****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I stumbled on this book by accident and absolutely loved it (purchased via google books, rather than Amazon, hence the unverified review).It does have some limitations (see below), but the story is compelling, well written and departs from the usual, inaccurate, stereotypes of the era (ie Anne of Austria a poor innocent victim, Richelieu a devil incarnate, etc).The book has a limited number of characters and the author focuses on getting into the head of two in particular - Sebastian, his main character, and Cardinal Richelieu - his patron. Both are done quite well, but it is the portrayal of Richelieu that I particularly enjoyed. It is harder to convincingly portray a historical personage, especially one who has been maligned in so many books, than it is to portray a fictional character.The author does not paint a picture of an inhuman, cruel dictator, concerned only with his own power (as some popular fiction would have it), but rather a complex person, utterly devoted to doing everything to save his country from a disastrous situation that is not of his own making, applying his indomitable will and intellect to overcome adversity, frailty, constant danger, and very much human, even if he is forced to conceal his humanity because "what [he] feel[s] has nothing to do with the needs of France". Having read numerous books (both non-fiction and fiction) on this period of history and pretty much every biography of Richelieu published in English language (yeah, I'm a bit of a fan!), I thought this book captured his personality better than any other work of fiction.For those who are not students of this period of history - don't worry, there's enough adventure to make this a thrilling read even if you are not into analysing the character of historical personages. Sebastian is an excellent, unlikely hero. Clever, occasionally funny, damaged and imperfect. Reminding us that we are all born dwarfs, it is what we become that matters.Overall, I loved reading this book (pity it took me less than 2 days!). However, I do have some quibbles, which may not bother most readers.First, as previously mentioned, there is a limited character palette. It makes the book easy to comprehend, but does limit the depth. In particular, I thought the author could at least give some peripheral characters names (many of which are well known historically in any event), just to add some realism.Second, there are anachronisms that are unnecessary and do nothing to enhance the story. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with historical fiction departing from history, where it serves a purpose or creates extra drama (eg. the author substituting the extraordinarily bungled execution of Chalais for that of Cinq Mars may add drama). But there are instances where the author chooses to be historically inaccurate with no apparent purpose. For example, the mention of Father Joseph being in Rome in 1642 - more than 3 years after his death, does nothing but irritate a historically informed reader. He's mentioned once, the mention is completely unnecessary. Similarly, a 1642 comparison of a play to those written by Molier, who at that time wasn't yet 20 and had written no plays yet. Why do that, when an accurate comparison could be made with no loss to the book (eg with Corneille)? And why mention an 18th century fantasy clock, when we are in the 17th century? This is not due to lack of knowledge on part of the author, you can't write a book like this without thorough research.I'm probably being too much of a perfectionist, but I enjoyed the book so much that I couldn't help thinking why mar such an excellent book with unnecessary inaccuracies. Anyway, it's an excellent read, well worth the purchase. Fans of this period of history will love it. I expect I'll be re-reading it. Thank you to the author.
