I received a free copy of this book through the Niche Reader Project.

I was incredibly hopeful about this book. The topic is super interesting and there’s loads of potential for emotional character development and fast-paced action. Unfortunately, neither of these things happened. I have never left a negative book review before – I really appreciate the amount of time and effort that goes into researching and writing a novel. However, today is the day. I hope the author, if he reads this, will take it as a list of suggestions for next time – I’d love to see how he hones his craft as he develops as a writer!

Language:
Others have said the language used was appropriate… I didn’t feel like it was. Certain words are used throughout the book to give it a sense of Middle English. However, there are points when these words are misused, or at least used in a way that isn’t easy for the modern reader to understand, with or without Old/ Middle/ Modern English dictionaries. In future, I’d really recommend that the author learns more about English grammar, and particularly about word types and sentence structure. This will help him to identify which types of words he uses where in his natural writing style, and subsequently make sure he always uses the right number of verbs, for instance.

The relationship with translation is also intriguing. In translation, different people think different methods are best; some think it’s best to translate all terms including names, significant cultural ideas and etc into the target language, to make it easier for readers to understand. Some people thing it’s best to leave these things in the original language, to maintain a link with the original text and to help the readers connect with the setting. Some translators are somewhere between these two extremes. The author of this book is very inconsistent when it comes to his strategy for translating French terms into English. Sometimes he keeps/ uses the French (‘joie-de-vivre’). Sometimes he translates something into modern English. More often, he translates 16th-century French ideas using terms from 16th-century English terms or even Anglo-Saxon terms (‘reeve’, ‘shire’). This results in the whole thing feeling rather confused! A consistent approach would have made it far easier to understand the references and what was going on throughout. The challenge of setting a history novel in another country is that you have to think about how you’re going to immerse your reader in another, very distant, culture. On this occasion that just hasn’t happened.

Plot
I don’t mind dark books. Where violence is necessary, I think it can add a lot to a story. I’ve even enjoyed books such as Christina Henry’s ‘Alice’, which is a horrific adaption of Lewis Caroll’s book. However, I found a lot of the violence in this book, particularly the violence against women, gratuitous and unnecessary. By page 50 there had already been several rapes and assaults, and that is by no means the end of it. It felt like all this violence was just a means of discussing male honour and religious hypocrisy. It didn’t feel like there was any real discussion of the deep psychological impact of this on the women, or any indication that it had significance beyond indicating that a particular character was ‘bad’. I think this impression comes from a combination of two factors:
1. Ironically, not spending enough time discussing the violence. If you give violence a significant place in your story, it shows that it has importance. By taking the time to describe the circumstance and the emotions connected to it in more detail, you give it importance. You don’t even have to describe the act itself. However, if you include it too briefly, it loses significance. This also downplays the significance of the violent act itself, subsequently making it seem less important and less relevant overall.
2. The frequency of these acts. If you want to emphasise a character’s evil through the abhorrent acts they perform, those acts have to stand out as particularly evil. The more these acts are repeated throughout the book, the less significant they seem. This reduces the significance and trivialises them further.

I have similar comments about many other aspects of the plot; I find that not enough attention is given to significant moments (moving to Germany, moving to London, moving to Ireland, being split up from your wife forever, being reunited with your family after years apart) whilst irrelevant details such as a description of a potato field or a church roof take up far more space than they proportionally should when compared with more important details. Similarly, there is a huge emphasis on dialogues that cover a lot of background information about religion, politics and contemporary literature. This distracts hugely from the main plot, and restricts the people who can read your novel to those who are happy to make their way through a lot of very dense history. There is a time and a place for a big discussion in a novel, but it owuld have been great to readdress the balance between dialogue and action. This could add some excitement and emotion back into the mix.

Characters:
On that note, there is a lot to be said about the characters. The book begins with a list of 75 characters, categorised into noble houses, political groups and families. If this seems like a lot, it’s because it is. Unfortunately, the confusion only increases as you make your way through the story. My main issue is that none of them have distinct personalities. For instance, Danilo, the book merchant, seems to me to be almost the same character as Maurice the bookseller. One of them has some links with magic (I’m still not entirely sure what that was about, and I’ve read it twice), one of them is the main character. Either way, the speech patterns in the (very long and very frequent) sections of dialogue show no difference between the characters, nor do they reveal any significant character traits. Maurice is clever and knows books well, as does Danilo, but then, so does Jean Millet and a host of other characters. There is clear tension between Maurice and his wife that had the potential to be an interesting subplot, but all I got from it was a sense of bitterness, an opportunity for someone to cheat and no sense of closure whatsoever. Equally, a lot of the side characters have no purpose – the initial list of Sophists includes one who makes it all the way through, and several who are dead before the reader’s had a chance to care about either them or their cause. I would have loved some more character building at the start so that I could care at all about the characters, and decide for myself which causes I supported and so on. As it was, a character’s death was always just a relief, because it was one fewer character to keep track of.

Who is the intended audience?

A big issue for this book for me is that I can’t imagine who would read it. The discussion of a lot of explicit content rules it out for younger history enthusiasts. I can’t imagine many women enjoying a book where a significant porportion of the female characters are assaulted at some point, and/or are very one-dimensional. I have no issue with a book having a clear religious direction, but the villainisation of some characters is ikely to rule out a lot of Catholic readers, whilst the complexity, lack of excitement and long political/ theological discussions make it a very difficult read for anyone who doesn’t love academia. Amongst those who are left, the interesting relationship translation choices may make it a frustrating read. I would love to have a better idea of who the author is envisaging as his audience, and for him to really tailor this book to those people, to make it an informative and hopefully emotionally engaging, if not enjoyable, read.

Book recommendations for the author – some I like, some I don’t, but hopefully they could help as he refines his writing style and considers how he might approach the plot in the next book of the series.

Books about violence that get across the horror of the events they’re describing:
Babel: RF Kuang
The Poppy Wars: RF Kuang
Alice: Christina Henry
The Sealwoman’s Gift: Sally Magnusson

Books that emphasise dialogue successfully:
Sense and Sensibility: Jane Austen
The Restaurant of Lost Recipes: Hisashi Kashiwai

Books with successful character development:
The Great Gatsby: F Scott Fitzgerald
The Lost Bookshop, Evie Woods

Books that discuss a particular perspective religion:
The Lie Tree, Francis Hardinge
Chocolat, Joanne Harris
Hijab, Butch, Blues: Lamya H

History novels:
The Little Stranger: Sarah Waters
Bakhita, Véronique Olmi

Books about historic France:
A Tale of Two Cities: Charles Dickens

French books:
Les Misérables: Victor Hugo
The Lais: Marie de France
Ceux qui Sauront: Pierre Bordage (unavailable in English, as far as I can find)