Itemize Books In Pursuance Of Dark Angels (Tamworth Saga #1)
| Original Title: | Dark Angels |
| ISBN: | 0307339920 (ISBN13: 9780307339928) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Tamworth Saga #1, Through a Glass Darkly #1 |
Karleen Koen
Paperback | Pages: 530 pages Rating: 3.92 | 4239 Users | 351 Reviews
Be Specific About Regarding Books Dark Angels (Tamworth Saga #1)
| Title | : | Dark Angels (Tamworth Saga #1) |
| Author | : | Karleen Koen |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 530 pages |
| Published | : | May 29th 2007 by Three Rivers Press (first published September 5th 2006) |
| Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction. Romance. Historical Romance |
Explanation Concering Books Dark Angels (Tamworth Saga #1)
Alice Verney is a young woman intent on achieving her dreams. Having left Restoration England in the midst of a messy scandal, she has been living in Louis XIV’s Baroque, mannered France for two years. Now she is returning home to England and anxious to re-establish herself quickly. First, she will regain her former position as a maid of honor to Charles II’s queen. Then she will marry the most celebrated duke of the Restoration, putting herself in a position to attain power she’s only dreamed of. As a duchess, Alice will be able to make or break her friends and enemies at will.But all is not as it seems in the rowdy, merry court of Charles II. Since the Restoration, old political alliances have frayed, and there are whispers that the king is moving to divorce his barren queen, who some wouldn’t mind seeing dead. But Alice, loyal only to a select few, is devoted to the queen, and so sets out to discover who might be making sinister plans, and if her own father is one of them. When a member of the royal family dies unexpectedly, and poison is suspected, the stakes are raised. Alice steps up her efforts to find out who is and isn’t true to the queen, learns of shocking betrayals throughout court, and meets a man that she may be falling in love with—and who will spoil all of her plans. With the suspected arrival of a known poison-maker, the atmosphere in the court electrifies, and suddenly the safety of the king himself seems uncertain. Secret plots are at play, and war is on the horizon—but will it be with the Dutch or the French? And has King Charles himself betrayed his country for greed?
The long-awaited prequel to Koen’s beloved Through a Glass Darkly, Dark Angels is a feast of a novel that sparkles with all the passion, extravagance, danger, and scandal of seventeenth-century England. Unforgettable in its dramatic force, here is a novel of love and politics, of romance and betrayal, of power and succession—and of a resourceful young woman who risks everything for pride and status in an era in which women were afforded little of either.
From the Hardcover edition.
Rating Regarding Books Dark Angels (Tamworth Saga #1)
Ratings: 3.92 From 4239 Users | 351 ReviewsWrite Up Regarding Books Dark Angels (Tamworth Saga #1)
I picked this up at a whim at the library with no knowledge of the book (Through a Glass Darkly) that it is a prequel to. Overall, my review is positive--I finished it in two days--for reasons to do with the plot and main character, but I do have some serious reservations about the writing itself.The main character, Alice, is refreshingly ruthless and wily--a "born courtier," I think she's called. She's not one-dimensional, though; most of her ruthlessness is devoted to doing what she thinks isDark Angels by Karleen Koen"She had stepped atop a huge coil of rope for this view, and a sailor, eyeing her statins and the single strand of fat pearls at her neck, had warned her to be careful, but she'd sent him off with a withering comment to mind his own business. She wasn't one to suffer fools--or even those who weren't fools--telling her what to do." And with these lines we are introduced to Alice Verney (and with these lines I immediately loved her).Alice is a courtier in the court of
"It took one misstep for a woman, one, and she fell into the abyss. How does one live life with no missteps?" While set in completely separate eras, Dark Angels evoked memories of Jennifer Donnelly's Tea Rose series, in the sense that they both are dense, historical reads that beg to be taken seriously, but somehow manage to have the theatricality of a soap opera. Which isn't a bad thing, really--I loved Donnelly's first novel in the series--but such a structure can go horribly awry very, very
Alice Verney, a maid of honor to Princess Henriette of France returns to England after her mistress's mysterious and horrible death, with the ambition to marry the elderly Duke of Balmoral. This ambition holds firm in spite of her attraction to Richard Saylor, an enterprising soldier who, while he appreciates Alice's wit and political savvy, is competing with the king himself for the affections of Renee DeKaroulle, a French beauty who cannot quite make up her mind whose affections she truly
Dark Angels is the prequel to Through a Glass Darkly and Now Face to Face, and was written after the first two. I don't know in which order the books were meant to be read, but I read Dark Angels last. Maybe this explains why I did not enjoy it nearly as much as I did the other two books. I already knew what happens to the main character, Alice, and therefore was not held in suspense as I expected to be. However, I'm the type of person who won't read a book if I've already seen the movie. . . .
I dont know a lot about the time of Charles II, but going in fairly blank, it felt very real to see the back-door politics, the royal family squabbles, the tensions between France and England, Catholic and Protestant, rich and poor, town and country, etc.The royal court also reminded me very much of a high school. Not much to do, not enough supervision, bored teenagers wandering around getting drunk, gossiping, playing pranks, trying to get together or break others up.And at the center of this
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