. Watson's writing is just too pretty to mind.

Review: Outlaw by Agnus Donald

Title: Outlaw
Author: Agnus Donald
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Published: 2011
Pages: 352

Rating: 5 out of 10

Outlaw tells the familiar story of Robin Hood in a new light. In 12th Century England, Robin is revered as a sort of rogue king by the people of the land. After a young man named Alan is caught stealing, he is taken in by the band of outlaws and begins training as a swordsman.

In this book, Robin Hood is not a merry adventurer, and even the basic premise of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor is mostly taken out. Instead, Robin is truly like a king, not in the sense of majesty and glorification, but in the sense that with his power comes much responsibility and decisions to which, many times, there are no right answers. The men constantly trying to capture him could be viewed as enemies perpetually trying to steal his "throne." Even though the details are never explicitly spelled out, it appears that Robin offers to protect villages in exchange for taxation rights. Those who disobey his laws are punished severely. We don't see that much of the inner-workings of Robin's "reign," so I am not sure how successful it is proving. But in one memorable scene, Robin and his men come upon a smoldering village that has been raided and burnt down. A woman tells him spitefully that he promised to protect them.

I didn't dislike this book, or particularly like it either. I got through it quickly and easily, and the pacing was quick, with a lot of action. Though I was never bored, I always felt a sort of distance from the story.

First of all, I didn't really like the main character Alan. He is the typical warrior-in-training: over eager for battle and glory, falls in love for the first time, shows talent of course, attracts the eye of Robin Hood for his skills, and thus thinks himself quite important and goes around for the rest of the book acting like a noble (but not battle hardened) man.
In many situations, he takes drastic measures with ordinary problems. When he needs money, he steals an enormous ruby from a man who is hospitably letting him stay in his home. When he considers paying a prostitute to help him lose his virginity, he actually does so right away, and then a second time again. When a boy taunts and annoys him, Alan intentionally tries to get him killed by accusing him of betraying his father.
I thought that he took things quite far, and was surprised at the end to see none of this come back with any consequences.

*Spoilers, you can skip the rest of this paragraph* The boy who taunted him, Guy, was a bully and not a likable character, but so what? He wasn't that bad, and Alan should have just shrugged and moved on. Instead, he falsely accuses the boy of serious crime and plants evidence to back up his claim. Later, when they meet up again, he volunteers to duel the boy in front of Robin's band. I expected him to defeat the bully, but to show mercy and not actually kill him. So much for that - not only does Alan kill him, he whispers into the dying boy's ear that he was the one who planted false evidence on him, and to take that knowledge to Hell.
Gosh! Were a few taunts about Alan not being manly really worthy of all that? I was pretty surprised, and kept wondering if there was some hideously evil side to the bully that I had missed.

Another thing that I thought was very much missing from the story was a detailing of how Robin's band and rule actually worked. We see people paying him taxes in a scene at the beginning, and we see him doling out punishment. We see him fighting a lot of battles. But these are only the thinnest shades of the establishment and keeping of a kingdom, even such a small one.

For a few chapters, Alan is sent to court as a spy, and there he meets Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, who is depicted as prickly and strict, but fair. I was surprised that she appears to know all about Lady Marie-Anne (Donald's Maid Marian) being engaged to Robin. And Marie-Anne is one of her ladies in waiting. Eleanor even seems to know that recently, Marie-Anne went to see Robin. If he is such an enemy of the official rulers of England, why would the Queen not appear to care about this?

There were some other minor things that I disliked, one of them being the flashback style this book tried. I couldn't see any point to it. Alan, as an old man, is reminiscing about his time as a young outlaw. But there were only a handful of scenes in which it switches to him as a grandfather, literally about three. In one of them, he is frantically trying to save the life of his grandson. The change was jarringly sudden, coming right at the beginning of a new chapter and talking about "my grandson." With no indication that the time has changed, I was confused for a second. We don't know his grandson, and it certainly has nothing to do with the plot, so why do we need to know about how high his fever is?
Alan also speaks in French one time to a music tutor. As a lowly peasant, he wouldn't have known French unless he perhaps originally lived there. He refers to Tuck as "Friar Tuck" most of the time, except for randomly calling him the French "frère" only once. What...
And then, I disliked the romance/sex immensely. Alan "falls in love" with Robin's betrothed, Lady Marie-Anne, even though we never see them interact or speak to each other. It seemed so silly to me. And the entire thing with Kat, the town whore who Alan sleeps with twice, annoyed me.
A pagan ritual in the middle seemed not to mesh with the rest of the story, since even though it was vividly described, was never mentioned again. Paganism had nothing to do with the book anywhere except for in those paragraphs, though the book does focus a lot of attention on Robin's religious views, which are far from Christian.

I understand what the author wanted to do here - write a grittier, more realistic Robin Hood tale without glorification. I got a sense of that from the story, but I don't feel that Donald fleshed out his idea to the true promise it had, and it was a very good idea.

The ending didn't leave me with that satisfied sense of conclusion, and rather than tie things up in a good finish, it leaves things open for the sequel. But it wasn't a cliffhanger ending, thankfully, or else this book would have been knocked down a star.

An average book, but based on the writing, general premise, and steady action I would say that the sequel has potential to be better.

Review: The Trespass by Barbara Ewing

Title: The Trespass
Author: Barbara Ewing
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2003
Pages: 416

Rating: 5 out of 10

A cholera epidemic is sweeping over 1849 London, and though the scientific cause remains mostly a mystery, there are many who are blaming the contaminated water supply. The wealthy owner of the water company, Sir Charles Cooper, meanwhile sends his favorite daughter, the beautiful Harriet, away to the country while her less favored sister Mary stays behind in the disease-ridden city. Harriet misses her older sister fiercely, but cannot bear the thought of returning to her father's house. There is a dark secret there that she cannot speak of to anyone. When Mary is struck by the cholera, Harriet must take matters into her own hands as her father's nightly visits become more frequent, and makes a daring plan to escape to the other end of the world.

I was interested to learn about the colonization of New Zealand, which is something that I haven't come across in fiction before.
I also loved the brooding atmosphere to this book, though it isn't quite as Gothic and chilly as the cover suggested.

I liked the plot's main points, but it all seemed quite untidy. The element of the putrid water supply for London being a carrier of sickness, while the wealthy water company owner sits back and does nothing, seemed a good little background point. It is focused on heavily in the first few pages, and then forgotten save for one character's comment about it later on.
In the beginning of the book, Harriet is sent away to her aunt and uncle's house in the country, in order to be safe from London's sickness. I suppose the book could be split into thirds - Harriet's time in the country, her time back at home, and her time in New Zealand. Her time in the country seemed pretty irrelevant, though. It introduced us to quite a lot of characters, who seemed poised to become major personalities in the book, and who Harriet becomes quite fond of. However, once she leaves, all but one disappear from the story completely. Also, I wondered a bit at Harriet's abusive father sending her away. Wouldn't it be more plausible that he would selfishly keep her in London for his own sake?

Harriet's sexually abusive father never came across to me as quite the villain that he should have. I expected a tension and a darkness to it all, but I never felt at all that he was evil, more just a half-hearted, weak attempt at "bad." And since the author made Harriet decide never to speak or think of these incidents, they have no impact on the reader except for what we can imagine to ourselves. Harriet's day-time interactions with her father are formal and stiff, but far from ominous. Her terrible night-time ones are never actually witnessed, because her father gives her laudanum so that she is never awake while he is there.
On one hand, this is YA Fiction, and explicit sex scenes of such a dark nature probably aren't necessary for the age group. But on the other hand, much could have been done with Harriet's emotions, and it doesn't seem right that we never get to see into her head about how she truly feels and is affected by this abuse.

Mary's death also seemed a bit hurried to me, though I am pretty sure that Ewing was simply trying to let the reader feel some of the shock that Harriet was. Anyhow, Harriet's reaction to her sister's passing away came across as genuine.

This book is alright. There were plenty of things that could have been tidied up, but 5 stars (out of 10) for a historical topic I've never read about before, a dark undertone, and quick pacing.

Review: Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Title: Lady Audley's Secret
Author: Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Genre: Classics / Mystery
First published: 1862
Pages: 496

Rating: 7 out of 10

For some reason, I wasn't expecting much out of this classic novel, and it sat on my shelves for more than just a few months. However, once I started reading, I couldn't put Lady Audley's Secret down.

A beautiful young woman named Lucy has recently married Sir Michael Audley, a rich older man, and comes to stay at the prestigious Audley Court Manor. Sir Audley's daughter is jealous of her new rival, but everyone else seems fascinated and delighted at the new little mistress.
But when Sir Michael's nephew Robert and his friend George Talboys come to stay, strange things begin to happen.
Talboys mysteriously disappears one day, and no one seems to have the slightest idea where he has gone.
Robert sets out to find him, but the trail that the mystery leads him down becomes increasingly darker and shocking.

Written in 1862, this book was much more lightly written and easy to get through than other contemporary books of that time, such as the works of the Bronte sisters. I noticed this at once, and I found it very entertaining.

The characters of this book are quite well drawn, and it is, not surprisingly, Lady Audley who is most memorable. She is a perfectly beautiful and charming young woman who would have been, in her time, the ideal lady. That is, from an outsider's point of view. As the story progresses, we see that behind her mask of sweetness, she hides a much darker, terrible nature. Braddon gives us clues of this early on, which are not all that difficult to catch. For example, the unfinished painting of her, in which she is depicted as a "beautiful fiend." It seems that the artist who painted Lucy saw beyond her pretty smile and further into her true nature. It is also mentioned that Lucy does not like happy tunes, but rather "somber and melancholy" music. Despite being extremely interesting, however, I left the story still wanting to see a bit more into Lady Audley's darker side. She is not the main character, but rather the villain, so we do not spend so many scenes with her as the title may suggest. We are able to assume her malicious and twisted thoughts, because we learn of her actions. However, I never really 'felt' these crimes enough.

I loved the character of Robert Audley, who is a smooth and normally quite lazy barrister. He seemed arrogant and irritating in the beginning, and I couldn't help but picture him as an older Malfoy (from the Harry Potter books - their characters follow me no matter what I read!). However, by the end of the book, he had become a very likable character. If a book must have a main character, it would certainly be Robert, and most of the book follows his actions as he searches for his friend. His relentless loyalty to George Talboys was admirable, and the manner in which he deals with his discoveries is thoughtful to his uncle while still seeking justice.

The pacing of this book was well done and made it easy to continue reading. Short chapters were normally left off in cliff-hangers, since the story was first published in serial form.

I loved the chilly Gothic elements to this book, described just as Gothic passages should be - dark, foreboding, mysterious, with just a touch of strange beauty.
The descriptions of the Audley manor were my favorite, and I really got a sense of the setting. What better house for this mystery than a very old, oddly built mansion with secret passageways?

If you are one of those people who loves trying to figure out the outcome of a mystery before the detective does - look no further. You will definitely be able to quickly realize the culprit here, as the author makes it quite obvious.
However, for this particular story, it worked, and never affected my interest in the plot.
Though it is obvious who is responsible for George's disappearance, and why, we are still left wondering about how.
In a way, knowing before Robert does makes the story even more engaging. I felt as if I had seen the end of a movie and now decided to watch the rest of it. I knew what would happen, but I wanted to see how the characters would make the discovery.

This book certainly exceeded my expectations, and I am looking forward to discovering more of Braddon's work.

Recommended!

Review: John Dee, The World of an Elizabethan Magus by Peter French

Title: John Dee: The World of an Elizabethan Magus
Author: Peter French
Genre: History / Biographies
Publisher: Dorset Press
Published: 1972
Pages: 243

Rating: 6 out of 10

John Dee: The World of an Elizabethan Magus" lays out the Renaissance era of a time when religion was science, when mathematics were mysticism, and when scholars were magicians. If that doesn't sound interesting enough, it's all related to the life of John Dee, a true Renaissance man who mastered theology, science, astronomy, cartography, linguistics, alchemy, mathematics and much more. While today we may have generalized all of these specialties and called him a sort of multifaceted scientist, in the Elizabethan era, he was classified as a magician.

This book is quite a heady read, even though it isn't necessarily that long at 243 pages (and that's only including the extensive bibliography). French doesn't bother with adding in exciting stories (though, he makes it clear that Dee had plenty) or stylized wording. If you like your non-fiction to "read like fiction," this book isn't for you. French doesn't even approach Dee's life from the traditional starting point of his birth and upbringing. In fact, Dee's childhood and youth are not touched on in this book. The time frame jumps around rather than give you a straight year by year description of the subject's life.

The book isn't simply a biography of one man, it is rather a history book about a movement that one man dramatically influenced. Chapters focus on things such as Hermeticism and theology rather than Dee's college days or such things.

The style that this book was written in was distancing and dry, but I was nevertheless interested because of the subject. I'm not sure if all readers would feel the same, however.
Actual Renaissance and medieval works are directly quoted from quite often, still in a sort of Middle English that takes a bit of deciphering and may be, at times, nearly illegible to those not familiar with it. A passable knowledge of Elizabethan figures such as Walsingham will also make getting through this book much easier.

I loved the chapter about Dee's library, even though I found it to be one of the worst written in the book. It was sprawling and dis-organized, and went on to basically give a list of authors, followed by a few paragraphs. It was one of the worst descriptions that I have ever read of a library, especially considering that it was Dee's library - he was known for his possession of one of the greatest book and manuscript collections of all time! I was disappointed by the droning, unfocused (and most of all, disenchanted) relating of this chapter, but again, the subject was of such interest to me that I kept reading eagerly. I have to say that it was more in spite of the writing style than because of it, though.

Something else that I noticed in this book was that the author mentions and references Yates, a previous biographer of Dee, fairly often. At times, he will tell us Yates' opinion and then his (which was, most of the time, pretty much the same). At other times, he mentions Yates for no apparent reason. I haven't read all that many biographies, as I only recently started sliding more toward non-fiction than fiction, so maybe this is a thing that biographers do - acknowledge other biographers of the same person. It just seemed clumsy to me here, though.

In short, I wouldn't say this is exactly a book about John Dee. I wouldn't say it's exactly a biography, or exactly history, but rather a mixture of the two. I would not say that this is a well written book. I definitely wouldn't call it a riveting one. But it was interesting, and provided a wide scope on the world of Elizabethan scholars.

Review: Heresy by S.J. Parris

Title: Heresy
Author: S.J. Parris
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher: Anchor
Published: 2011
Pages: 448

Rating: 7 out of 10

In 1583, Giordano Bruno, a former Italian monk who has been ex-communicated and branded a heretic for reading a banned book, travels to Oxford University with two purposes. The first is his pursuit of an ancient, lost manuscript that he believes holds the key to unlocking revolutionary secrets - if it exists, that is. Secondly, the Queen's powerful spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham has requested that he travel there in order to secretly investigate recent reports that a number of Oxford men are Catholic, despite such loyalties being strictly forbidden by the Protestant Elizabeth I.

I just loved the opening scene of this historical mystery, in which Bruno is frantically reading a banned book in the privacy of his abbey's outhouse. Coincidentally, I can remember quite well stashing books in the bathrooms of my childhood homes, waiting for a moment in the day when I could sneak off and go lock myself inside, supposedly taking a long shower (I was famous for them) while reading books that were "for older people" and not exactly approved of by my parents at the time.
Thus, the scene brought back fond memories.

Once Bruno is at Oxford, he is immediately thrown into a web of new intrigue and old secrets. Shortly after his arrival, a man is brutally killed by a wild dog in the courtyard. Though the incident appears to be an accident, Bruno's instincts and attention to detail leads him to believe that this 'accident' was in fact a murder. As he investigates, other victims at the university are also killed, until no one can deny that there is a killer in their midst.

The plot of this book was all very closely tied to religion in the Elizabethan era. Bruno's detective work concerning the string of murders leads him down a winding path of loyalties and politics, all closely intertwined with the Church, whether Catholic or Protestant.
The sub-plot, of Bruno's commissioned espionage for Walsingham, is essentially to root out Catholics and report them. Though Bruno does succeed in finding those who practice the old religion, he muses to himself about why exactly this is so wrong, and why the Queen's spymaster should concern himself with what religion other men choose to follow.
The second sub-plot, of the main character's quest to find the lost Copernican book (rumored to have been shelved in a hidden Oxford library), is also underlined in religion. Bruno seeks the book as he believes that it would answer many people's questions about God and the universe. Unconsciously, Bruno recognizes that the international unrest caused by church leaders and religious law could do with changing.

This book was fast paced and exciting, and I read it fairly quickly. I loved so many of the elements that the plot offered - the seeking of lost books, 16th-Century Oxford University, a priest/writer/spy hunting a murderer... It was all intriguing and certainly added a lot to the book, even if this was where it stayed.

This was a good book, but far from a great one - not for any particular reason, but simply for the type of book it is. The author gives quite a few nods to Umberto Eco in her writing, and there are some hard-to-miss plot similarities between this book and The Name of the Rose. However, I believe that Parris' story would have been far better off without these references. The truth is, this book is just your average historical mystery, read and approached lightly, for entertainment and/or to pass the time. Eco's writing, on the other hand, is brilliantly literary, the type of author that you ought to read (whether you like him or not) simply because he is one of the greatest novelists of the past century.
In other words, you shouldn't blatantly invite comparisons to Umberto Eco if you are admittedly leagues beneath him.

The character of Bruno didn't come across to me as well as I had thought it would. I loved him in the opening passages, as I stated above, but after that, the book focused on events going on rather than on Bruno himself. Though it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the story, I only stopped to think after I had completed Heresy that I still didn't really have a sense of who Bruno himself was. But perhaps he will be filled out more in the sequel - which is in the mail on its way to my shelves now.

I just loved the setting of Oxford, and I had been so excited to find a historical mystery set there. I am familiar with Renaissance Oxford in a sense of knowing its history, and look forward to one day actually going there.
Parris' depiction of Oxford wasn't quite so richly textured as I was hoping it would be, and yet, she never lets the reader forget about the setting. Bruno's detective adventures lead him to explore a good part of the university, and I loved the brief sharing of history and facts here and there.

The only glaringly negative aspect I could find here was Bruno's romantic interest, Sophia Underhill. At first it looked as though she was to be a major part of the story, but she was actually useless to the plot, and the climax (which involved her) felt catered toward her character, as if Parris felt obligated to center things around the only female. I didn't like her at all, and the way that Bruno's thoughts and emotions when it came to romance were approached seemed unconvincing and silly.

Besides a bit of a disappointing climax (it was thrilling, but somehow... hmm, not quite right), I really enjoyed reading this Renaissance mystery. Giordano Bruno was actually a real person, and the author provides plenty of information on him in her author's note. I love finding obscure characters of history like that.

Recommended for those who enjoy historical mysteries or are interested in religious politics of the Elizabethan era. I am looking forward to reading the second book.

Review: Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

Title: Moll Flanders
Author: Daniel Defoe
Genre: Classics
Publisher: Penguin Classics
First published: 1722
Pages: 244

Rating: 6 out of 10

Moll Flanders is the tale of an innovative woman who will stoop to the lowest of trades in order to be a "lady." Married five times, Moll is at varying times a thief, a whore, a convict, and a prisoner.

This book was interesting, though not exactly a page turner. Defoe, as is to be expected, is quite fond of rambling on about every little detail, which is accentuated due to a lack of chapters or page breaks.

Few characters are given a name, which can also make the book a bit confusing. Even Moll never reveals her true name, always insisting to the reader that Moll Flanders is just a nick name she is given later in life.
I got more than a few of Moll's many husbands confused at different points, because they were all "him." Eventually everyone just became "that guy" in my mind.

I liked the character of Moll, because she was different, and certainly unique for a book written in Defoe's time. She seems shameless and unscrupulous from the very beginning, which she seems to justify in her mind as a way of survival.
When her friends and comrades in crime are hung, Moll voices no sorrow over their deaths, only fear that she may soon share the same fate.

There is no doubt that Moll is not exactly a blameless character. She uses her beauty to snare potentially rich husbands, and she mentions a few times having children and then they are never mentioned again. In fact, I remember her saying that she had "gotten rid of" her children, or some similar phrasing, by giving them to a friend or family member. She has a few very low moments, such as when she steals a piece of jewelry from a young child, or when she steals a family's things while their house is burning down.

However, there is something likable to Moll, and I would never classify her as one of those hero-villain types.
Perhaps it is how clever and innovative she is, just trying her best to make her way in the world the best that she knows how.
Her schemes becoming increasingly creative as the book progresses, and I loved when she began her disguises - a man, a lady, a beggar, a widow, a foreigner.

Though Moll is always calling herself "wicked" or "sinful," she seems unwilling to fully acknowledge it.
Such as, just after she has stolen something, she says:

"I confess the inhumanity of this action moved me very much, and made me relent exceedingly, and tears stood in my eyes..., but I could never find in my heart to make any restitution."

When Moll is at least caught in her schemes and locked in Newgate Prison, I felt that I knew her for the first time in the story. Defoe's writing style doesn't exactly allow you to become all that close to Moll through out the story, but we feel that we have seen her entire life leading up to this point when at last she is thrown into the jail.

She seems to fear Newgate more than anything, perhaps because it forces her to think of herself as not a great lady, like she always strove to be - but a common criminal.

I loved how even after thrown in jail and sentenced to death, Moll never ceased her scheming, and rather than sink into despair over the verdict, she immediately begins planning a way out of it.

*Mild spoilers in the next paragraph*

The ending surprised me a little, as I had honestly expected Moll to meet as unfortunate an end as the rest of her life reflected. But the ending was, instead, a happy one, and I closed the book smiling.

This is a good character study about a very interesting, notorious woman.

Review: The White Witch by Elizabeth Goudge

Title: The White Witch
Author: Elizabeth Goudge
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Hodder & Stroughton
Published: 1977
Pages: 414

Rating: 2 out of 10

For so many pages, this book is quite empty. I will try to list a plot here, but truly, there wasn't one. This is the best that I could come up with:

It is 1642 England, and the English Civil War is flaring up. Back at their peaceful estate, the affluent Haslewood family does their best to get through the times.

The White Witch was a very bland, tedious novel that I found it quite a chore to finish. Fortunately, the writing isn't all that difficult, so I just decided to sit down one night with a good supply of tea (the best thing about reading this one) and be done with it.

I couldn't believe how long the author let the plot go motionless. The first 200 pages are filled with descriptions of people going from here to there, and it all just seemed so pointless. It wasn't as if anything exciting or remotely interesting happened - ever.
Not that I need every book I read to be a page-turner, but this one was just nothing. I wondered to myself how an author could possibly think that she had put enough into this book and get it published. If this had been more of a character-driven book, with good characterizations and strong writing, I would have forgiven the lack of events in a moment. But even the main characters fall flat and appear empty of thoughts and feelings. Many of the reviews on the cover listed this as "Goudge's best" or, "her peak," making me wonder if they were either paid for or quoted massively out of context.

The one thing that does happen, around page 200, is that we get to see a battle of the war, with Charles II as a character.
I thought that perhaps this marked the beginning of the action (finally) but was wrong.
After the battle, things return to the Haslewoods, and everything goes on just as tediously as it had before until the very last page.

I thought that it was funny how for so long, all of the characters keep saying that they are "fighting" the war, and how the war is looming over them, but in actuality, their hollow words are as much as the war ever touches them. There appears to be no war at all, no matter how much they keep telling us that it is affecting them so deeply.

Other things I found annoying...
- Froniga references "the middle ages." I am pretty sure that no one called them that until much later than 1642.
- Yoben, our heroine's Romany love interest, annoyed me. I don't mind a bit of romance, and I love Gypsy stories, but this man would have been better edited out. Like everything else, he is pointless to the story. The fact that he and Froniga have been in love for ten years, but have never spoken of it or done anything, seemed a bit of a stretch.
- There were too many characters. Even the main characters were under developed, so the last thing this book needed was more. But, for example, Yoben has an adopted mother, a sister, and his mother has three children. Do we really need all of these extra and irrelevant characters?
- This thing about unicorns. Everyone kept emphasizing it and it got old, plus (like everything else) it was pointless.
- Everyone measures their love for everyone! Every single character is always giving us a list of who they love most, and second most, and how they love Jenny just a bit more than Will, or Froniga second to Margaret, or Froniga first, and so on. What??
- There are a few chapters devoted to two completely random characters (a gypsy and a servant) who haven't come up in the story before except to be mentioned passingly. For some reason, Goudge draws up a little story for them, almost like a bad short story smacked down in the middle of a novel, about how the Gypsy fools the servant woman out of her money (and in a way that really didn't make any sense, by the way). I know that I have already said everything about this book was pointless, but this brazen veering away from the vague plot line was just ridiculous.

Every plot element in this book is watered down, subdued, and drawn out into boredom. Certainly not a book I would recommend.

Review: The Pleasure Palace by Kate Emerson

Title: The Pleasure Palace
Author: Kate Emerson
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2009
Pages: 400

Rating: 2 out of 10

From beginning to end, this was a fluffy book that made for painful reading.

It is the story of Jane Popyncourt, who flees 1500's France to England with her mother at a young age. There, she does her best to blend into the royal court of King Henry VIII.

I was bored by the hollow characters here, especially Jane herself. Her thoughts seemed so wooden and scripted.
The writing was abrupt and hurried through, certain things struck me as a bit too unrealistic, and there were a few plot points that were never really tied up.
The basis of the story, which has Jane's mother fleeing her country, is never fully explained.

For a few chapters, Jane spends a great deal of pages coming up with an involved, elaborate plan to get the king alone in order to speak with him privately. However, this never made much sense to me because Jane seems to have a good relationship with the king, and sees him as often as she wishes. Surely she could simply ask to speak to him privately, or lower her voice? But no. Instead, she hatches a scheme to pretend-seduce the king, culminating in his being in his bedroom with her and about to undress her (is that alone enough?). At this moment, Jane tells him that actually, there will be no sex. In fact, quite the opposite - she wants him to do a favor for her. Considering the fact that Henry VIII was known for being so lusty and prone to tantrums (not to mention being a man), I found it very suspicious that he accepts this bewildering changing of the tides with little more than a twinge of disappointment. And to make everything even worse, Jane's secret request isn't even secretive. It wouldn't have mattered if she had asked the King in public after all. The whole thing was ridiculous.

The above paragraph is simply one example of writing that often made no sense. A smaller thing would be that Jane recognizes her brother immediately after not seeing him since she was 9 (I cannot remember how old she was at the time, but most likely around 20), and doesn't even make that big of a deal of their reunion.
Jane is always being described as innocent and good and child-like, though she does take a lover, which would almost certainly have lost her these titles in her day and age. The King himself calls her "child" when she is in her 30's, and not as a pet name. Um...
I was annoyed at Jane constantly referring to her romantic interest, Guy, as if it was the first time the reader was hearing of him. Hundreds of pages after we first meet Guy, she is still saying "I saw his brother, Guy..." or "I say a young man named Guy Dunois walking by..." Alright, we know who he is now!

I cannot think of anything I enjoyed about this poorly written book.

Review: The Tudor Secret by C.W. Gortner

Title: The Tudor Secret
Author: C.W. Gortner
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Published: 2011
Pages: 352

Rating: 4 out of 10

In 1553 England, Brendan Prescott is sent to serve the Dudley family and act as squire to Robert Dudley. Nearly as soon as he arrives in London, he is swept into a swirl of politics and intrigue in a royal court whose young monarch, the fading Edward VI, lies on his deathbed. Vying for the throne are Jane Grey and the two Tudor daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and each of them have supporters and enemies. Brendan is first asked to spy for Robert, and then to double-spy for William Cecil, a powerful name at court and an ally of Elizabeth's.

I had resolved just a few weeks ago to take a break from Tudor England, since I feel the topic has been more than exhausted in today's popular historical fiction. But, when I saw this one on the Early Reviewer's page, I was drawn in by the beautiful cover and the idea of spies and secret identities and double-crossing. It sounds marvelous, but unfortunately the best thing about this book was the cover.

Not that it was entirely awful, but I can't think of anything in particular that was good about it.

I couldn't bring myself to be all that interested in any of the characters, especially the main character Brendan. The author wastes no time getting to the action - skipping any chance we had of getting even a good introduction. Brendan seemed silly to me - he's the type who will rustle bushes loudly while "spying," (and he does - more than once). He boldly confronts powerful nobility and royalty in some scenes, but in others, is terrified to even speak to someone in a position of power.
Robert Dudley is cast as "bad," and the author makes no attempt to explore his character. I personally think him a very interesting historical figure, but the author tells us all about how Robert used to beat up Brendan when they were kids, and apparently he has still remained the cruel, more or less stupid bully.

I thought it was suspiciously convenient that Brendan is able to meet with such high nobility in only the first few nights he is at court, and how as soon as Robert asks him to deliver something to Princess Elizabeth, he finds her at once. He then walks alone with her at night - I don't think that a Princess fearing for her life would just agree (or be allowed by her guards) to just stroll off with some unknown man.

Some other things were thrown into the mix that seemed very staged and hurried through.

There was a background romance between Brendan and a lady-in-waiting, which was at first a surprise because from the way Brendan described this woman before, I had thought that she was an old lady. He seems to develop feelings for her overnight, and it never seemed all that convincing to me.

A woman from Brendan's past, who raised him in place of the mother he never had, comes into the story, but only for a matter of minutes. It was just so very pointless and strange.

The third would be Brendan's mysterious identity. It's an overused plot tactic, but one that I normally love if it's well written. But here, it remains just an overused plot tactic. Brendan is a foundling, meaning that his anonymous mother abandoned him when he was a baby and that he was "found" by someone else, who raised him as a servant. He bashes us over the head with this fact repeatedly in the beginning of the book, and for the rest of it, never lets us forget it. Practically by page 2 I knew for certain that he was going to find out something about his heritage, or meet his parents, or something like that.

I just wasn't interested in this book. Even though the action happens fairly quickly, it wasn't exciting because I just didn't care about the characters.

Not all that good, and I will most likely not be reading the next installment in the series.

Review: Tides of War by Stella Tillyard

Title: Tides of War
Author: Stella Tillyard
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Published: 2011
Pages: 368

Rating: 3 out of 10

The description of this book on Amazon sounded stunning. First of all, there were the central themes: it involved a little-known war, was set in both 19th Century Spain and London, involved the Wellington family, a beautiful Spanish female spy, an inventor, a physician, and an eccentric young woman. Those plot elements alone would have easily compelled me to read it. And then, there is the writing of the description, which ends with the lyrical "Tides of War is drenched in an unforgettable atmosphere, from the palms, mantillas and tiles of Seville to the glow of gas lights in foggy London, shining through the spikes of winter trees... This novel returns all all to the vivid, lost world of the past."
I actually, truly want to know who wrote that book review. Honestly. And I will go and try to find out, right after I write this review. Whoever it is, they can write.
Unfortunately, the writer of the actual book, Stella Tillyard, cannot.

There is little that I enjoyed about this novel. The beginning pages, which try to squeeze in a sense of the relationship between newly married couple Harriet and James Raven, felt wrong, though I still cannot exactly say how.
After this, dozens more characters are introduced. Most of them struck me from the very first as dull, but a few stood out only because of their professions: such as David, a surgeon who studied in Edinburgh, or Nathan Rothschild, who is working toward reinventing London by introducing gas lighting. And then of course, there is the Duke of Wellington and his wife. These characters sound so fascinating I actually feel a twinge of physical pain at how the author mangled their stories into tedium.
All of the twenty or so numerous characters shuffle in and out of the story, to be re-introduced dozens of pages later, when we have stopped caring or thinking of them. As a result, we care about and think about none of the characters, and none of them stand out to provide a much-needed focal point and backbone to the story.

The more I read, the more I am becoming convinced that romantic sub-plots are some of the hardest things to write. I suppose that, being so universal, they are generally what readers will scrutinize with a greater sense of confidence than they would about the author's fact relaying concerning the 1815 Siege of Badajos.
I seem to say in many of my reviews that the romantic scenes were stiff, or silly, or outright ridiculous. Well, this review will have to be among them. Once again, here is a book that would have done better to leave out the romance. Harriet and James' relationship never came across to me at all, and I couldn't stand the scenes between Harriet and her lover. I wished constantly that things would go badly so that these scenes would stop, which is probably not the sentiment Tillyard hoped to inspire in readers. James' relationship with Camille Florens, the aforementioned seductive Spanish spy (don't be drawn in, she appears for perhaps all of a page or two, collectively) was, though brief, the only relationship that I halfway found realistic.

Besides a messy array of uninteresting characters peppered with dashes of clumsy romance scenes, the rest of the plot, which was about men leaving for war as the women stay behind, was much of the same. There were too many plot elements for me to place any significance on any particular event, and also, I did not feel that I learned anything about the Peninsular War or history in general from this book. And that is why I read historical fiction in the first place.
The settings of London and Seville, which the writer of the Amazon book's description was able to bring to life beautifully in only one sentence, never emerged into prominence.

There were a few scenes when I was able to take a hopeful, almost positive stance on the writer, which were when the characters begin musing, more or less philosophically, about things, such as the workings of the human body, French royalty, or the parallels of battle with life. I felt that there was something here that could be perhaps developed into something good. It wasn't quite there yet, but it could be.

In short, this was a disappointing, unfocused book that I was glad to finish and get rid of.

Review: Earthly Joys by Philippa Gregory

Title: Earthly Joys
Author: Philippa Gregory
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Touchstone
Published: 2005
Pages: 516

Rating: 7 out 10

Although I normally read books quite quickly, I stretched out my reading of this one over a few days. The vividly portrayed Renaissance England setting, the complex, familiar characters, and the interesting, steady flow of the plot line made me want to stay in this story longer than I usually do with others.

The main character is John Tradescant, a gardener in the time of King James I. While other men entwine themselves in politics and charge eagerly off to war, John is content to nurture seedlings, discover new plants, and watch his beloved trees grow along with his life. John ends up becoming the loyal personal servant of George Villiers, the young and handsome Duke of Buckingham, and the king's favorite. As the years slip by, John sacrifices his family and his life for his master, viewing him at different times as a son, a brother, a friend, and a lover.

I just loved this story! There was so much complexity, so many undercurrents, so many sub-plots. Though I have certainly heard more than a few complaints about the historical accuracy of Philippa Gregory's works, this one in particular, I found this to be a very well written book.

First of all, the way that Gregory writes is just lovely here. She captures everything so perfectly. Some authors write their books with a poetic beauty, some with a touch of appreciated humor, some with drama, some with characters you can't help loving, but Gregory seems to mix a bit of all these together into a writing style that just compels you to keep reading. I had to struggle to put the book down, or not read so quickly as I normally do, because despite wanting to savor this book, I also felt compelled to tear through it in one sitting.

I read a review on the back cover of another of her books that said no one has mastered Renaissance England like Philippa Gregory. I don't know if I would go that far, but she has definitely mastered this setting. I just absolutely love books that fully transport you to another time and place, and this book certainly succeeds with that.

The only parts that I felt a lack of a setting were when John travels the world – to India, Asia, Russia, and France. Surprisingly, there is a very large lack of placement here. After being so sharply introduced to the sights and smells of England, it was a bit startling to suddenly be whisked off to another country – even if a similar one, such as France – and have no descriptions of a setting at all.
In these scenes, the author focuses on John himself, his botany, and other things that are going on in the plot. But the scenery is left a mystery, something that I felt extremely odd, considering how good Gregory is at that.

All of the characters in Earthly Joys are wonderful. John is a simple man, and yet, we see into his thoughts and actions so deeply that he becomes a complex, and essentially a very realistically ordinary, yet interesting man. The relationship between him and his wife was an extremely well written one, and though there was no great love story, Gregory combined fondness, duty, love, resentment, and guilt into a very believable marriage. George Villiers was another of my favorite characters. Or at least, another of the most well written characters – I hated him! Excessively arrogant, reckless, selfish, and – the reader is led to believe – a traitor and a murder.

Something about this book that I was not expecting was how sexual it was. Gregory makes no attempt to hide all of the homosexual alliances, affairs, and romances going on at the time – in fact, she makes good use of them and even has John take a male lover as well.

All of the characters, settings, politics, and events in this book were very well written. Gregory may not be the deepest or most historically accurate writer, but she certainly is an engaging one.

Review: Evelina by Fanny Burney

Title: Evelina
Author: Fanny Burney
Genre: Classic
Publisher: Oxford World's Classics
First published: 1778
Pages: 276

Rating: 5 out of 10

It took me quite awhile to get to this book, but my sister enthusiastically insisted that I read it.

Evelina, which was written in 1778 and influenced the writing of Jane Austen, is the story of a girl who is coming out into society. This book is written in a flouncy, dramatic style. I can't picture this book being quite right any other way, even though the writing never exactly impressed me. It was also written in the form of letters, which allows Evelina (the main character, if you hadn't gathered that already from the title) to narrate in first person. She isn't the only one exchanging letters, either, allowing the author to give voice to other characters besides her heroine. It was unusual, but I didn't exactly care for this aspect of the writing style, either.

Evelina is a dreadfully irritating character. I loathed and wanted to slap her. She was incredibly flighty and timid, and I can't imagine anyone possibly liking her. When she first meets Lord Orville, he seems exceedingly interested in her, though I can't fathom any reason why. She is too shy to speak a word or even look at him, and in the middle of their dance, she runs away, because she is so afraid. Of what? For the rest of the night, she is the essence of bad company, distancing herself from all conversation and running around hiding from everyone.
Evelina is constantly running away from the tiniest of things (which aren't even problems or negative situations) because she is so very frightened. I have to wonder what she would do if presented with an actually frightening situation.

I liked the character of Lord Orville, even though I had to wonder what he could possibly see in our shallow heroine. His jealousy when Evelina is speaking to another man was endearingly funny, even though I couldn't believe how Evelina could be so stupid as to not realize what was going through her admirer's mind.
The other men who seek Evelina's attentions, notably Sir Clement Willoughby and Mr. Loval, are also comical, especially Loval.

The beginning of this book was pretty dry, and so was the middle. The end of the book, which suddenly struck up a flurry of events with mistaken and unknown identities, babies who were switched at birth, and other such things, was entertaining even though it seemed a bit rushed into.

This book was average - it was funny at times, but I couldn't bring myself to enjoy it all that much.

Review: The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Title: The Uncommon Reader
Author: Alan Bennett
Genre: General Fiction
Publisher: Picador
Published: 2008
Pages: 120

Rating: 6 out of 10

Queen Elizabeth II of England borrows a book from a traveling library she stumbles upon just to be polite. She has never read all that much, and has never read beyond what people normally do. However, this obligatorily borrowed book becomes the first of many as the Queen develops an insatiable need for reading material. As she makes her way through mysteries to thrillers to literature to classics, the Queen becomes an avid bookworm.

This was an endearing novella. The Queen, who I do not know much about, was a lovely character here. Though I can't say how realistic a picture it was, the fictional Queen Elizabeth II was a great main character to take us through her story.

I love books that are about books, though I feel that it is often hard to make them interesting, as a writer can't really write a plot just from saying "she read a book about this, and then a book about that..."
However, this one has a very nice plot structure and even pacing.

Though the Queen feels she has discovered the greatest joy in life, no one else around her seems to share her views. Their exasperation at her new hobby, and their schemes to try and get her to cease reading, were clever and funny.
The Queen's library sounded magical - I'm jealous!

The entire book was, for the most part, lightly written, but underneath it was something deeper and more serious. The Queen's eventual views and decisions on writing were an excellent way to end the book, because while we are happy for the Queen's reading, it is also somewhat true that it is perhaps not exactly fitting. She is a monarch, and she has a duty to her country, not simply to herself. It seemed, I thought, to be a contradiction that could not possibly have a satisfying ending.

In the very last paragraph, the author adds in a twist, leaving the reader to wonder just as they close the book what the Queen was about to say next. We'll never know, as Bennett leaves us to assume the ending for ourselves. It was a witty, amusing end to a very witty and amusing book.

A bit trivial and cutesy, but great light reading.

Review: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Title: Year of Wonders
Author: Geraldine Brooks
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2001
Pages: 336

Rating: 7 out of 10

Year of Wonders is the story of a small village in 1666 England that is quarantined after the feared Bubonic Plague flares up there. The young, recently widowed Anna Frith struggles to make her way through terrifying times as she sees her neighbors change, fall to the disease, and turn against each other.

This book was elegantly written, and I was so gripped by the first chapter. I felt that I was really there in Anna's apple orchard. Geraldine Brooks is certainly a very talented writer, with vivid descriptions and strong characters.

Michael and Elinor Mompellion were the strongest of the characters. Michael is the town rector, a man of god, and on the surface seems to be the hero of the story. He encourages the villagers, doing his best to lift their spirits, he urges them to do what is right by quarantining the village, and he spends his days tending the sick and comforting those who have lost loved ones. However, through out the story, we see tiny glimpses of another man - one who is angry, bitter, stubborn, and self righteous.

His wife, Elinor Mompellion, was the blameless, beautiful woman who helped anywhere she could, always doing good. She was the angel of the story. Anna looks up to her, and their relationship is somewhere between sisterly and motherly. Elinor later reveals her sad background to Anna, but it isn't until the end that we really discover the extent of her pain. I don't want to give out any spoilers in this review, but after the book was finished, I came up with more questions about Elinor, and found myself wishing that Brooks would write a companion book telling her story.

Anna, our main character and narrator, was a good character, though not as well written as her friends. I think that her story gets lost a bit in the story she is telling, though I did like her. She is insightful, wise, and strong. I was especially struck by a few paragraphs in the book where she wonders if the Plague is a natural thing, instead of a divine thing of God. She reasons that if the disease is a thing of Nature, there must be a natural way to stop it. Though this sounds completely logical and obvious, there were few, if any, individuals with this idea in 1600's England, and the book reflects this.

I loved how the town took on a life of its own. It was made up of scenery that Brooks so eloquently described and the people themselves. Men and women who were not major or even minor characters played important roles in this book, because there are many instances where a mob, or a group, of villagers lash out in rage toward other townspeople. It reminded me of the Salem Witch Trials, and there is even a scene where the locals accuse a woman of witchcraft for trying to guard against the Plague. In these terrible scenes, I felt Brooks' writing potential the most as they were powerfully brought to life.

The downside to this book was that not a whole lot actually happens. I felt that the Plague should have been more present in the story, more tragic. While it is certainly ingrained in every page, it never seems so severe or serious as it presumably was. Other books I have read on the topic gave me more of a sense of the hardship and loss Bubonic victims suffered. In the beginning of the book, some of those close to Anna die of the disease, but after that, she simply keeps mentioning random names of those who have passed. The names mean nothing to us, however, which greatly lessens the impact.

Another negative for me was the ending (or, the second ending). I wish very much that it had just been left out, as it took the European 17th Century world half-way around the globe to a spicy Middle Eastern setting and starts talking about rugs and things. It had absolutely nothing to do with the story. I was shaking my head in bewilderment as I read it.

The chilly foreboding in this book was beautiful in a ghostly, sorrowful sort of way. I loved the writing style and will certainly be looking for more of the author's writing.

Recommended - just skip the epilogue!