This was a mixed bag for me. On the positive side, it was a quick and entertaining and informative read about a fascinating time in history at a key point that would determine the events of the next century. I also quite enjoyed the dichotomy between the chaste, frustrated and splenetic Isabella and her wanton and careless sisters-in-law. The Nesle tower plot was the best part of the story for me.
I thought the execution was poor, however. Worst of all were the info dumps disguised as dialogue. From the beginning, when Robert of Artois showed up at Isabella's palace and gave his whole backstory as part of their conversation, my inner voice was saying, "She
knows all that, dude." Druon relied on that device far too much when I would have preferred an
in medias res approach, where subtlety would have clued the reader in over the course of the story.
I also thought the whole thing was cheesy. I'm not saying sex wasn't a big aspect of parts of the story, but I could have skipped the tender moments between Robert and Isabella, and also between Guccio and his countryside amour whose name I can't remember. And in both cases, Druon attributed great consequences to the connections, but didn't follow up. I hate series where the books aren't complete in themselves. You can't say Robert and Isabella started the war and then not have the war start. War, what war? It's poor fiction and poor history.
Some of it I thought unlikely and they were major plot points. Were the brothers really caught by their purses? If they were, I'm wrong, but I think in this situation the cousins would have said to their lovers, "For God's sake, don't wear these to meet Isabella." Similarly, Guccio and his burying of the incriminating casket in the countryside seemed like a huge stretch to me. Too much could have gone wrong and the documents been irretrievable. Kind of like Lady Mary giving her thingie to Anna to hide in her barebones cottage, instead of finding a secret place (surely she could have managed a locked drawer) in her own room. *ahem*
Quote:
Originally Posted by din155
Firstly a disclosure - I am not into historic fiction but the book made me wonder if I would have gotten more out of it if I was familiar with the actual history during that period.
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I was really disappointed with the abrupt ending before I realized that it was part of a series  and that did not make it any better. Overall I am glad to have read it, although not sure if I will read the entire series. |
My reaction was that I would have enjoyed it less had I been more familiar with the history. It would have been too easy to pick nits with both the facts and their intrepretation.
And yes, the whole structure was wrong. If the point of the book was the end of Philip the Fair because of the Templar's curse, then it shouldn't have been started as the run-up to the Hundred Years War. Either overarching plot would have been fine, but Druon needed to pick one and stick with it.
My bottom line is that I had enough enjoyment out of it that I'll read the second book when I need some mindless entertainment. Then I'll see how I feel after that.