This was a very fast paced story. Once Philippa Gregory had the scenery set, she turned her characters loose to entertain the reader. Even though this novel is not particularly in depth with historical facts, I still found myself looking forward to the story every night. I had an instant, if not close, connection to the characters. We could easily see Lucas anticipation as he sets off into the world to uncover evil or bring to the light holy occurrences. I could easily imagine Isoldes frustration given her two choices upon her fathers death: marriage to a much older man or entering a nunnery. The side characters were entertaining and added depth to tale. I have to say that Freize was my favorite character, often having the best lines. I also had the overall impression that he was a bit more mature than the other three, given his role in life of actually working for a living. Ishraq was by turns fascinating and occasionally unbelievable. She comes from a different culture and yet has lived all her life in this Italian culture as a servant. The few unbelievable parts were when someone in the story had to be the keeper of some vast knowledge like medicine so the 17 year-old Ishraq was the trained doctor. But I was able to easily overlook these few smidgens where I had difficulty suspending my disbelief because I was enjoying the larger story arc.

While the over all plot was a little predictable, I enjoyed the little twists to how Luca figured out what was going on, and then averted disaster. Of course, there is the growing interest between Luca and Isolde for a side romance to add to the overall tension of the tale. Cant say the same for Freize and Ishraq, but their interactions are even more amusing.

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