Review: The Sword Decides by Marjorie Bowen

This was the only novel I could find based on Joanna I of Naples, which still surprises me because she lived such an eventful life. And extra bonus, it was free because it was written in 1908. The writing was good, especially given the time period it was written in (sometimes older books have a style I don't love), but unfortunately, I just couldn't connect with any of the characters, none of them seemed like likable protagonists. It's a shame - I'd love to see a well done dramatized account of Joanna's life.

Review: You Were There Before My Eyes by Maria Riva

Release Date: October 10, 2017

A young woman, desperate to escape the dullness and rigidity of her rural, early 20th century Italian village and dazzled by stories of America, marries the first young man from her village to return there looking for a wife. He sweeps her off to Detroit, where they seek the American Dream.

I really struggled with this one because the dialogue was terrible, there wasn't much of a plot, the characters were flat, and the author liked to head-hop. While there's nothing wrong with a character novel that doesn't have much of a plot, or a plot driven novel that has somewhat one-dimensional characters - but there has to be a strength in one of them and this has neither. Add to it the cringe-worthy dialogue and the head-hopping narrative, and I just feel like it was poorly written.

It was disappointing because like many Italian-Americans, this story is one very similar to those of my own ancestors: from a rural Italian village, came to America in the late 19th/early 20th century as a young family seeking better opportunities for their future and their children's. It did reflect much of the cultural history I'd found in my genealogy research, but that's about the only good thing I can think to say about this novel. I so wanted to love this - hell, I would have settled for just liking it - but I couldn't.

Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Review: The Orphan of Florence by Jeanne Kalogridis

Release Date: October 3, 2017

This fast paced novel involving Jewish mysticism follows a foundling pickpocket who winds up apprenticing with a Jewish magician in Renaissance Florence, not realizing he holds the key to her past, or what kind of danger she's landed herself in when she gets involved in the war between Lorenzo de Medici and the Pope.

It seemed a little unrealistic at first, but then things come together. Well written and plot driven, the action, espionage, and mystery keeps you wanting to know more. I liked the characters but wasn't extremely attached to them - sometimes the main character was a little slow to realize what was going on. I felt like the mysticism was a little heavy handed but I guess that's just Kalogridis' style. Over all, a quick, enjoyable read, but don't expect too much from it.


Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Review: Sicily: An Island at the Crossroads of History by John Julius Norwich

Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGallery. My opinions are my own.

Release Date: July 21, 2015

Everything you might ever want to know about the political history of Sicily, and then some. Extensively researched, this is the much deserved history of one of the most important islands in the world, stretching from the B.C. period all the way up to the mid-20th century.

The writing style is a little dry, very scholarly, and not always an easy read, but it serves as an excellent and much needed reference on the complicated history of Sicily. While it probably won't be a bestseller in the history book category, it will be of interest to many with a niche interest in Mediterranean history. It sometimes presumes the reader already has a basic understanding of many of the people, places, and topics discussed and therefore it's not necessarily an ideal book for beginners.

It opens with Sicily's Mycenaean beginnings, but quickly brushes over this period with little detail. If you're looking for a history book on the Mycenaeans, this is not it. It swiftly moves to the Greek colonization of the B.C. period, which it spends a good deal of time on before moving on to the Carthaginians. The next chapter is dedicated to the Romans, Barbarians, Byzantines, and Arabs so it plows through these mixed periods pretty quickly too, admitting that almost nothing is known about Sicilian history for the majority of the first few hundred years of Christianity. For me, it really picked up around the point it then reaches the Normans, perhaps because it begins to enter time periods I'm a little more familiar with, but also pulling a little more cultural aspects into what is a heavily political history.

It carries on through the rest of history, detailing each significant period all the way through the Second World War. Hugely comprehensive and a must read for anyone interested in Italian or Mediterranean history.

Review: A Day of Fire: a novel of Pompeii

You might think "a novel of Pompeii" is a little misleading, since this is not a full length novel but rather a collection of six short stories or novelettes, all set in the days leading up to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. But this is more than just a bunch of independent tales, each story is pulled together by overlapping characters. A side character in one story might wind up being a main character in another, so you're not left wondering what happened to this person or that (except Ben Kane's characters, of course), their story picks again up later on. This gave it more of a novel-feel, just as it's claimed to be. It also gave the reader more time to emotionally attach to certain characters, unlike most short stories, making it a much more powerful book.

At first, I was concerned that these stories would all wind up being more like young adult romance because the first two stories reminded me of this. A young man falls in love with a prostitute and is willing to sacrifice his integrity to win her. A young woman is in love with a man below her station while betrothed to an older man who practically repulses her. Such stereotypical tales, especially in young adult romance, are what greet you with the first two chapters. It occurred to me that one of the first two stories is indeed written by a young adult author though so I guess it's not surprising.

But the first two chapters wound up being more like a lead up. Unlike other short story compilations where each story may be set in totally different years, these tales are told chronologically so the first two stories are mostly set in the days before the eruption and the latter stories start at the beginning or in the middle of the destruction falling around everyone. The built up carries through the whole book, rather than there being a build up in each story. This too gave it more of a novel-feel than a collection of short stories.

It's also very impressive that this many established authors were able to collaborate to come up with overlapping characters and well written, interwoven stories. It was much more than I expected it to be.

Review: The Serpent and the Pearl by Kate Quinn

This is the story of the infamous Borgia family as told from the first person points of view of Giulia Farnese, the Pope’s mistress, and her cook Carmelina, and bodyguard Leonello. The addition of these latter two fictional characters was welcome, since without them it would have been a rather flat, one dimensional romance story. But Carmelina and Leonello’s stories give us a glimpse into the commoner’s world and allowed the author some more creative freedom. Meanwhile, Giulia’s point of view (and a little of Leonello’s and Carmelina’s too) gives us a window into the world of a very complex and fascinating family.

At times, some of the characters seemed a little too modern but they were compelling characters who made their stories really come to life. The protagonists are flawed but likeable and some of the characters continued to surprise me. I really enjoyed watching Giulia grow up and figure out what is important to her. I enjoyed waiting for the inevitable to happen when Carmelina’s past caught up with her. Though Leonello’s character did remind me of Tyrion, the author swears she had developed his character before she read Game of Thrones (and for those who haven’t read Game of Thrones, the character Tyrion is similar to Leonello). In a way, that is a testament to how good the characters in this novel are: great minds think alike, after all.

Although the novel was written in first person multiple points of view, which I don’t normally love, I hardly even noticed it, perhaps because it was just so well written that it didn’t matter. I think what I enjoyed most about this novel, apart from the characters, was the attention to cultural detail, not only in the food descriptions (which have been praised enough in plenty of other reviews, so I won’t repeat them) but also with elements such as the mentions of different accents and dialects. It’s easy to think the book is set in Italy so the Italian characters would all have Italian accents - but with Quinn’s attention to detail, characters notice when another character has a Venetian accent instead of a Roman accent. It’s this kind of attention to detail that brings the setting to life and does it with ease; the descriptions are full and rich but you’ll never feel like they bog down the story. The plot certainly isn’t neglected even amid all these rich descriptions and characters. While Giulia initially spends much of her time sitting around beautifying herself for her Pope in the beginning, we get to watch Carmelina come into her own in the kitchens, and Leonello attempts to investigate a serial killer. But Giulia is more than just a trophy mistress and she proves it in the second half.

It ended on a cliffhanger though, so if you’re the type of person who hates that, this might not be for you. However, the second book is out now so if you’re happy to just immediately pick up the second book, the cliffhanger shouldn’t be a problem. I bought the sequel literally the moment I finished this one, I am really looking forward to where the author takes the sequel.