Killer Pancakes

Again, another book that I'm feeling pretty ambivalent about. I'm not sure if it's because I'm ready to move on from the genre, or if it was the book itself, but Killer Pancakes by Dianne Mott Davidson failed to grab my attention.

There was nothing in particular I could point out about why I never really was fully invested. Maybe that was part of the problem: it was so bland. It wasn't good, wasn't bad, just... bland.

It wasn't memorable either- I'm writing this a few days after I finished it and I'm struggling to come up with the plot. Beauty Counter drama! The lack of Marla, and emphasis on Goldie's appearance made the book lackluster.

I have one more cozy mystery checked out from the library, and three non-cozy mysteries as well. Hopefully that break will be enough to give me back my enthusiasm!

(Also: shortest review ever.)


(2/5 stars)

The Last Suppers

I've been at kind of a standstill when it comes to reading. It's not for lack of books: I easily have about two hundred piled around my room, waiting to be read. And it's not from lack of time. I'm really not doing much else with my time, apart from playing chauffeur to my sister and arguing with various University departments.

In part, I think it may be that I'm disappointed that I still haven't received the second installment of the Booktown mystery series. I was extremely excited to listen to the next book, but was put on a wait list at my library. I haven't felt the urge to listen to many other audiobooks. Plus, I've been rather lacking in the inspiration department. I keep finding series of books to read. While I love exploring my favorite characters in new adventures, on some level, you need a bit of an intervention. I have yet to find a proper audiobook that will take me away on a new universe.

I'm also feeling a bit guilty that all I've been listening to and all I've been reading lately have been classified as cozy mysteries. I know that there's nothing wrong with reading what you like- after all I firmly believe that the purpose of books is solely for enjoyment. If you don't enjoy what you're reading, you're missing the purpose. Still, when time after time it's yet another quirky heroine solving a murder, I feel like I'm stuck in a rut. I need to break out of the pattern, at least for a little bit!

Finally, I think the biggest reason I've been avoiding reading has been that I'm stuck in a never ending book. While I ordinarily enjoy nonfiction, particularly when it involves mysteries and serial killers, I just can't get into The Devil in the White City. I know a good chunk of the reason is that it's a paper book- again, one of the two hundred or so covering every surface in my bedroom. It's hard for me to read paper books now that I feel the urge to knit at every waking moment. The other part is something I'll discuss when I eventually finish it. I know it's not an issue of the topic- I absolutely adored the episode the Stuff You Missed in History Class did on the murders, and the World's Fair is a topic that's been featured at my work for months now.

In any case, out of sheer desperation, I downloaded the audiobook of The Last Suppers by Diane Mott Davidson in hopes that I might finally resume my interest in books. After all, pretty soon I'm going to be much too busy to be reading as often as I can now.

This attempt to garner my own interest failed miserably. I felt myself tuning out of this book. While I still enjoyed the characters of Marla and Goldie, I couldn't keep any of the secondary characters in this book straight. The whole book revolved around Goldie freaking out, with entirely too much of a focus on religion. You didn't get to enjoy her relationship with her friends and family, and the whole bit about her hearing voices was rather disturbing. While I understood that she was going through an emotional crisis with the loss of her fiancee, that should have given Davidson an opportunity to stress the importance of Goldie's relationship with her family. Instead, it was a book entirely filled with inner monologue of someone anguished.

The mystery itself felt very much pushed to the wayside in favor of inner monologue whining. There were minimal clue finding and red herrings. It was just a dud of a book, in my opinion. I have faith that the next few will be considerably more entertaining. I know that my complete lack of knowledge involving Goldie's religion didn't help matters either. 

(2/5 stars)

From Dead to Worse

This was another disappointing book. Harris seemed to have lost all sense of a cohesive plot. Rather than have one overarching mystery or storyline, From Dead to Worse was divided into about four distinct stories that did not meld together well at all. Each new storyline was just sort of thrown in there suddenly. If anything, the focus was on Sookie's feelings and everyday back story.

I just didn't get into the book. While there were important aspects that were resolved (the vampire hierarchy, the werewolf anarchy, and Bob the cat), none of it was done in a cohesive way- it felt very rushed and thrown together.

Honestly, apart from Bob the cat, the other storylines really should have had their own books. They were important enough issues that needed more fleshing out.The way they were written was incredibly... brief, I suppose. I never really got the opportunity to ponder a mystery or "what's going to happen" because as soon as a problem was introduced, it was resolved. Quinn's disappearing act was the only somewhat constant theme, and that was addressed two third of the way into the book (and very poorly at that).

I did, however, enjoy the build up with Sam. I think Harris is finally setting him up as a romantic possibility, without throwing in the whole kitten caboodle. I loved reading about his backstory, as it is incredibly different from the show, and I'm glad he doesn't seem to be pining for Sookie, again, unlike the show. He's more of a really good friend, good boss, and great person than the "nice guy" he seems to be on TV.

All in all, this was a let down. I'm glad I wasn't one of the people who anticipated this book for ages before reading it. I would have been miiighty ticked to be super excited for this hack job. While each of the stories were important to progress Sookie's overall storyline, they were just simply not executed as well as I would have hoped.

I am, however, excited to find out more about Sookie's fairy grandfather and I absolutely adored the surprise twist at the end- just not enough to make up for this disjointed book!

(2/5 stars)

Dead as a Doornail

I'm really tired of being disappointed by books. Maybe I need to just get out of the paranormal genre in general, maybe I need to start reading Great Literature (TM), or maybe I need to just give up any expectation of a good book. In any case, the most recent book I read in the Sookie Stackhouse series, Dead as a Doornail was not up to my standards. Keep in mind that my standards for these books? Very, very low.

For starters, the mystery was absolutely ridiculous. I had figured out who the baddies were before the mystery was even introduced- and trust me, that's not something I like to do. I use books like these to check out, not to try to sleuth ahead of the main character. I don't put much, if any, thought to clues and the like while reading these kinds of books. So the fact that I figured it out really says something. The mystery/mysteries were put on the back burner at best. Someone is killing shifters- oh no! Jason is going to get killed- panic! Except... Sookie didn't. It really didn't seem to weight that heavily on Sookie's mind, and the mystery only took a couple of pages. The entire weight of the book rested on Sookie and her romantic escapades.

Alright, second big beef: the romantic escapades. I liked Sookie when I started the series. Maybe it's because I enjoy how developed her character is on the show, maybe it's because initially the author did have a sassy and imperfect main character. In any case, sassy and imperfect Sookie was not. Once upon a time, Sookie's character wasn't the object of every man's attention- if anything, many of the thoughts of the men surrounding her were freaked out about her. Now, it seems that has all gone to the way side while every male salivates over her. Uh, what? I get that she's supposed to be pretty, but when not one, not two, but at least six men are prominently vying for her attention in one book, I find it pretty hard to handle. The only good thing I suppose was that Alcide's potential as a love interest seems to be pretty much eliminated in this book, along with Calvin. Thank god. It's not that I Had anything against these characters- I absolutely love learning more about their back-stories- but pitting them again the epic love triangle of doooooom Bill versus Eric, and it was irritating. I didn't even mind Club Dead, as Bill took a back seat and really wasn't much romantic competition. More than two rivals and the author loses credibility.

Sookie's annoying dictionary of the day habit seemed to diminish, as did her reflex to refer to herself as stupid. In fact, she seemed every bit of a strong and independent woman in this book, something I really enjoyed. What I didn't enjoy was her rationalization of being raped, beaten, and almost killed by her romantic partners. Uh, no. Just no. That pretty much took all of her independence and strength and threw it out the window. I just can't get over that. I was absolutely disgusted at that point.

But, enough of the bad. There at least was some redeeming qualities to this book. Like the fact that Harris' writing skills have progressed to the point where I almost cried when Sookie lost her house. It was absolutely heart wrenching. I can't even imagine how horrible that might be, but reading that passage sure gave me an idea. Another example of Harris' writing skills? The entire werewolf subplot. Hello, heart-wrenching. It was horrible and hard to handle, and Harris portrayed it very well. I was practically screaming along side Sookie with frustration- great stuff.

What wasn't such good writing was when Harris continued to put summations of Sookie's emotions and dilemmas after essentially every few pages or so. I absolutely hate it when authors do this. It's one thing to remind after half the book- it's another to excessively abuse the tactic. This constituted abusing the tactic in my book.

Basically, this book was a huge step back for me. After the awesomeness of the last book, this was intensely disappointing.

(2/5 stars)

Dead and Gone

Okay, so this one wasn't quite as bad as the last few books. But still, Dead and Gone didn't float to the top of my awesome scale. I'm almost considering not even remarking on this series any more, except for the fact that I'm almost finished with it. Each book is similar to the next in terms of flaws and strengths.

I think the part of this book I liked the least was just how darn depressing it was. It was kind of like, "here, let me introduce these awesome characters and then kill them off just to make Sookie be angsty". I'm not interested in that. That's not to say that I don't want anyone to die in the books, that would be excessive. But when both Trey and Claudine kicked the bucket in one book (effectively introducing the end of Amelia), it definitely felt like Harris was just setting up Sookie to be in pain.

Uh, there's a different between winging over a relationship and winging over the loss of a personal friend and relative. Just... no. It felt too dark for these books, which sounds silly considering the series theme, but it's true. Nothing truly bad happens close to Sookie herself, nothing she (and the readers) can't bounce back from. While I understand that yes, eventually Sookie is going to be affected by her choices and relationship with the Supes, it definitely felt excessive this book.

Maybe I'm just sulking because I really liked Trey, Amelia, and Claudine. Either way, this book started out extremely enjoyable- I loved the focus on the mystery of Crystal's death and the Fairy wars, as well as that Sookie finally started calling in favors. I didn't like how Sookie just lay down and took Eric's high-handed introduction to a relationship. I though it was a stark contrast to the part of her personality we glimpsed in the end of her relationship with Alcide and Bill... Not really cohesive characterization.

Bleargh, I'm just venting at this point.

(2/5 stars)

The Sign of Four

I've got to admit- I was rather disappointed with this story. It wasn't one of the ones I was familiar with before, and I think that there was probably a good reason for that.

I decided to read the Sherlock Holmes stories in publishing order, so next on my list was The Sign of Four was next on my list. I was rather excited to read it, as it had a thoroughly intriguing title, and wasn't a story I was familiar with in the least bit.

There's a reason I wasn't familiar with it- it was rather disappointing. The mystery was fabulous, the clues were tantalizing, and the wrap up was a surprise. The love story sub-plot? Absolutely horrendous. I'm not one who believes in love at first sight anyways, but this was just poorly written. Don't get me wrong, I adore love stories. I live for happy endings. What I don't live for is poorly written romance. I'm a firm believer that an author shouldn't clutter an otherwise wonderful novel with writing they can't do well. It's one thing to practice an area you're not good at, it's another to force it on an unsuspecting reader.

J.K. Rowling was my first memorable example of this. I absolutely adored the first few books in the Harry Potter series. Once she started incorporated romance (in my experience, a monstrous feeling in the pit of your stomach usually has more to do with indigestion than love), the books quickly went down hill. She's an absolutely fabulous author, incredibly imaginative and excellent at writing action and dialogue. Romance? Not so much. The books would have been so much better without all of that detail. I'm not saying an author entirely skip out on something like that, as it is often enough an integral part of the plot. What I am saying is don't dwell on it for pages and pages.

The "romance" in this book essentially equated to Watson seeing Mary and deciding he loved her because she was pathetic. While Monkey may jokingly expound on my cuteness when I'm being pathetic, it certainly wasn't why he fell in love with me. The author just really missed the mark with that subplot. I really didn't enjoy it, and it generally detracted from the entire book. It doesn't help that you barely see the relationship between Watson and Holmes at all, yet we have to listen to Watson snivel about some random girl off the street. Uh, okay. I know that his marriage is somewhat used as a strain on their relationship in later stories, which is something I am looking forward to because, well, he'll actually have a relationship with Holmes.

I think I'm rambling at this point. Basically, I was disappointed. The end. Hopefully the next book will be better.

(2/5 stars)

Outlander: Outlandish Porn

My determination to stop reading fluff lasted as long as it took for this book to come off my hold shelf at the library. Whoops. I think I would have enjoyed Outlander considerably more if I had read it a few years ago. I was more tolerant then of books, and a lot less annoyed at smut.

As it is, Outlander started off with a bang. Rather foolishly, I started the book during the middle of the week, and consequentially, couldn't put it down. I wound up absolutely dying to read it and wanting to just skive off and curl up in a corner and pound through it. I haven't felt that way about reading in a long time. Probably because I usually am a heck of a lot smarter in terms of starting books at the end of the week so I don't have to skive off on any of my 'duties'. Ahem. Anyways, when I first started reading the book, I was hooked. I loved the descriptions, I loved Claire's personality, and I loved Jamie. My knowledge of history, especially Scottish history, is limited at best, so it was really intriguing to hear about all of Claire's encounters. My favorite parts were when she was adapting to life at the Castle and her position as nurse. I enjoyed the intrigue of Colum and Douglas' motives. I even enjoyed their tour and 'forced' marriage.

The minute the main characters began to romp like bunnies, I lost interest. Even the looming threat of Black Jack Randall couldn't re-engage me. In fact, the author's "resolution" involving that character was downright awful. If she had merely made him the motiveless evil villain, he would have been a lot more believable. instead he wound up with "family issues". While this in all likelihood would explain someone with such issues, it was written so terribly that it was just a joke.

The book rather quickly devolved into a pattern of sex, beat up Jamie, sex, beat up Jamie. The "plot" went out the window, as did all semblance of good characterization, well written dialogue and exposition, and my interest.

The most disappointing part was that it started out so good. It's not like it was terrible from the get go. There was some great writing in there that unfortunately got lost in this giant tomb of sex and torture. It's almost as though the author lost sight of what she really wanted to write about in favor of either her sexual fantasies or her attempts to please the lowest common denominator. From what I've heard about her series, it only gets worse.

I'm not even going to get into the Suprise!Buttsex. Seriously. Just... No.

(2/5 stars)

Grave Peril

Wow. Talk about a disappointment! This audiobook started off with a message from the author, Jim Butcher. In which, he described how many of his fans consider Grave Peril the book in which he really develops as a writer. This coupled with the fact that many reviews for the series state that his writing gets better as the series progresses really brought my hopes up for this book.

Those hopes? Yeah, they were shattered with a overwhelming wave of misogyny and over-sexualization. While the author had previously ranted and raved about Dresden's "chauvinism" and failed to develop the new female characters out of a shell, this book brought it all to a new level. There were several points that I had to pause the book because I was so annoyed by the writing. The attractive qualities of every female was described in excruciating detail every time they entered into a scene. The bad-ass female characters reveled in mixing sex with violence. It was very "HERE. Let me show you I'm an evil female character by shoving my boobs in your face and licking my lips." Talk about revolting.

Couple this with the numerous "bad guys" and you've got yourself an incredibly convoluted plot with little appeal. Murphy was absent essentially the entire book, which frustrated me to no end. She seemed to be the only female character that Jim Butcher has attempted to give some sort of characterization other than "hawt" (although he does often lapse into how cute she is. Talk about patronizing). I have to wonder if Butcher has ever actually spoken to a woman, given just how deeply fantasized all of the scenes involving females are. It was almost as if I was reading his masturbation fodder at some points. That's not something you want to think about while reading.

Overall, I was just incredibly disappointed int his book. Butcher seemed to devolve his writing immensely in this book. While I enjoyed the introduction of Thomas and Michael, all of the characterization seemed lackluster. The plot was an absolute mess, and should have pared down the twists/bad guys considerably. The whole Harry being down on his luck and all alone while he defeats his nemesis schtick is getting pretty old as well... Overall, I didn't enjoy this book. Hopefully the next one is better, otherwise I might be ditching this series, as much as I enjoy the concept (and the voice of James Marsters).

(2/5 stars)

The Shop On Blossom Street

I've been thoroughly enjoying the romance and chick lit genres of books lately. I think a lot of the reason is that I've been more stressed out and worried lately than usual. In high school, I read primarily memoirs and biographies. Before that, it was a lot of fairy tale inspired stuff. One of my favorite memories about high school was my involvement in a once a month book club. The book club helped me make sure I was reading in a variety of genres and really helped introduce me to a lot of great literature (and my best friend!). Now that I'm no longer involved, I've den finding it harder and harder to read anything other than fluff. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading fluff. I just miss reading books worth actual discussion.

All that being said, The Shop On Blossom Street was one of those fluffy, mindless books. I admit, I had never heard of the author before stumbling across this book. Judging by this book, there's a reason. While it wasn't terrible, the book definitely wasn't great.I wasn't engaged in any of the characters, and at thee d of the book, I was still either ambivalent or annoyed with them all. No sod the characters were given enough depth or realism to make them interesting. It was very much a token character ridden boom. Overall, it was very cliched and difficult to engage it. Each of the characters had their designated problems and resolutions- Jackie the snobby elitist, Alix the troubled punk, Carol the infertile workaholic, and Lydia the cancer survivor afraid of life- but it all seemed like a shell of character development.

I'm really rather apathetic as a whole about the entire experience. Like I said before, the book wasn't bad. I'm planning on reading the sequel, if only because I had already checked it out before I had finished The Shop On Blossom Street. I'm hoping that the characterization problems will improve.

(2/5 stars)

Friday Night Knitting Club

I jumped back into my reading spree by listening to Friday Night Knitting Club. I had this detailed review all planned out, but frankly, I'm not going to get a chance to flesh it out until after my exams, and frankly, I'd rather just get this done and not worry about it. So, a brief summary of my impressions on this book: this was okay, mindless reading, great for when you need to unwind. There was a lot I disliked about this book, but it was an entertaining and engaging piece of fluff. Spoilers and more details are below the cut.

(2/5 stars)

Naked Heat

I'm going to preface this by saying Monkey and I are *huge* Castle fans. We watch every episode and giggle for hours over the jokes. So I'm going into this review with that in mind.

I listened to Heat Wave as an audiobook a few months ago. That was an experience I thoroughly did not enjoy. The narrator was absolutely grating, and the whole tone of the book was ruined because of it. Because the narrator attempted to be so... gritty, the entire novel had a depressing, anti-climatic feel to it, rather than the light-hearted humor that peaks through even in the most serious episodes of the television show. Consequentially, I actually read this books.

Naked Heat was a bit better than the last book. The plot was intersting, and there was slightly better humor in this book. One thing I *adored* was that you got a glimpse of "Castle's" writing process in the show- he acts out a scene written in the book. I zoomed through this book, full throttle, and ultimately, decided that it wasn't bad.

It certainly wasn't great though. Again, it lacked the silliness that I love about the show, and that is entirely unrealistic in my opinion if it were supposedly written by Castle. I think, ultimately, I've decided that I enjoy the concept of the books. I love that these are novels "written" by a fiction TV show character about another fictional TV show character. I really enjoy the mystery aspect of the books themselves. But the writing just falls flat. It's the worst sort of flat charcters, utterly engaging and completely, well, boring. I just couldn't care about Nikki or Jameson. It's like it's the TV show, devoid of all of the loveable characteristics.

The lack of likeable characters is one of the reasons I don't enjoy shows like CSI. I want a character I can enjoy and commentary to liven up the mystery. Even true crime shows like Snapped and Dateline do a great job of livening up the players involved. This story was just too much like CSI. The characters were complete shells, nothing more than props for the mystery. As creative as the mystery is, I just can't enjoy it.

I fully intend to read the next book in the series. I'm hoping that as the series progresses, the novels improve as well. A lot of my issue is that I'm looking for great writing and characterization, like you see on the show, and instead I'm left with a dry murder mystery without much flavor.

(2/5 stars)

A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches is a perfect example of not judging books by their cover. I stumbled across the novel when I was setting up an account on goodreads (something I'm still exploring). The cover, and title, immediately drew me in. Based on the description of the plot, I got the impression that this was a novel similar to The Historian. While reading it, I decided that it did remind me of The Historian- but not the pleasant aspects of it. The boring descriptions, the initial sense of removal from the characters, and the precocious nature of the author all are the same.

After reading the author's blurb on goodreads, I decided that this desire to seem intelligence isn't my imagination. The author has virtually placed herself in the novel with a vampire boyfriend. The author and main characters were at one point in time theater majors before they changed to history, then finally settling on a history of sciences, and finally, a college professor. While I think that all authors put aspects of themselves into what they write, this was a bit disturbing. It's almost like reading the author's personal fantasies. What the book reminded me of the most, unfortunately, is the Twilight saga, with the addition of desperation to seem smart. Overall, it was less than engaging.

You're thrown into this alternate world without any senblence of preamble, and even after finishing the book, I was still incredibly confused as to what the hell a daemon even was. There was no real explanation of any of the creatures powers, other than in Diana's brief, sycophantic conversations with her boy toy. At least in the Twilight saga you know the depths of the world that Stephanie Meyer has created. I just wound up confused while reading this. It's almost as if the author starts to explain, and then veers off in another direction whenever she gets close to hashing out this alternate universe. This is particularly frustrating as the very definition of the creatures is an essential plot point.

Yet another irritating portion of the book was the constant references to the main character's overabundance of adrenaline. Of course, this is supposed to make her extra-tasty to her dangerous yet caring vampire boy toy, but all it made me wonder was how the hell she would have survived thirty something years without keeling over from all of those ridiculous hormones. I may not be a scientist, or a doctor, but even I know that running around isn't going to alleviate a hormonal imbalance of that magnitude. The least the author could have done is put her on some damned medication.

The author also devolves into boring ramblings about topics which do not move the novel forward in the least bit. There are frequent lengthy descriptions of food, meditation, and other off topic subjects that do not serve to move the plot forward, develop the world, or explain the characters. They seem to be only there for the author to fill up space and drool over wine she wishes to drink.

I repeat, this book is worse than Twilight. At least Twilight had the decency to admit it was romantic drivel. The series was specifically for fluff and enjoyment. This book attempts to demonstrate intense intelligence, but ended up with the same end. Ridiculous relationships that are hardly realistic or healthy. Why does every vampire have to go through the "I'm so dangerous, get away!" stage. And why do the women always have to give in to whatever demands their boy toy is making without a fight, all while claiming to be independent women? Diana starts out admirable, but ends as a miserable, pathetic mess that only cares about her "speshul snowflake" love with Matthew. Edward, and Matthew both act without any consideration towards their significant others thoughts or feelings. It's an incredibly chauvinistic view, and something that I find appalling in this day and age. When I read romances like that, I have zero empathy, and the authors lose my interest completely. "Oh yeah, btw, we're married now. You don't get a say in this!" Yeah, no.

To top it all off, the book ends without and sense of resolution. The plot was rather lacking to begin with- it was often difficult to realize that something happened other than Diana drooling over Matthew, so when there was no even attempt at a wrap up, I liked the book even less. While I understand the urge for cliffhangers, there's still a way to engage that tactic and still give consolation to the readers. Overall, definitely not my first choice. I think this would be great for the 13 and 14 year old girls who are at that peak age of know-it-all attitude once they've tackled Twilight. I just wish this novel had been more clear about it's role. It's fluff, nothing more than that, and it greatly disappointed me that it tried to me something else. I'm not against fluff for fluff's sake, or Twilight for that matter. I think they have their time and place. This just didn't cut it for me as anything more than, well, silly fantasies.

The only thing I can credit the author for was that I was actually interested in what was going on with the world she created. I still want to know the answers to the various mysteries that the author introduced at the very beginning of the novel that got shoved aside when Diana found her "true love". It was a really interesting concept that got lost in the paranormal romance genre, which is disappointing to say the least.


(2/5 stars)

Before Versailles

I don't usually do this, but I'm just going to throw out a disclaimer right here and now. I did not enjoy this book. This is entirely my opinion, and I'm sure others will find it more enjoyable than I did, but this was definitely not m cup of tea.

I struggled with reading Before Versailles by Karleen Koen for was seemed like eons. My favorite historical figure has been Louis XIV for as long as I knew about him. His court, his lifestyle, and his relationships are all fascinating to me. I would love to visit Versailles today. I've previously enjoyed other, non-fiction, works on the sun king (including Love and Louis XIV), so I was really excited about this book. I've been reading historical fiction since I was a kid- my favorite novels were Royal Diaries (no, not the ones by Meg Cabot), and later, I also really enjoyed Philippa Gregory's works. I haven't delved into that literary world in quite some time, so I was really excited about this book.

I think my main problem was the lack of cohesiveness in terms of point of view. The novel jumps to different characters without any real warning. One minute, you're in the head of Louise, the supposed main character of the novel, the next, you're in Louis XIV, or Phillip his brother, or Henriette his wife. It's incredibly confusing and chaotic. The overall story lines weren't difficult to follow, but it was incredibly jarring for such point of view switches.

Honestly, I felt it was incredibly amateur, which is something I found surprising considering how many praises I had read about this author for her earlier works.

Because of the point of view changes, it was incredibly difficult to get attached to any of the characters. Louise was annoying, and incredibly Mary Sue in my opinion. I really enjoyed her initial innocence, especially her shock in dealing with her flamboyant cousin. However, as time wore on, she neglected to either appropriately lose that innocence, or retain enough of it to be really believable. Instead, the author left Louise at an uncomfortable middle ground that failed to really bring a dynamic quality to her character.

The allusions to homosexuality and cross dressing were incredibly awkward, in my opinion. While Phillip was actually known to engage in both, I felt it was handled rather awkwardly in the novel- almost like it was there for pure shock value. I really enjoyed Louis' interactions with his brother Phillip and the boy in the iron mask, especially in regard to Phillip's masochistic and heartbroken character. The way Louis treats both characters was a great dynamic.

I also really enjoyed the fact that there are little allusions to other literary works and myths scattered throughout the novel. That was one of the redeeming qualities. However, I absolutely hated how the author portrayed Athenais. She was derogatory enough to make it unrealistic, and gave her an awkward part in the book- too large to be a cameo and too small to really fit her future importance.

Ultimately, however, I was incredibly bored with this novel, despite the great ideas. Because of that disconnect with the characters, I had a hard time following what was going on. I'm going to give this a big thumbs down. However, I've heard great things about another one of Koen's novels, so I might investigate that whenever I next get the historical fiction bug. However, I won't hesitate to abandon that book if I decide it's as hard to get into as this one was.

(2/5 stars)