The year is 1643. The scheming Cardinal Mazarin is now Prime Minister of France, but on the other side of the Channel, unrest in England grows daily, as civil war is erupting. As the political situation in England deteriorates, the royal court flees London for Oxford, and King Charles is desperate to secure both funding and troops to come to his aid.
Mazarin, every bit as devious as his predecessor, Richelieu, engages the services of François de Toucy to save the Queen of England, a former royal princess of France. François and his friends will set sail for England, in a quest to ensure the safety of the queen.
Whilst François is walking a diplomatic tightrope across the political cauldron of the royal court, his friend Armand falls desperately in love with the Queen’s Maid of Honour, a lady as beautiful as she is cunning.
Soon the friends find themselves deeply entangled in a deadly combination of cut-throat politics, disasters on the battlefield and bitter machinations at court over love and war and the struggle between Protestants and Catholics that threaten to spell only death and disaster.
Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 425 pages (Paperback)
Source: Review Copy
Genre: Historical Fiction
Available Formats: Print/E-book
Publication Date: March 30th 2016
ADD TO GOODREADS
Buy Links: AMAZON US AMAZON CAN AMAZON UK AMAZON AUS/NZ
What an ending to a great series.
I just finished this one today and I'm still taking in the ending, so bear with me, this is a really short review.
I really enjoyed seeing Fancois grow in this novel with the help of his friends. Both France and England are in the midst of major political upheaval in this one and there's a whole lot of out with the old and in with the new in terms of people coming to power and people being ousted (some none to gently or well...alive that is).
There was a lot going on in The Queen's Maid of Honour. I was expecting the pace of the story to perhaps slow down what with this being the final book in the French Orphan series but to my surprise it kept the frantic (in a great way) pace up right until the very end which I truly appreciated. I think that if the novel had gone at a slower pace the sense of urgency that prevailed for many of the scenarios in the story would have suffered.
I feel like Michael Stolle pulled out all the stops in this volume. The writing was crisp, edgy and very well detailed. The characters were well thought out and I felt that they were very well developed, we saw the final results of all that they'd been working towards whether that end be good or bad but things wrapped up very well for me.
Again, I'm still trying to formulate more comprehensive thoughts on this one so stay tuned for an updated review with extra notes. If this sounds like a series you would like to try check out my reviews for the other 3 books in this series which are linked in the sidebar and don't forget to enter the giveaway for a copy of book one.
Author Bio:
Born and educated in Europe, Michael has always been intrigued by the historical setting and the fact that what makes us human was as true in the 17th century as it is now.
Author Links:
Giveaway:
To win a paperback copy of The French Orphan (Book One) by Michael Stolle, please enter via the Gleam form below. Three copies are up for grabs!
Rules:
– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on February 11th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open to residents in the US, UK, and CANADA only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.
I haven't heard of this before but it sounds exactly up my alley! Will definitely be picking this series up soon. Thanks for putting it on my radar!
ReplyDeleteIt's always wonderful when a series is great all the way through. I'm glad you found a great one!
ReplyDelete