Helpful Score: 1
Wow, what a weird and beautiful book. My expectations were pretty high because it's so rare (as is Denys' only other novel, The Silver Devil), and they were met for the most part. The premise is pretty simple. Girl is sold off into marriage to a faceless duke and danger and passion occur in the most unexpected ways with love and hatred being equal motives.
What I loved most was Denys' economy of language. She manages to convey the dilapidated and rotting Spanish nobility and all its various parasites with vivid characters that are described with sharp brushstrokes. Sometimes it can verge on the repetitious (the hero/anti-hero, Felipe Tristán, is described as speaking tonelessly or unemotionally a lot), but more often it was used to great effect to describe a cast of characters from a nightmarish Goya family portrait. There are in-bred royal by-blows, indebted countesses-turned-procurers, greedy uncles, lustful and conniving aunts, and peasants who will do anything to survive in a kingdom overtaxed and ruled by a social class unworthy of the responsibility.
In the middle of this is Juana de Arrelanos, a merchant's daughter who is ripped away from her sweetheart to marry the Duque de Valenzuela. While not of the nobility, she is imperious with the standing that her family's money gives her and is determined that this marriage nonsense will not go through. Unfortunately, there are parties that are equally determined that the marriage will (or will not, in the case of His Majesty, Philip IV) happen and they don't much care what happens to the bride in the process of their machinations.
It's got a very gothic feel to it, as Juana is trapped under the spell of insanity and secrecy that hangs in the air of the Castillo de Beneventes. Providing much of the tension and threat, especially to Juana's sense of who she really is under the stiff exterior of a proper Spanish lady, is the Duque's "handler", Felipe Tristán. He's a giant of a man with flame-copper hair, a scarred face and an attitude that just dares a person to mess with him and walk away. Is he a tool to break Juana's will, or does he have a mission of his own?
I have to admit that I really loved this character, even though he was an emotionless and mentally abusive bastard throughout most of the story (with a few exceptions). One of those things a reader can't explain - I like what I like! He and Juana have a fierce attraction to each other and neither is willing to admit it, and it takes the two of them through murders and other dangers and complications (sometimes self-inflicted, since this is nominally a romance).
My gripes are few, since this was a beautifully engrossing book. There are coincidences and conveniences throughout, although Felipe Tristán's backstory comes into the plot and is revealed quite tidily towards the end (a bit too HEA for my tastes), Juana stupidly charges right into danger often (though always manages to escape, sometimes without aid, so bully for her), and he and Juana's distrust of each other continues right until almost the very last page. It was a bit annoying to still have them at loggerheads so close to the end, but eh, whatever. There's a lot that makes up for it.
The sex isn't graphic - no weeping members or dewy lady petals - and I thought it was made more intense and smokin' for it, especially the first encounter between Felipe and Juana (Caveat lector: it's borderline rape/forced seduction). Three words and a verb had me fanning myself. Although there were some bodice-ripper elements, Denys' style was unlike what is typical of pure historical romance and so it really is in a category of its own.
If you like overwhelming and dominating "heroes", plenty of intrigue and tension, with an intriguing portrait of glorious Spain in decline, then it's worth scrounging up a copy. They're expensive ($31 and up), so try library loan. It's how I got my copy, and now I've got to read more about the Habsburg dynasty. Ever see the lineage of the last Spanish Habsburg king? Not a whole lot of branches in that there family tree.
What I loved most was Denys' economy of language. She manages to convey the dilapidated and rotting Spanish nobility and all its various parasites with vivid characters that are described with sharp brushstrokes. Sometimes it can verge on the repetitious (the hero/anti-hero, Felipe Tristán, is described as speaking tonelessly or unemotionally a lot), but more often it was used to great effect to describe a cast of characters from a nightmarish Goya family portrait. There are in-bred royal by-blows, indebted countesses-turned-procurers, greedy uncles, lustful and conniving aunts, and peasants who will do anything to survive in a kingdom overtaxed and ruled by a social class unworthy of the responsibility.
In the middle of this is Juana de Arrelanos, a merchant's daughter who is ripped away from her sweetheart to marry the Duque de Valenzuela. While not of the nobility, she is imperious with the standing that her family's money gives her and is determined that this marriage nonsense will not go through. Unfortunately, there are parties that are equally determined that the marriage will (or will not, in the case of His Majesty, Philip IV) happen and they don't much care what happens to the bride in the process of their machinations.
It's got a very gothic feel to it, as Juana is trapped under the spell of insanity and secrecy that hangs in the air of the Castillo de Beneventes. Providing much of the tension and threat, especially to Juana's sense of who she really is under the stiff exterior of a proper Spanish lady, is the Duque's "handler", Felipe Tristán. He's a giant of a man with flame-copper hair, a scarred face and an attitude that just dares a person to mess with him and walk away. Is he a tool to break Juana's will, or does he have a mission of his own?
I have to admit that I really loved this character, even though he was an emotionless and mentally abusive bastard throughout most of the story (with a few exceptions). One of those things a reader can't explain - I like what I like! He and Juana have a fierce attraction to each other and neither is willing to admit it, and it takes the two of them through murders and other dangers and complications (sometimes self-inflicted, since this is nominally a romance).
My gripes are few, since this was a beautifully engrossing book. There are coincidences and conveniences throughout, although Felipe Tristán's backstory comes into the plot and is revealed quite tidily towards the end (a bit too HEA for my tastes), Juana stupidly charges right into danger often (though always manages to escape, sometimes without aid, so bully for her), and he and Juana's distrust of each other continues right until almost the very last page. It was a bit annoying to still have them at loggerheads so close to the end, but eh, whatever. There's a lot that makes up for it.
The sex isn't graphic - no weeping members or dewy lady petals - and I thought it was made more intense and smokin' for it, especially the first encounter between Felipe and Juana (Caveat lector: it's borderline rape/forced seduction). Three words and a verb had me fanning myself. Although there were some bodice-ripper elements, Denys' style was unlike what is typical of pure historical romance and so it really is in a category of its own.
If you like overwhelming and dominating "heroes", plenty of intrigue and tension, with an intriguing portrait of glorious Spain in decline, then it's worth scrounging up a copy. They're expensive ($31 and up), so try library loan. It's how I got my copy, and now I've got to read more about the Habsburg dynasty. Ever see the lineage of the last Spanish Habsburg king? Not a whole lot of branches in that there family tree.
