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adrian_1987's review against another edition
4.0
Me gustó la historia pero hay algunas cosas que todavía no entiendo; una de ellas es que la historia abarca 300 años.
El libro empieza contándonos algo que se desarrolla en 1862 pero al terminar el primer capítulo nos transporta 300 años al pasado, o sea, a 1562. En este año se nos cuenta la historia de una joven de 19 años que viven Carcasona, Francia. Un día, mientras trabaja en la librería de su padre, recibe una carta que dice "ella sabe que estás viva". En este punto ya tenemos dos tramas que se van explicar, la del libro y la de (quiero pensar) la trilogía.
Me gustó que aunque hay cambios de lugar, es decir, ciudades, pueblos, lugares dentro de la ciudad, no se usa de una manera muy excesiva. Lo que se tiene que explicar en ese lugar se explica; no hay cambios innecesarios (en lo que a mí respecta).
Creo que lo único que no me gustó de este libro es que el villano se revela muy tarde, nos presentan las cartas o diario que tiene el sello de León con dos colas, pero no es sino hasta la mitad del libro más o menos que estas cartas toman importancia. De hecho puedo decir que el villano en si es sólo un villano secundario, ya que el principal es quien no esperamos que sea.
Lo que sí me disgustó muchísimo fue la actitud de los católicos hacia los protestantes. La autora hizo muy bien su trabajo porque en realidad logró hacerme que los odiara. Cada escena en la que culpan a los protestantes de las cosas hechas por los católicos, quise poder entrar al libro y por lo menos agarrar a todos a cachetadas. No puedo creer que hayan tenido el pensamiento tan cerrado y quieran convencer a los demás de qué las personas que creen en algo diferente son malas.
Obviamente seguiré leyendo los libros que restan de esta serie porque me interesa saber cómo es que el desarrollo de la historia se va a llevar a cabo a lo largo de 300 años. Obviamente ya no veremos la vida de la personaje principal en este libro pero quiero saber qué potencial tiene la autora para contarnos una historia como esta.
El libro empieza contándonos algo que se desarrolla en 1862 pero al terminar el primer capítulo nos transporta 300 años al pasado, o sea, a 1562. En este año se nos cuenta la historia de una joven de 19 años que viven Carcasona, Francia. Un día, mientras trabaja en la librería de su padre, recibe una carta que dice "ella sabe que estás viva". En este punto ya tenemos dos tramas que se van explicar, la del libro y la de (quiero pensar) la trilogía.
Me gustó que aunque hay cambios de lugar, es decir, ciudades, pueblos, lugares dentro de la ciudad, no se usa de una manera muy excesiva. Lo que se tiene que explicar en ese lugar se explica; no hay cambios innecesarios (en lo que a mí respecta).
Creo que lo único que no me gustó de este libro es que el villano se revela muy tarde, nos presentan las cartas o diario que tiene el sello de León con dos colas, pero no es sino hasta la mitad del libro más o menos que estas cartas toman importancia. De hecho puedo decir que el villano en si es sólo un villano secundario, ya que el principal es quien no esperamos que sea.
Lo que sí me disgustó muchísimo fue la actitud de los católicos hacia los protestantes. La autora hizo muy bien su trabajo porque en realidad logró hacerme que los odiara. Cada escena en la que culpan a los protestantes de las cosas hechas por los católicos, quise poder entrar al libro y por lo menos agarrar a todos a cachetadas. No puedo creer que hayan tenido el pensamiento tan cerrado y quieran convencer a los demás de qué las personas que creen en algo diferente son malas.
Obviamente seguiré leyendo los libros que restan de esta serie porque me interesa saber cómo es que el desarrollo de la historia se va a llevar a cabo a lo largo de 300 años. Obviamente ya no veremos la vida de la personaje principal en este libro pero quiero saber qué potencial tiene la autora para contarnos una historia como esta.
melindor's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
daja57's review against another edition
1.0
Kate Mosse is a best-selling author so I presume that she knows her audience and tailors her work perfectly to what they want. Her choice of subject - the French wars of religion in which Huguenots fought against Catholics with both sides responsible for terrible massacres - should be rich and fertile ground, full of potential. But Mosse has diluted and dumbed-down her narrative; I suppose she knows that her readers couldn't cope with anything better. Any hint of moral ambiguity has been discarded.
That it is a historical novel is shown by the use of old-fashioned terms such as "break your fast" for breakfast (Ch 2) and "pursuivants" for pursuers (Ch 7) but any true sense of period is completely undermined by giving the goodies modern moral sensibilities. For example, wife-beating (Ch 50) is regarded as normal by the baddie and abhored by the goodie. I'm not saying that wife-beating is at all tolerated and I am sure that in the 1500s there were many people who condemned it but it would have added interest and tension to the story if a goodie had condoned it. Our moral values are developed within the context of society and one of the functions of a historical novel should be to examine our present beliefs from the perspective of past societies or we risk making the assumption that then they were wrong, wrong, wrong and today we are right, right, right and in the future if they look back at us they will be amazed at how right we were. I suspect Mosse knows that her readers would be shocked if she allowed a goodie to say something controversial but it made for a very unsatisfactory novel.
The characters are mostly exactly the same underneath as they are on the surface. The only characters I became interested in (and mostly because they offered a slight element of comedy) were Aimeric the boy and Madame Boussay his aunt, the latter being the only character to show any sort of development. The others were names for stereotypes; the goodies were good and the baddies were bad and no-one had a moral dilemma or changed in character. Even the love affair was love at first sight and enduring through thick and thin. There were repeated missed opportunities to develop the characters and this meant that the narrative tapestry woven was threadbare. They were as wooden as the chess pieces moved around the board and like bishops, knights and castles< Mosse's characters were totally subservient to the dictates of her plot.
In the end it was all about the plot. But even this didn't excite me. It lumbered along like a creaking medieval cart. Okay, a lot happened and there were twists and turns, but there was nothing that was not predictable.
It was, I suppose, a page turner but only because I had lost interest well before the half-way mark and was skim-reading to get to the end as quickly as possible.
That it is a historical novel is shown by the use of old-fashioned terms such as "break your fast" for breakfast (Ch 2) and "pursuivants" for pursuers (Ch 7) but any true sense of period is completely undermined by giving the goodies modern moral sensibilities. For example, wife-beating (Ch 50) is regarded as normal by the baddie and abhored by the goodie. I'm not saying that wife-beating is at all tolerated and I am sure that in the 1500s there were many people who condemned it but it would have added interest and tension to the story if a goodie had condoned it. Our moral values are developed within the context of society and one of the functions of a historical novel should be to examine our present beliefs from the perspective of past societies or we risk making the assumption that then they were wrong, wrong, wrong and today we are right, right, right and in the future if they look back at us they will be amazed at how right we were. I suspect Mosse knows that her readers would be shocked if she allowed a goodie to say something controversial but it made for a very unsatisfactory novel.
The characters are mostly exactly the same underneath as they are on the surface. The only characters I became interested in (and mostly because they offered a slight element of comedy) were Aimeric the boy and Madame Boussay his aunt, the latter being the only character to show any sort of development. The others were names for stereotypes; the goodies were good and the baddies were bad and no-one had a moral dilemma or changed in character. Even the love affair was love at first sight and enduring through thick and thin. There were repeated missed opportunities to develop the characters and this meant that the narrative tapestry woven was threadbare. They were as wooden as the chess pieces moved around the board and like bishops, knights and castles< Mosse's characters were totally subservient to the dictates of her plot.
In the end it was all about the plot. But even this didn't excite me. It lumbered along like a creaking medieval cart. Okay, a lot happened and there were twists and turns, but there was nothing that was not predictable.
It was, I suppose, a page turner but only because I had lost interest well before the half-way mark and was skim-reading to get to the end as quickly as possible.
egghead15's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
maryserea's review against another edition
1.0
1.5 stars
Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Why do they advertise this as a love story (ok, not mainly a love story but you get it) when it goes like this:
1. Our two heroes meet. They both get horny for each other cause they're hot.
2. Our heroes meet for the second time: they kiss.
3. Out heroes profess their love for each other and pull out pet names such as: my little treasure and mon couer.
Sure, Jan. Also, the conversations they had during their two meetings were there just to describe events to the reader, who only had half the story because the author had to cut the scenes to keep up the suspense. And to profess how liberal they are.
We love one dimentional characters, I guess.
I'm not a fan of different povs in a book, but I'm not totally against it. The first half was ok in that regards, but the end had my head spinning trying to follow 20 characters who miraculously found their way to the same place at the same time for the grand finale.
The history stuff is interesting!
(can you imagine having to read another book about these people?)
Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Why do they advertise this as a love story (ok, not mainly a love story but you get it) when it goes like this:
1. Our two heroes meet. They both get horny for each other cause they're hot.
2. Our heroes meet for the second time: they kiss.
3. Out heroes profess their love for each other and pull out pet names such as: my little treasure and mon couer.
Sure, Jan. Also, the conversations they had during their two meetings were there just to describe events to the reader, who only had half the story because the author had to cut the scenes to keep up the suspense. And to profess how liberal they are.
We love one dimentional characters, I guess.
I'm not a fan of different povs in a book, but I'm not totally against it. The first half was ok in that regards, but the end had my head spinning trying to follow 20 characters who miraculously found their way to the same place at the same time for the grand finale.
The history stuff is interesting!
(can you imagine having to read another book about these people?)
rogerh's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mariekezijlstra's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
ppppaula's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
Maybe it’s just my mood but I just couldn’t get invested in the characters at all. It is an interesting subject but this version didn’t do it for me sadly. I found the pacing slow, and expected more of a link back to the prologue but that never came.
liyanna's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75