Category: Historical Fiction
A Spy in the House (The Agency # 1) by Y.S. Lee
[Guest post by ForTheLoveOfBooks. –CS]
From Goodreads
Rescued from the gallows in 1850s London, young orphan (and thief) Mary Quinn is surprised to be offered a singular education, instruction on fine manners- and an unusual vocation. Miss. Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls is a cover for an all-female investigative unit called The Agency, and at seventeen Mary is about to put her training to the test. Assuming the guise of a lady’s companion, she must infiltrate a rich man’s home in hope of tracing his missing cargo ships. But the household is filled with dangerous deceptions, and there’s no one to trust- or is there?
Packed with action and suspense, banter and romance, and evoking the gritty backstreets of Victorian London, this breezy mystery debuts a young detective who lives by her wits while uncovering secrets including those of her own past.
I first came across A Spy In The House after watching Priscilla’s Review for the book and I thought it would be a great read. I’m happy to say that it didn’t disappoint me at all! I don’t think my reviews would be complete without dedicating some attention to the cover of course. I like the cover of this book, especially Mary’s gaze towards the side. There’s something mysterious about it and it suits the plot. Also the house pictured on the cover reminds me of “The Noble House of Black” from the Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix movie. The verdict is: I approve of the cover and now it’s time to move onto more fascinating aspects of the book!
As goodreads has explained, the story follows the life of Mary Quinn from being an orphaned thief to novice detective as she has started to work on her first case. The story centers mainly in London, while places like Brighton and India are mentioned briefly. The importance of these locations become evident as the story progresses.
The plot is enjoyable and fast paced. By fast paced I mean, the story begins in 1853 and by pg.11 we have already time traveled to 1858 where Mary is seventeen years old and is working as an instructor for Miss.Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls, only to be introduced later to The Agency; an elite female detective organization headed by Anne Treleaven and Felicity Frame. These two women are also Mary’s mentors, especially Anne. Still focusing on the pace of the book, I think what I found strange, yet good was the pace moved steadily as the story progressed. I didn’t feel as if any of the chapters acted as fillers for the entire story. All aspects were relevant, even in a minor way. However my only disappointment was that the fast pace let the story down a bit. The aspect here I’m referring to is the training Mary undergoes prior to setting off on her assignment. I would have liked to know more about her training and the interactions between Mary and the instructors. To see the protagonist pushed to her limits would have been an element worth exploring. The plot twists were surprising and enjoyable. Mary’s heritage was one that came as a surprise and I would like to see how that story arc is developed in the next book. Continue reading
Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice
(Cover picture courtesy of Midshelf.com.)
In Anne Rice’s extraordinary new novel, the vampire Lestat—outsider, canny monster, hero-wanderer—is snatched from the world itself by the most dangerous adversary he has ever known: Memnoch, a mysterious being who claims to be the Devil. He is invited to be a witness at the Creation. He is taken like the ancient prophets into the heavenly realm and is ushered into Purgatory. Lestat must decide if he can believe in the Devil or in God. And finally, he must decide which, if either, he will serve…
I really didn’t see why so many people were upset about this novel until I actually read it a few times. Now, however, I can see why it has been deemed offensive—or even blasphemous—and why Anne Rice, now a born-again Christian has repudiated her Vampire Chronicles. Especially since this one. Memnoch the Devil doesn’t tell the conventional church-approved story of Satan’s fall from heaven. No, it is Satan, or Memnoch, who tells his side of the story.
From a theological perspective, this is a very interesting book. In it, Anne Rice has combined both old and new Christian ideas from many denominations with a bit of Jewish theology. Memnoch’s justification for his rebellion reminds me very much of the character of Satan from John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Without getting into all of the nasty little details, let’s just call this novel experimental theology and leave it at that, shall we? I’m not going to bring my personal beliefs into this review.
From a less biased, more literature-focused perspective, Memnoch the Devil is not exactly the greatest novel ever written. Lestat is a cardboard cutout by now, the plot is slow and predictable and Memnoch is the only redeeming thing, character-wise. Memnoch is complicated, yet sympathetic in a bizarre way if you put your religious beliefs aside while reading this. But other than Memnoch, this novel doesn’t have much going for it.
As usual, my warning: Memnoch the Devil contains mature content including bad language, explicit sex scenes and violence. Personally, I would not recommend it for anyone under the age of 14, but it really depends on the reader’s maturity level.
I give this book 2/5 stars.
The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
She was the flame-haired Boudicca, Queen of the Britons, whose passion and pride lit up the mysterious world of the ancient Celts. From the valleys and mountains of still barbaric Britain to the classic grandeur and corruption of Claudius’s Rome, here is the unforgettable drama of a warrior queen torn between love and destiny.
When I read this book I was, of course, expecting it to be about Boudicca. The blurb and the cover made me expect it to be an epic saga about the warrior queen who led the doomed rebellion against Rome. Yet out of the 892 pages of my edition of The Eagle and the Raven, I would say that less than 200 of them are actually about Boudicca. Most of the novel is about Caradoc (usually called Caratacus), the man who led a failed rebellion before she did. Boudicca’s actual rebellion doesn’t start until the last 100 pages, which requires some creative pace-changing on Pauline Gedge’s part to get through all of the rebellion in such a short amount of page space.
I truly would not recommend this novel. It’s one of Gedge’s early novels, but it does not match the quality of Child of the Morning at all. She does not do as well with ancient Britain as she does with ancient Egypt, so I can certainly see why she returned to ancient Egypt after she finished this novel. The Eagle and the Raven is long and meandering, without any hint of the tension that is present in all of her other novels. I truly had to struggle to finish this novel, something that I don’t do often, no matter how boring the novel is.
The main characters in The Eagle and the Raven are very well-developed. Caradoc is believable and grows through the novel and despite her brief appearance, Boudicca develops in an incredibly short amount of time. However, secondary characters are somewhat neglected, especially Aricia, who had the potential to be a really amazing villain but ended up coming off as your cliché evil seductress. Venutius just came across as an idiotic, brow-beaten man, but there were obvious attempts to give him depth, which failed spectacularly in my eyes.
My overall impression? I’m sticking to Pauline Gedge’s Egyptian novels.
I give this book 1.5/5 stars.
Hand of Isis by Jo Graham
(Cover picture courtesy of Orbit Books.)
Charmian is handmaiden to Cleopatra. She is also an oracle, gifted with ancient memories that may hold the key to preserving Egypt. Through blood and fire, war and peace, love and death, she will face a desperate struggle that will remake the future of the world.
Cleopatra is one of the most written about figures in history and I’ve rarely seen a new take on her story. Yet Jo Graham has managed to do this in Hand of Isis by telling the story from the perspective of her half-sister handmaiden, Charmian. As you can probably guess from the blurb, Charmian has special powers that help her half-sister rule Egypt in a time when only men were rulers and this book is a cross between fantasy and historical fiction. Yet this mixture of fantasy and history works well because Jo Graham has obviously done her research on the historical events.
The plot is not exactly fast, but it certainly is interesting. You will learn more about Cleopatra reading this novel than you will from any history textbook out there, I guarantee that. Jo Graham has paid incredible attention to historical details, so much that I would say not even Pauline Gedge has managed this level of attention to detail. And that’s really saying something. Filled with romantic subplots and magic, Hand of Isis will also keep you reading into the early morning hours, even though you probably can guess how the story ends.
Charmian is a very realistic protagonist because like real people, she is full of contradictions. She is sort of carefree when it comes to love, but at the same time she is responsible because she takes control of some of the governmental functions so Cleopatra is not as overwhelmed. Cleopatra herself is definitely not the cold-blooded seductress that the Romans and most of history painted her as, but a capable leader who would do anything for her country. What she, Charmian and Iras sacrifice for Egypt truly is amazing.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
House of Illusions by Pauline Gedge
(Cover picture courtesy of eBookXP.)
All Egyptian soldiers know that when they pass through the village of Aswat they must avoid the woman who tends the temple of Wepwawet. She rushes at them, begging them to take a manuscript to Pharaoh. She’s obviously crazy, accusing powerful men of nefarious deeds. But one young soldier, Kamen, takes pity on the woman and reads the manuscript. What he reads is so convincing that he believes a terrible injustice has been done. Without telling the woman of Aswat, he takes the manuscript back to Pi-Ramses and shows it to his general, Paiis. A chain of events was thus set in motion, a drama of revenge and punishment, miraculous disclosures and unexpected vindication.
In House of Dreams, the beautiful Thu was trained to be the perfect concubine to Pharaoh. But unbeknownst to her, it was all part of a plot to give her the power and proximity to poison her lover. Despite the involvement of many highly placed men and women, only Thu’s part of the conspiracy was uncovered. Unable to sentence his beloved to death, Pharaoh exiled Thu to her home village, Aswat, where for seventeen years she has written down her story and dreamed of retribution.
Unexpectedly, through the actions of Kamen, Thu finds herself in the position to achieve her dream. She watches as the schemers are brought to justice. But what of the mastermind of the plot—Hui, the brilliant seer, her teacher and one-time lover? Thoughts of Hui bring confusion, and as she sees the fulfillment of her dreams of revenge she begins to wonder if the deaths of these conspirators will bring the satisfaction she craves.
Call me cold-hearted, but I actually liked the tragic ending of House of Dreams. It was realistic and stayed true to the less than happy tone of the novel. But I guess Pauline Gedge just couldn’t let it end there and wrote House of Illusions to give Thu her revenge.
There is only one word to describe this sequel: cliché. The plot is more like that of a Hollywood movie and Pauline Gedge had to do some serious fact-changing to write this novel. After all, the real Thu and her grown son (he was not an infant at the time of the plot) were executed for their parts in the huge conspiracy to kill Ramses III. Archaeologists speculate that the so-called “Screaming Mummy” (not for the weak of stomach!) was Ramses’ son, Pentawere and that he was executed by drinking poison, which accounts for the gruesome expression that gives this mummy his name. The real Thu certainly didn’t get a happy ending and I don’t like how much the facts were changed to give her such an ending.
But if you like Hollywood-esque tales of retribution, you’ll love House of Illusions. All of the people who manipulated Thu into poisoning Pharaoh are finally caught, tried and handed out their gruesome punishments. Thu learns the fate of the infant son who was taken away from her when she was banished to Aswat and they both live happily ever after.
With a medium-paced plot and the promise of retribution, House of Illusions is a decent enough novel. I guess that it’s just not for me.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.