Impressively well-researched historical fiction conveyed with dramatic verve.
In this third installment of a series, Anne of Brittany and her husband, Louis XII, the king of France, struggle to agree on a future husband for their daughter, a choice with high political stakes.
Initially, the decision regarding the marital future of Princess Claude of France is amicably made in the early 16th century by her parents. Both Anne and Louis select Charles of Luxembourg, not quite 2 years old, to one day marry their infant daughter. Their reasons for picking Charles, while different, are borne out of political strategy, lucidly depicted in this historical novel by Gaston (Anne and Louis: Passion and Politics in Early Renaissance France, 2018, etc.). Anne pushes the idea, knowing Charles is destined for great power: He’s the son of Philip of Burgundy, archduke of Austria and heir to the Holy Roman Empire, and Joanna of Castile, the daughter of Ferdinand, the king of Spain. Since Charles will one day become the Holy Roman emperor and Claude the duchess of Brittany, he surely would prevent the French usurpation of Brittany, preserving its sovereignty, a cause close to Anne’s heart. And Louis hopes that Ferdinand will support his interests in Italy. But Louis harbors a “secret desire” for Claude to wed Francis d’Angoulême, the son of a dead cousin, in order to maintain the throne within his own bloodline. Even after brokering the arrangement with Philip and Joanna, he furtively authorizes the composition of a new will that ensures the future matrimony of Claude and Francis, risking the astonished ire of Anne. In this engrossing volume of the Anne of Brittany series, the author deftly re-creates the complex political landscape of Europe, an entangled skein of agreements and acrimonies. Her mastery of the historical period is superb, and her portrayal of the social nuances of the day, painstakingly authentic. In addition, the relationship between Anne and Louis—romantically strong but politically disharmonious—is brought to vivid life (Louis’ “mind wandered to Anne. Would she remain loyal to him, should she find out one day that he had promised Claude to Francis? He could bear a rupture with Ferdinand, the Borgias, the Venetians, or the Florentines, but he couldn’t bear the thought of one with his wife”). This is a delightful blend of historical rigor and dramatic entertainment delivered in easily companionable prose.
Impressively well-researched historical fiction conveyed with dramatic verve.Pub Date: Dec. 12, 2019
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 401
Publisher: Renaissance Editions
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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