Venetia Denby has loved Prince Rupert ever since she heard his name as a little girl. She tolerates her betrothed, Michael Heywood, only for the fact that he will make sure she won't come to Prince Rupert's bed an ignorant virgin. Her determination to become Rupert's mistress is achieved fairly quickly, and the rest of the book is the waning years of the English Civil War seen through Venetia's eyes as she remains by Rupert's side like a devoted spaniel.
This is a hard book for me to "grade", because while my brain tells me that it was impeccably researched (at least, it gave that impression from the sheer wealth of detail), it had little spark and zazz, for lack of a better word. Early on, Venetia gave off some strong "Forever Amber" vibes with her selfish, blind groupie pursuit of her rock star, Rupert, and she was shaping up to be a character that would prompt some strong feelings, for good or bad. But rather than being manipulative or even slightly devious, she is really sappily and completely in love with Rupert. The author also might have gone overboard in having Venetia be unobtrusive in Rupert's actions and character, to the point where I wondered why have her be in the story at all. She does some things on her own (gets captured and escapes, witnesses the massacre at Naseby), but she seemed to serve more as a personal eyewitness to the events of the Civil War. Even so, long stretches of the book and expository dialogue also served that purpose, albeit in a much drier manner.
Towards the end, I didn't care if Venetia went to Europe in exile with Rupert or not, and the story is very much left open-ended. If Hunter wrote another book to continue the story, I don't care to find out what happened. Like the American Revolution, the English Civil War apparently isn't a historical event that sparks my interest.
2 stars is too harsh, but 4 is not what I was feeling as I read it (though probably what it deserves from a more involved reader). So 3 it is.
This is a hard book for me to "grade", because while my brain tells me that it was impeccably researched (at least, it gave that impression from the sheer wealth of detail), it had little spark and zazz, for lack of a better word. Early on, Venetia gave off some strong "Forever Amber" vibes with her selfish, blind groupie pursuit of her rock star, Rupert, and she was shaping up to be a character that would prompt some strong feelings, for good or bad. But rather than being manipulative or even slightly devious, she is really sappily and completely in love with Rupert. The author also might have gone overboard in having Venetia be unobtrusive in Rupert's actions and character, to the point where I wondered why have her be in the story at all. She does some things on her own (gets captured and escapes, witnesses the massacre at Naseby), but she seemed to serve more as a personal eyewitness to the events of the Civil War. Even so, long stretches of the book and expository dialogue also served that purpose, albeit in a much drier manner.
Towards the end, I didn't care if Venetia went to Europe in exile with Rupert or not, and the story is very much left open-ended. If Hunter wrote another book to continue the story, I don't care to find out what happened. Like the American Revolution, the English Civil War apparently isn't a historical event that sparks my interest.
2 stars is too harsh, but 4 is not what I was feeling as I read it (though probably what it deserves from a more involved reader). So 3 it is.
