Category: Historical Fiction
Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
A.D. 69. Nero is dead.
The Roman Empire is up for the taking. With bloodshed spilling out of the palace and into the streets of Rome, chaos has become the status quo. The Year of Four Emperors will change everything—especially the lives of two sisters with a very personal stake in the outcome….
Elegant and ambitious, Cornelia embodies the essence of the perfect Roman wife. She lives to one day see her loyal husband as Emperor. Her sister, Marcella, is more withdrawn, content to witness history rather than make it. Even so, Marcella has her share of distinguished suitors, from a cutthroat contender for the throne to a politician’s son who swears that someday he will be Emperor.
But when a bloody coup turns their world upside down, Cornelia and Marcella—along with their cousins, one a collector of husbands and lovers, the other a horse-mad beauty with no interest in romance—must maneuver carefully just to stay alive. As Cornelia tries to pick up the pieces of her shattered dreams, Marcella discovers a hidden talent for influencing the most powerful men in Rome. In the end, though, there can only be one Emperor … and one Empress.
In order of publication, Daughters of Rome is technically the second book in Kate Quinn’s Empress of Rome series but chronologically it is the first. It’s a sort of prequel and you will recognize some of the characters we meet in Mistress of Rome except for the fact that they’re a couple of decades younger. And the story takes place not in the relative stability of Domitian’s reign but the violent chaos that was the Year of the Four Emperors. You would think that by virtue of having more drama (which Kate Quinn excels at writing about) the story itself would be better. The problem is, it isn’t. The strength of the first book was in its characters, notably Thea, but in this second book the characters really are the weakness.
First off, in true Roman fashion there are four cousins, all named Cornelia because they’re from the wealthy and influential Cornelii family. Kate Quinn helpfully gives us nicknames for them all (the eldest Cornelia is the only one actually called by her name) and it does take a little bit to get used to. However, after a couple of chapters it’s pretty easy to get everyone all organized because their personalities are fairly distinct. Cornelia is the ideal senator’s wife, Marcella is a bookish woman who just wants to write history, Lollia has the most unfortunate string of marriages imaginable and Diana, the youngest, is horse crazy. We do get to see the chaos from the eyes of all four of the sisters: the changing alliances, the marriage swapping, the crass power grabs not even bothered to be cloaked in lofty ideals, etc. The Year of the Four Emperors was a horrifying time to be a Roman, particularly since backing one person meant glory one day and committing suicide while on the run the next. Against this horrific background, you’d think that the characters would particularly stand out.
The problem is that none of the characters stand out; they didn’t have that authenticity that made Thea such a powerful, moving character. Diana is the only one who is vaguely believable in her actions but the idea that she’d be a female charioteer is just ludicrous. Roman women were generally more free than Greek women but they certainly weren’t that free, especially if they were from one of the main families in Rome. Lollia’s string of husbands is definitely believable but even though she finds love in an unusual place I never really connected with her and her plight. Like Marcella, her character felt rather hollow. Marcella’s character didn’t ring true to me because even though she’s a bookworm much like myself, she gets into all of these situations that feel like they’re the direct result of Kate Quinn’s manipulation of historical fact. It doesn’t feel natural that she finds herself in the midst of all of this trouble as it should; it feels forced and as such her character doesn’t grow in the way you would expect it to. Cornelia, the eldest of the four cousins and sister of Marcella, is a bland Roman matron who also finds love in an unexpected place. She at least is a believable character and I could sort of connect to her plight.
While the plot was certainly fast-paced and interesting (how could the Year of the Four Emperors not be, though?), it was surprisingly unsatisfying. Kate Quinn uses the most gossipy of all the gossipy sources on Roman history and takes the worst of said gossip to portray each emperor as a caricature of what they probably really were. This is not surprising given her portrayal of Domitian as a total sadist in the Marquis de Sade mold but it does make it seem like she’s going for the most drama no matter the historical reality. Galba was a stick in the mud, Otho was a jealous brooding sort of hedonist and Vitellius was a total glutton/hedonist but I think Quinn takes things just a little too far and it seems like she’s playing things up for her audience. As some people on Goodreads mentioned, it makes it feel like you’re reading The Real Housewives of Ancient Rome. Really, the story would be just as good if she toned down some of the drama and didn’t rely so heavily on Flavian-biased historians.
Overall, I felt that compared to Mistress of Rome was a much better book than her second book. That’s kind of shocking considering it was her debut but it was certainly much more satisfying than Daughters of Rome, which ends so randomly and incomprehensibly that I was left scratching my head in disbelief at the actions of three of the four sisters. There were a lot of good things happening in this book, mainly the portrayal of the chaotic events and the uncertainty that gripped all of Rome but on the character front it was the most unsatisfying book I’ve ever read by Kate Quinn. It’s just a complete disappointment to me, considering the fact that I loved her Borgia Chronicles and her debut novel. Really, the only thing that can adequately express my feelings toward this book is the word ‘meh’.
I give this book 2/5 stars.
The Courtesan’s Lover by Gabrielle Kimm
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Francesca Felizzi knows she wields an immense power over men. Her patrons see only a carefree courtesan, and they pay handsomely for the privilege of her time. Francesca never saw him coming, the man who cracked her heart open and ruined her for the job. But he’s shown her what a gaudy facade she’s built, and she doesn’t know how to tear it down without taking her beloved daughters with her. The wrong move could plunge all of them into the sort of danger she has dreaded ever since she began her perilous work all those years ago.
An exquisite tale that explores the intricate nature of a mother’s heart. The Courtesan’s Lover draws you close and whispers in your ear. In the tradition of Sarah Dunant and Marina Fiorato, a compelling and vibrant tale from an up-and-coming fresh voice that readers will want to savor.
I’ll be honest with you guys: the only reason I bought this book was because it was on sale at 3 books for $10 and I needed a third book to get the discount. The cover of my edition was hideous and the blurb sounded somewhat interesting but pretty stereotypical. That’s why I didn’t really pick up the book until I was on my holidays around Christmas. And lo and behold, Gabrielle Kimm surprised me.
Francesca is a main character that you can’t help but love. She plays the carefree courtesan well and interacts on a more personal level with all of her clients but on the inside you can tell she wants something more out of life. Even if she doesn’t know it in the beginning, Francesca always wanted a better life for herself and for her daughters in particular. When she suddenly falls in love with the upstanding father of a young client things suddenly spiral out of control and she realizes just how empty a life she was living before. In Luca, she suddenly sees everything that her life could be and despite the fact she’ll have to live modestly without her courtesan’s income, Francesca is determined to make a new life for herself. It’s actually a rather touching journey and of course not everything goes according to plan for our main character.
Francesca is very well fleshed out and she’s definitely the main character but Gabrielle Kimm also lets us see things from the eyes of the other characters, most notably Luca and Modesto. Luca is a kind of upstanding old patrician who thinks Francesca is a pure and innocent widow; at the same time he has a lot of depth and can be very progressive for a man of the time. Modesto (in my opinion) is far more fascinating. He’s a gifted singer, which meant in 16th century Napoli that he had been castrated before puberty so that he would always have a pure, high voice with the power of a full grown man’s lungs. He’s nominally Francesca’s servant but he acts as both a pimp and a caregiver. It’s his war with his feelings for Francesca with the reality of his situation (particularly the fact that she loves Luca) that makes him almost as fascinating as Francesca herself. Yes, I’m sort of a sucker for tragic figures.
This is not a fast-paced book, even by historical fiction standards. It’s very interesting, especially because Kimm seems to know her way around 16th century Napoli so well. There are just little details from everyday life that make the whole book far more interesting and make the characters and their world come alive. The whole time I read The Courtesan’s Lover I felt like I was in Napoli along with Francesca, Modesto and Luca. And considering the fact that I knew almost nothing about the time period coming into the novel, that’s no mean feat. So while the book is not fast-paced it is a thoroughly enjoyable read because the plot itself is interesting.
I wouldn’t say that the plot is unpredictable but it does have the occasional surprise. Some wrenches get thrown into the works but I think it’s pretty easy to predict the ending of this book. But you know what? Sometimes you just need a guilty pleasure read, one that will suck you into a whole new world and make you fall in love with its characters even if you can predict what’s going to happen at the end. Even though I didn’t know it at the time, that’s exactly what I needed so I’m very glad that I picked up The Courtesan’s Lover by chance. If the blurb intrigues you and you get a chance to buy the book, go ahead. We all need a little more lighthearted romance in our lives sometimes.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Avalon by Anya Seton
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
This saga of yearning and mystery travels across oceans and continents to Iceland, Greenland, and North America during the time in history when Anglo-Saxons battled Vikings and the Norsemen discovered America. The marked contrasts between powerful royalty, landless peasants, Viking warriors and noble knights are expertly brought to life in this gripping tale of the French prince named Rumon. Shipwrecked off the Cornish coast on his quest to find King Arthur’s legendary Avalon, Rumon meets a lonely girl named Merewyn and their lives soon become intertwined. Rumon brings Merewyn to England, but once there he is so dazzled by Queen Alrida’s beauty that it makes him a virtual prisoner to her will. In this riveting romance, Anya Seton once again proves her mastery of historical detail and ability to craft a compelling tale that includes real and colorful personalities such as St. Dunstan and Eric the Red.
As I do often, I picked up Avalon in a store because it had really cool cover art. Also, the setting I thought was pretty interesting.
Now, this book is categorized as historical romance. Normally I don’t read romance stories, but I do read historical ones, and when I got it I didn’t even know it was defined as romance anyways; its cover art looked cool as already stated, and the side panels on the interior of the book showed it had a setting I enjoyed, although if you get the book, I’d recommend you don’t read much of those, as they tell virtually the entire plot bar the end. I saw where these mischievous panels were going and just started reading the book instead.
This book took up a lot of my time initially. I was engaged in the time period, the characters, all of it.The plot does not span a small time-span; it follows two characters, Rumon and Merewyn, over the course of decades — from the late 10th century through the 11th — and weaves through many locations, such as southern Britain, Iceland, Greenland, and even a small portion of the Americas. It takes all these different historical events and characters of those times, and uses Rumon and Merewyn to fling you along and through them.
A lot happens in the plot, and it has a unique structure somewhat because of what it spans. I never felt like it was just slogging me through back- or sidestory too much, but for me it was very suspenseful, occasionally wishing Rumon would move a little faster because a lot depends on it and I am way into this plot.
I don’t want to spoil ending, but the book does a good job at not going where you think it will go. It stubbornly sticks with this until the end, and even though it probably isn’t where you thought it would end up, I can’t fault the book for that. I instead believe that it gives a suitable ending, that fulfills, just not in the way you were hoping.
Also, the ending sets up the events that happen after the considerable span of the book. In this way, I think the book, albeit an old one at this point (published first in ’65), does a masterful job of placing a personal story and plot inside the major history, without conflicting, and in fact using both to support each other. So I’d like to give my compliments to the author, who wrote that book so long ago.
The Secret History by Stephanie Thornton
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Where Theodora went, trouble followed…
In sixth century Constantinople, one woman, Theodora, defied every convention and all the odds, and rose from being a common theater tart to become empress of a great kingdom, the most powerful woman the Roman Empire would ever know. But the woman whose image was later immortalized in glittering mosaic was, in fact, a scrappy, clever, conniving, flesh-and-blood woman full of sensuality and spirit whose real story is as surprising as any ever told…
When her father dies suddenly, Theodora and her sisters face starvation on the streets. Determined to survive, Theodora makes a living any way she can—first on her back with every man who will have her, then on the stage of the city’s infamous amphitheater in a scandalous dramatization of her own invention. When her daring performance grants her a back-door entry into the halls of power, she seizes the chance to win a wealthy protector—only to face heartbreak and betrayal.
Ever resilient, Theodora rises above such trials and by a twist of fate, meets her most passionate admirer yet: the Emperor’s nephew. She will thrive as his confidant and courtesan, but many challenges lie ahead. For one day, this man will hand her a crown. And all the empire will wonder—is she bold enough, shrewd enough, and strong enough to keep it?
Having read The Tiger Queens and Daughter of the Gods by Stephanie Thornton, I was so excited when I finally got my hands on her first book, The Secret History. I know pretty much nothing about the Byzantine empire (my specialty being ancient Rome, its precursor) so I was very eager to start on the book. Whatever I expected going into the book, I sure was surprised at the actual story.
Theodora’s rise from the slums to the theaters of Constantinople all the way to the side of the Emperor is not glorious. She spends a lot of time in the slums and the lowly theater servicing men of every kind for money just to make ends meet. Not only that, she’s not deemed pretty enough for the main parts on the stage like her sister so even her acting career is going nowhere. But Theodora is one of these characters that will just not give up. She finagles her way into giving a very risqué performance at the theater and thus catapults herself into the upper echelons of power as a courtesan. When she thinks she finally finds a wealthy protector, one that she might actually like, everything turns out terribly. Yet Theodora goes on, powered by a driving love for her children and her life. She has so many setbacks and tragedies in her life until finally, she meets Justin, the Emperor’s nephew. Justin was really quite a surprising figure because I knew a little about him but his relationship with Theodora was just as fascinating as his politics.
Stephanie Thornton in her debut novel (as with all of her later novels) brings the ancient world to life. The Byzantine empire comes to life in all of its glamorous and conversely gritty, horrific splendor. There’s a very sharp contrast from the streets of the slums where Theodora lives as a teenager to the opulence of the imperial palace. The world of the poor is far from glorious, that’s for sure, and again Thornton brings to life the hardships these people faced every single day without beating you over the head with the obvious stick. As for historical accuracy, as with all of her novels Thornton does really well with the details while filling in some of the blank spots in the historical record with fairly plausible events. It doesn’t help that our main source for the time, the one who wrote the original Secret History, hated Theodora with a passion. I guess that just further demonstrates the ancient attitudes toward women as well as the attitudes of the rich toward the poor.
The plot is not fast-paced by any means, but it doesn’t exactly drag on and on like some novels. We get enough of Theodora to enjoy the novel and enough background information to understand the times she lived in and appreciate just how incredible a woman she was to become Empress. She isn’t perfect and sometimes makes some bad decisions in regards to her family and her relationships, but I honestly can’t fault her for that. We all screw up sometimes and do things we regret. Through it all—the intrigue, the family strife, the political and social upheavals—Theodora shines through as a woman utterly devoted to those she loves, even if she doesn’t always do the seemingly ‘right’ thing. You can’t help but love a character like that.
Basically, I am so glad that I finally got my hands on a copy of The Secret History. Theodora is one of my new favourite characters and I learned so much about the Byzantine Empire. What more can you ask for in historical fiction?
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Wars of the Roses: Stormbird by Conn Iggulden
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Wars of the Roses: the brand new historical series from Conn Iggulden – internationally best-selling author of the Emperor and Conqueror series.
King Henry V – the great Lion of England – is long dead.
In 1437, after years of regency, the pious and gentle Henry VI, the Lamb, comes of age and accedes to the English throne. His poor health and frailty of mind render him a weakling king -Henry depends on his closest men, Spymaster Derry Brewer and William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, to run his kingdom.
Yet there are those, such as the Plantagenet Richard, Duke of York, who believe England must be led by a strong king if she is to survive. With England’s territories in France under threat, and rumours of revolt at home, fears grow that Henry and his advisers will see the country slide into ruin. With a secret deal struck for Henry to marry a young French noblewoman, Margaret of Anjou, those fears become all too real.
As storm clouds gather over England, King Henry and his supporters find themselves besieged abroad and at home. Who, or what can save the kingdom before it is too late?
I have to say that Stormbird really takes place in the civil unrest that leads up to the official War of the Roses. It’s all about the weak rule of Henry VI sowing the seeds for discontent with the current regime and the rise of the Yorks as the sort of official opposition to the throne. So it really sets up the war and we see the beginning of it, but we haven’t really gotten into the period that’s the most famous yet.
With that little preamble out of the way, I have to say that I really did enjoy pretty much all of the characters in this book. They were all different in their own ways and they all had believable motivations and character arcs that made you want to know what happened to them. Margaret of Anjou, typically the scheming evil queen in most stories about the period, came off as a devoted wife who tried to do the best she could for her country. Henry VI is a pious, weak fool of course but he’s far more sympathetic than he’s usually portrayed, particularly during his descent into madness. Yet I’d have to say my favourite character was Derry Brewer, the Machiavellian spymaster who tries his best to find and thwart any plots against the regime. He’s a fascinating character and in some ways, I wish I had learned way more about him.
Oddly enough for Conn Iggulden, he manages to tell a good story (like with his Conqueror and Emperor series) but at the same time maintains a reasonable level of historical accuracy (unlike the two aforementioned series). I’ve never really taken his books seriously because although I enjoyed them, they were quite inaccurate, but at the end of Stormbird I actually felt like I had learned something. Lots of things in fact. I don’t know all that much about English history but I know the main War of the Roses period quite well. Except that Conn Iggulden brought to life the relatively obscure (in fiction at least) beginning of the war. He definitely deserves praise for that.
One of the strengths and conversely the downsides of Stormbird is the fact that it encompasses so many different events. You see things from Margaret of Anjou’s point of view as her marriage to Henry VI is being negotiated, you see the English rebellion against the French as their lands are being ceded, you’re at the forefront of the Jake Cade rebellion, etc. He gives us such a sweeping view of the period and really brings home the point that ordinary people at the time were affected adversely by the machinations of their lords. But in doing so, in trying to encompass such a wide range of events and times, Conn Iggulden also drops the ball occasionally. What I mean by that is he drags the plot on in some places (Margaret’s marriage negotiations) while neglecting some very interesting events. This tends to make the plot sag in the middle and even though it was a fascinating historical period, I had a really hard time slogging through it. That’s unfortunate because Stormbird is otherwise a pretty decent book.
So here we have a reasonably historically accurate take on an obscure period with fascinating character portrayals that are far from the mainstream portrayals. Conn Iggulden is an excellent storyteller and although the book does drag in the middle, overall the plot was fairly well paced.
I give this book 4/5 stars.