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Originally Posted by caleb72
I quite enjoyed it but I think I shared some of issybird's complaints. There was the hint of the ridiculous in some of the set-up.
However, because I came at this as a work that influenced Martin's Game of Thrones, I found I was reading from a slightly off-centre perspective. I was feeling the similarity - the casual cruelty of youth in power, the plotting, the torture, the sex.
I too found it a bit pulpy and camp, but I also found it entertaining enough that I will want to read the second one. I also liked that I knew nothing about this period of time, (although I'm no history major by any stretch).
However, one complaint I did have was that the writing itself didn't impress me as much as I would have liked. The translation may be partly to blame, but I found that quite a few scenes lacked impact, particular the death/torture scenes.
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This pretty much sums up my opinion! I was curious in the Martin influence too. I wonder how it reads in the original language. The author led an interesting life, and I thought these statements were interesting.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26824993
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Maurice Druon, who died in 2009, is barely known in the English-speaking world, but he enjoyed a considerable reputation as a man of letters in his home country. During World War Two he served under Charles de Gaulle and penned the patriotic anthem Chant Des Partisans. Later in life, he became head of the Academie Francaise, the august body which decides what is and what isn't allowed in the French language. Druon was staunchly against the creeping Anglicisation of French, although he apparently approved the words "tweed" and "birdie" into French dictionaries.
When Druon died in 2009, it was these achievements on which obituarists focused, not his historical saga - which seems to have been as Druon wished. "Les Rois Maudits was written to make money very quickly," says the Independent's French correspondent John Lichfield. "He himself was not very proud of it." Lichfield knew Druon, who he describes as "a sweet, generous, humorous man" who was also an ardent Anglophile. "He was someone who you came across a lot in English receptions at the embassy."
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I was also surprised to learn how popular this series was in Russia. Druon even met with Putin on a trip to Russia. I think that I read elsewhere that he met him more than once.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/a...me/241044.html
I didn't know much about this period of history. I was surprised to find that some of the far-fetched threads had more truth than I expected. Some plots follow alternative theories to mainstream perspectives. I enjoy historical fiction, especially if it helps key events stick in my head better. I like to do some research to help separate fact from fiction.
I found it entertaining enough that I started the second book. It just happened to be on sale for $1.99 when I looked it up so not much to lose!