Tagged: masq1
Médicis Daughter by Sophie Perinot
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Winter, 1564. Beautiful young Princess Margot is summoned to the court of France, where nothing is what it seems and a wrong word can lead to ruin. Known across Europe as Madame la Serpente, Margot’s intimidating mother, Queen Catherine de Médicis, is a powerful force in a country devastated by religious war. Among the crafty nobility of the royal court, Margot learns the intriguing and unspoken rules she must live by to please her poisonous family.
Eager to be an obedient daughter, Margot accepts her role as a marriage pawn, even as she is charmed by the powerful, charismatic Duc de Guise. Though Margot’s heart belongs to Guise, her hand will be offered to Henri of Navarre, a Huguenot leader and a notorious heretic looking to seal a tenuous truce. But the promised peace is a mirage: her mother’s schemes are endless, and her brothers plot vengeance in the streets of Paris. When Margot’s wedding devolves into the bloodshed of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, she will be forced to choose between her family and her soul.
Médicis Daughter is historical fiction at its finest, weaving a unique coming-of-age story and a forbidden love with one of the most dramatic and violent events in French history.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]
One of the women you hear a lot about is Catherine de Médici. She’s the subject of numerous historical fiction novels and has a reputation among the general public for being a wicked, manipulative queen. While the consensus among historians is somewhat different, there is no doubt she was a ruthless, oddly pragmatic woman. But what was her daughter, Marguerite de Valois like? Sophie Perinot gives us a look into the ilfe of another incredible woman who has been largely ignored by history.
Our poor Margot starts out fairly innocent but is changed by court life when her mother finally summons her to live at court as her lady in waiting. In the beginning, she tries to be the perfect princess: she supports her brothers fully, doesn’t seek power for herself and lives chastely despite the fact that the court was largely not. Then, everything changes when she’s fifteen and falls in love for the first time with Henri, Duc de Guise. Before then, she was resigned to being a marriage pawn for her mother and brothers. After falling in love, Margot really comes into her own. She demands to be let in on the political discussions that her mother participates in but bars her from. She gains power through her broher Henri, Duc d’Anjou (known mostly as Anjou to avoid confusion). But of course nothing goes according to plan for poor Margot as the people around her have plans and schemes of their own.
While the beginning of this novel is somewhat confusing because of all the names thrown at the reader, you can actually get your footing pretty quickly. There are three characters with the first name of Henri in this novel but they’re mostly known by their titles and their personalities are so unique anyway that you won’t confuse the three of them. One of the hallmarks of Médicis Daughter is Sophie Perinot’s descriptive writing style that brings the court and the characters to life. She can be beautifully descriptive but also knows when to pare down her writing for the sake of pacing. And she captures both the beauty in the novel (the young love, the nicer family moments) and the ugliness as well (the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, the awful treatment of her by her own family).
Sophie Perinot, as she says in her historical note, stays quite close to historical fact but cut out some characters because they weren’t central to the narrative and changed a few minor events. For example, Margot was never left alone with the Queen of Navarre on her deathbed. It makes for a better and less confusing story so I can’t really blame her for that. After all, three Henris is more than enough to try to keep straight, no matter how familiar you are with the period. As someone who is relatively new to the period, I was certainly grateful for a few characters being cut as there is a relatively large cast of secondary characters.
All in all, I was very impressed with Médicis Daughter. It does everything historical fiction should do: shines light on the lives of real historical figures/time periods, is well written and is reasonably paced. Sophie Perinot doesn’t write a fast-paced novel by any stretch of the imagination as most of it is character-driven but you can slowly feel the tension building toward the end as the massacre comes closer and closer. You aren’t entirely sure what is going to happen and how Margot is going to react, which makes it all the better. If you’re looking for an intersting novel on a largely ignored historical figure, Médicis Daughter daughter is a really great book to pick up.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Queen of the Deep by Kay Kenyon
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
On the streets of New York, Jane Gray meets an intriguing man who claims to be the impossible: an imaginary playmate from her childhood: Prince Starling. Determined to know the truth, Jane tracks him into another realm.
This is the world of the Palazzo, a magical ship which is both a colossal steam vessel and a Renaissance kingdom. Ruling over its denizens–both human and otherwise–is an exotic and dangerous queen. Jane must find her way home, but the path is hopelessly lost.
Promising romance, the enigmatic Prince Starling and big-hearted crime lord Niccolo vie for Jane’s heart. But she has her eye on the pilot house. Who–or what–guides the Palazzo, and what is the urgent secret of its endless voyage? As a shocking destination looms into view, Jane must choose both a lover and a ship’s course, one that may avoid the end of all things.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
First off, don’t let the perceived love triangle in the blurb fool you. Queen of the Deep is a magnificent story where a stereotypical love triangle really, really isn’t all that it appears to be. And that really goes for the whole book: when you think you’re certain of one aspect of the world Kay Kenyon has created, you find your assumptions are wrong. It’s a really amazing book in that respect.
Obviously, what I loved about Queen of the Deep is the world-building. At first it seems like Kenyon went for the whole ‘met mysterious man at a young age, meets him later and is attracted to him’ trope but as I hinted, that’s really not the case. And when Jane Gray ventures from New York city to the floating world of the Palazzo, very little is as it seems. Kenyon leaves tiny hints for clever readers to pick up on, but for the most part I was so entranced by her writing style that I didn’t notice all of the little hints until the various plot twists actually happened. Then it made sense why the Queen of the Palazzo, Diamonde was so interested in Jane and why Prince Starling saved Jane’s life, etc.
The Palazzo is a magical Renaissance-inspired floating ship that no one on board thinks is a ship. When Jane arrives on it, she’s warned not to mention that she can see over the side of the ship into the water because no one else can and they’ll think she’s crazy. While this is very odd, the reasons for why Jane can see it are absolutely fascinating. I can’t really go too much in depth about the Palazzo without spoiling so many of the amazing plot twists, but let’s just say that the ship (much like the characters) isn’t all that it appears to be. It will certainly surprise you throughout the story, particularly at the end.
Jane is a very interesting character. Normally aspiring actresses are so stereotypical but Jane really transcends the usual clichés. She’s broke but she works a second job and actually studies her craft rather than whining about not getting any parts. She goes to auditions and tries hard which actally serves her quite well when she finds herself on board the Palazzo and must start her life from scratch again. In the beginning Jane can be a bit blind to the motivations of those around her but she definitely shifts her worldview as she learns that sometimes the obvious villains are actually on her side and that apparently kind people can be cruel. She really does grow as a person throughout the story and because of that, the ending was very satisfying.
The only possible downside to this book is that it’s not exactly fast-paced. It’s very interesting and Kenyon’s writing style is absolutely enchanting but if you’re looking for a thriller, this isn’t the book for you. I had a bit of a hard time getting oriented when Jane came on board the Palazzo but in the end I actually enjoyed the confusion because I got to learn along with Jane rather than knowing more than her and getting frustrated at her perceived incompetence. Really, this is just a fascinating book with plenty of plot twists and great writing. You don’t need an extremely fast-paced plot for a book like this.
If you enjoy fantasy and are interested in trying something new for a change, Queen of the Deep is definitely the book for you. It will surprise you, as it certainly surprised me.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Seven Dead Pirates by Linda Bailey
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
A shy boy comes to life and finds his voice when the ghosts of seven dead pirates appear in his bedroom. A humorous, inspiring adventure with poignancy and depth, destined to become a middle-grade classic!
Lewis Dearborn is a lonely, anxious, “terminally shy” boy of eleven when his great-grandfather passes away and leaves Lewis’s family with his decaying seaside mansion. Lewis is initially delighted with his new bedroom, a secluded tower in a remote part of the house. Then he discovers that it’s already occupied — by the ghosts of seven dead pirates. Worse, the ghosts expect him to help them re-take their ship, now restored and on display in a local museum, so they can make their way to Libertalia, a legendary pirate utopia. The only problem is that this motley crew hasn’t left the house in almost two hundred years and is terrified of going outside. As Lewis warily sets out to assist his new roommates — a raucous, unruly bunch who exhibit a strange delight in thrift-store fashions and a thirst for storybooks — he begins to open himself to the possibilities of friendship, passion and joie de vivre and finds the courage to speak up.
[Full disclosure: I received a free paperback copy from the publisher at Book Expo America 2015 with no expectation of a review.]
Obviously middle grade novels aren’t my specialty but I think everyone can remember when they were in this target age group. With that said, Seven Dead Pirates is a book I would have loved when I was younger. Even as an adult I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Our protagonist is Lewis Dearborn, a perpetually shy boy of eleven who is helicoptered by his frantic mother and father, who seem to think he’s made of glass and will break at any second. They think he has all manner of health problems and so are completely obnoxious about it, stifling his social growth both at school (where they frequently come in and embarrass him) and at home. In the beginning of the novel this is particularly bad and you would expect Lewis to have almost no real personality but he does. When he’s alone you really get the feeling that he’s an intelligent, sensitive and curious young boy who wants to get out from under his parents’ stifling presence and explore a bit. Even if it’s just in the old house his great-grandfather bequeathed to them, stipulating in his will that they had to live in it for 6 months before they were able to sell it. Just before he dies, Lewis’ grandfather tells Lewis one thing: “Libertalia”. What is Libertalia? Well, when Lewis finds out he is in for quite the adventure.
What I really loved about Seven Dead Pirates is that although in the beginning all seven of the dead pirates in question are pretty stereotypical pirates but turn out to be three dimensional characters. They’re really not all they seem to be and their real personalities shine through their rough, gruff personas that are designed to impress Lewis and maintain their reputation. And really, all they want is to be able to go to their old ship, which is housed in a museum nearby. The only problem? They haven’t been out of the house in centuries and whenever they try to sneak out as invisible ghosts, cars and other strange things frighten them so they turn visible, thwarting the whole “stealth” aspect of the plan. It’s quite funny how Lewis figures out a workaround to this and at the same time it shows his cleverness. He even disobeys his parents in order to bring his plan to fruition, learning a lot about himself in the process.
The plot isn’t exactly fast-paced but it is funny and interesting. The story itself is not so overly complicated that an 8 or 9 year old couldn’t follow it but there are some scenes that I personally think would be nightmare-inducing at that age. (Or at least it would have been for 8 or 9 year old me.) Which of course firmly sets Seven Dead Pirates in the middle grade novel range. The really good thing about Linda Bailey’s book is that I think it can be enjoyed by anyone on very different levels. Younger readers can enjoy the adventure aspects while more mature readers can also enjoy the moving personal journey Lewis goes on as he discovers some of his independence. And adults can thoroughly enjoy the humour and creativity that Bailey incorporates into the novel. Basically, you can’t go wrong with this book. There’s truly something in it for everyone.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
The Carnelian Legacy by Cheryl Koevoet
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Marisa MacCallum always believed that the man of her dreams was out there somewhere. The problem is—he’s in another dimension.
After the death of her father, eighteen-year-old Marisa’s life is on the verge of imploding. She seeks comfort on her daily ride through the woods of Gold Hill, but when a mysterious lightning storm strikes, she is hurled into the ancient, alternate dimension of Carnelia where she is discovered by the arrogant but attractive nobleman, Ambassador Darian Fiore.
Stranded in a world teeming with monsters, maniacs and medieval knights, Marisa is forced to join Darian on a dangerous mission to negotiate peace with his cousin and archenemy, Savino da Rocha. Along the way, she starts to see Darian’s softer side and finds herself falling in love. But once she learns that he is locked into an arranged marriage, her heart shatters.
When Savino falls for her charms and demands her hand in exchange for peace, Marisa is faced with an impossible choice: marry the enemy of the man she loves or betray them both and become the catalyst for a bloody war.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received an ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Some books you can tell right away that they’re going to be amazing. (Or amazingly bad.) Others it takes a little while to tell. And still others, like The Carnelian Legacy, you really aren’t sure of until the very end. I’ll explain.
From the first page, I loved The Carnelian Legacy. Marisa is a young woman who has gone through the unthinkable: not only did she lose her mother at a very young age, she just lost her father in her last year of high school. She’s grown up so quickly because her life has been shattered and then, when she seeks out a little peace in the woods of Gold Hill she’s thrust into a whole other dimension. Not only that, she’s stumbled into the middle of a very dangerous political situation where even the slightest misstep could mean the deaths of thousands on her conscience. When Marisa met Darian and Arrie (the prince and the diplomat, respectively) I began to have my doubts about The Carnelian Legacy. Although I loved the beginning, I felt apprehensive about where Cheryl Koevoet was taking the story. Was she going to turn a fairly interesting and unique premise into your typical love at first sight story?
Throughout the novel, there were times I would have answered yes and times I would have answered no because of the many, many plot twists. Some were predictable and some weren’t. But what really clinched it for me is in the end when I thought I had figured out everything and seen through the upcoming stereotypical plot twist, Koevoet changed the rules. In a good way! She defly dodged a predictable trope by combining many other older tropes to create something new and fresh. It was such a relief. So when you’re reading this book, you really do have to give the plot a chance right up until the end. It might turn out the way you think, but the journey will be very, very surprising.
That said, even if the plot had fallen flat on its face, I would still have enjoyed the book. Marisa is a character after my own heart. She grew up way before her time and had to play the adult from a very young age. Not only that, she had to decide whether risking everything for love was really worth it or whether she should do the responsible, practical thing that might bring about love in time. So you could say I’m a bit biased but Cheryl Koevoet really made Marisa come to life. She really portrays her frayed emotional state well without making her melodramatic. Anyone who has experienced loss in their life will understand Marisa’s frequent mood swings and crying spells, believe me. Especially since not only did she lose a parent, she lost her remaining family and was transported to another dimension where only a handful of people speak her language.
Darian is a wonderful male lead. Some people will probably be frustrated with him and all his contradictions but I think it made him far more realistic. He, like Marisa, has had to shoulder adult responsibilities from a young age and that has made him slightly paranoid and unwilling to trust anyone. Just when you think he’s on the brink of opening up about his past or his feelings, he shuts down once again as he reminds himself of his duty. His romance with Marisa is far from straightforward, just like in real life. Confessions come from both sides at inconvenient times, feelings don’t always stay constant and both sides make enormous mistakes at one time or another. But that’s what really clinched The Carnelian Legacy for me: it was very realistic in its depiction of a relationship with so many outside forces exerting pressure on it.
The world-building was also very good. While this is obviously not a political thriller, Koevoet did a good job of making the politics of the kingdom believable. Everyone had their own motivations, even the secondary characters, and nothing was as it seemed. She also presented a very interesting view of alternate dimensions that I haven’t really seen in science fiction/fantasy before. I can’t explain it without spoiling some of the plot points, but suffice it to say you’ll be pleasantly surprised. There was even a realistic depiction of religion in the kingdom that I thoroughly enjoyed because Koevoet was able to create religious characters without being preachy (unlike some authors). It was a refreshing change.
Basically, while I was very skeptical about the novel at times I am so glad that I stuck with it because it really is amazing. It’s definitely one of my better NetGalley finds and I can’t wait to read the second book, The Carnelian Tyranny.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Dark Horse by Michelle Diener
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Some secrets carry the weight of the world.
Rose McKenzie may be far from Earth with no way back, but she’s made a powerful ally–a fellow prisoner with whom she’s formed a strong bond. Sazo’s an artificial intelligence. He’s saved her from captivity and torture, but he’s also put her in the middle of a conflict, leaving Rose with her loyalties divided.
Captain Dav Jallan doesn’t know why he and his crew have stumbled across an almost legendary Class 5 battleship, but he’s not going to complain. The only problem is, all its crew are dead, all except for one strange, new alien being.
She calls herself Rose. She seems small and harmless, but less and less about her story is adding up, and Dav has a bad feeling his crew, and maybe even the four planets, are in jeopardy. The Class 5’s owners, the Tecran, look set to start a war to get it back and Dav suspects Rose isn’t the only alien being who survived what happened on the Class 5. And whatever else is out there is playing its own games.
In this race for the truth, he’s going to have to go against his leaders and trust the dark horse.
[Full disclosure: I received and accepted a NetGalley invitation from the author to receive a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.]
I was introduced to Michelle Diener’s work through her debut fantasy novel, The Golden Apple. After that, I delved into her historical series about John Parker and Susanna Horenbout (set in Tudor times). So when she emailed me saying that she had expanded into science fiction I was very excited to read her new book. It took me much longer than anticipated to get to it, but in the end it was worth it.
Dark Horse starts out with our protagonist, Rose, escaping from the alien ship that has held her captive and tortured her for about three months. The Tecrans that hold her hostage are more advanced than humanity but Rose has escaped by making a promise with the rogue artificial intelligence system, Sazo. Sazo teleported the Class 5 Battleship into the middle of Grih territory. The Grih are an alien race the closest to humans and therefore the most likely to accept Rose into their society when they inevitably find her. But despite Sazo’s help in getting her out, Rose really isn’t sure of the artificial intelligence system’s true motivations and whether or not he plans to harm or help the Grih. Sazo’s actions in getting her out of the ship really make her doubt that.
Rose is a great main character. We don’t get to experience all of the horrible things she went through when the Tecran experimented on her but we certainly feel the repercussions throughout the novel. You don’t walk away from three months of torture completely unscathed. At the same time, Rose is full of hope that she can build a new life for herself among the Grih, particularly once she meets them. Her attraction to Dav, the admiral in charge of the ship that found her is undeniable but at the same time she’s still keeping Sazo’s existence a secret. It’s a dangerous secret that threatens to wreck all that she has worked for and possibly start an inter-galactic war. Throughout the novel you really get the feeling that Rose is a fundamentally good human being who was in a terrible situation and is now willing to do almost anything it takes to get out of it with her honour and dignity intact. It’s certainly not easy.
Not only is Rose a three dimensional character, Dav is as well. He’s an admiral who has followed the book to the letter from about day one to get where he is in his career currently. But that all seems to change once he meets Rose and is exposed to entirely new ideas, ideas that really threaten views he once thought were set in stone. Yes, there’s an attraction between the two of them but it really feels organic and Michelle Diener allows that attraction to grow throughout the novel. It’s far from straightforward either—there are plenty of bumps along the road as he discovers Rose isn’t being entirely truthful with him and the secret she keeps may ruin the tentuous peace between the five main races in the galaxy.
I could go on and on about the character of Sazo, the artificial intelligence, but to do so would spoil some of the lovely surprises Michelle Diener leaves for her readers. Suffice it to say, Sazo’s and Rose’s banter makes for some of the best parts of the entire book. And considering the quality of Dark Horse, that’s pretty high praise. Even the secondary characters are very well fleshed out, something that I’ve found is very consistent with Diener’s novels, fantasy, historical fiction or otherwise.
I really did love the world-building in Dark Horse. Some of the technology was so creative, some of it was similar to other science fiction novels and a few things will be very familiar to avid science fiction fans. (Rose even makes a joke about this when asked how she can possibly figure out the Grih technology so fast.) What I really liked, however, was the cultural aspect of the world-building. Considering the fast pace of the novel we don’t exactly get an in-depth look at Grih culture but we do get beautiful glimpses into it. For example, the scarcity of music-makers due to not only the Grih language but their anatomy. It’s all very fascinating and very well thought out.
Best of all, Dark Horse starts out pretty fast paced and maintains that pace quite well throughout the novel. There are some ‘down’ moments but the tension never really leaves, especially when you consider that Rose’s secret is really a ticking time bomb that could have disastrous consequences. I can’t talk too much about the plot because that would spoil some of the twists and turns, but I think it’s enough to say that you’ll definitely be (pleasantly) surprised with said plot twists. They’re logical and exciting at the same time.
Basically, Dark Horse is an amazing science fiction debut for Michelle Diener and I personally can’t wait for more, preferably in the same universe (if not the same characters). I can’t recommend this novel enough.
I give this book 5/5 stars.