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ClareR (5996 KP) rated The Darkest Sin in Books

Dec 4, 2023  
The Darkest Sin
The Darkest Sin
D. V. Bishop | 2022 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I loved this follow up to The City of Vengeance, and Cesare Aldo is quickly becoming one of my favourite characters in historical fiction at the moment. And that’s saying a lot, because I read quite a bit of historical fiction!!

This story picks up not long after book 1, and Aldo is called to a convent that has had reports of an intruder. This isn’t a harmonious convent, though. There are opposing ideas on what sort of convent it should be (with some very unchristian nuns!), and it has it’s share of secrets.

Meanwhile, Constable Carlo Strocchi has taken his new wife home to introduce her to his mother, and he happens to stumble across the remains of a rather unpopular former officer of the city’s criminal court. And it looks as though he has been murdered.

I love this blend of historical fact and fiction: the Medici’s and the roles of nuns (to be enclosed or not?), the inequalities in Italian society at the time, women’s roles and lack of power, the structure of authority and how the catholic church ruled supreme (and not particularly morally). Aldo is the bastard son of a wealthy man, and when he is ‘reunited’ with his family, he’s not exactly welcomed back with open arms. He does however meet his niece, and she is far more accepting of him, even if it is, I think, a way of getting her own way!!

This is such an atmospheric read, and is thoroughly addictive. There are enough twists, turns and threats to Aldo’s life to make it very difficult to put the book down!

So is Aldo a threat to my love of Giordano Bruno or Matthew Shardlake? Err, nope, but he’s joining them - and if you like either of these, you’ll love Aldo Cesare!
  
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graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de' Medici (Young Royals, #5) in Books

Feb 15, 2019  
DA
Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de' Medici (Young Royals, #5)
Carolyn Meyer | 2007
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
<u>Duchessina</u> was a fairly good young adult take on Catherine de' Medici. The historical details are flawlessly added, and while it's <i>too</i> sympathic towards Catherine, I understand the need for the heroine to be that way in this type of book. My only major complaint is the end, where there was too much left in the book to wrap up so quickly. I thought the whole book was just going to be the first twenty or so years of her life, which would have made the book more cohesive. Instead the last thirty pages were rushed with the rest of her marriage and then the historical notes after Henri II died.

However, I do appreciate authors bringing history to younger readers in the hope that they will want to read more about certain people and times. Especially in the case of Catherine de' Medici, whom I feel history was more vicious to than she deserved. She was a woman of her times and she survived as best she could. Was she a saint? No, far from it, but I don't believe she was evil either.

3.5 stars