Rebeldes y traidores

by Lindsey Davis

Las guerras civiles inglesas que azotaron los reinos de Inglaterra, Escocia e Irlanda en el amplio período que va de 1639 a 1651 son el auténtico protagonista de este espectacular fresco histórico. El juicio y ejecución del rey Carlos I, el exilio de su hijo Carlos II, el nacimiento de la Commonwealth y la etapa del protectorado bajo el gobierno de Oliver Cromwell son mojones en un camino en que las luchas están teñidas de enfrentamientos tanto ideológicos y políticos como religiosos.

Uno de los grandes aciertos de Lindsey Davis consiste en focalizar su relato en los personajes de Juliana Lovell, esposa de un realista, y Gideon Jukes, un parlamentario convencido, lo que le permite mostrar los acontecimientos sin tomar partido y dejando que sea el propio lector quien juzgue a sus personajes y sus acciones. Otro de los grandes aciertos de esta gran novela consiste en, a través de los viajes de los personajes, mostrar los efectos de las guerras y de las luchas no sólo en Londres, sino en muy diversos puntos de los tres reinos implicados en los acontecimientos.

Una novela magnífica que expone de un modo muy claro unos años decisivos en la historia universal.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, 17th Century, British Literature, Audiobook, Roman

1036 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Lindsey Davis, historical novelist, was born in Birmingham, England in 1949. Having taken a degree in English literature at Oxford University (Lady Margaret Hall), she became a civil servant. She left the civil service after 13 years, and when a romantic novel she had written was runner up for the 1985 Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize, she decided to become a writer, writing at first romantic serials for the UK women's magazine Woman's Realm.
Her interest in history and archaeology led to her writing a historical novel about Vespasian and his lover Antonia Caenis (The Course of Honour), for which she couldn't find a publisher. She tried again, and her first novel featuring the Roman "detective", Marcus Didius Falco, The Silver Pigs, set in the same time period and published in 1989, was the start of her runaway success as a writer of historical whodunnits. A further nineteen Falco novels and Falco: The Official Companion have followed, as well as The Course of Honour, which was finally published in 1998. Rebels and Traitors, set in the period of the English Civil War, was published in September 2009. Davis has won many literary awards, and was honorary president of the Classical Association from 1997 to 1998.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It may sound paradoxical, but I found this book both hard going and addictive. It certainly isn't a light read, but the author has to be admired for telling the complex story of the English Civil War in the context of a novel and pretty well achieving success. It must have been a hell of a job to write, and I suspect the research was monumental.

There are several viewpoints, all of them relatively humble. (The highest ranking is hard-up gentry, the lowest social outcast). We see Charles I, Fairfax, Cromwell, Prince Rupert and the other big cheeses from the outside, looking in, and we certainly never find out what they are thinking. The focus of the novel (and it is none the worse for this) is essentially the struggle of ordinary folk in what was - let us be quite clear - a horrible, horrible war. (Arguably the worst experience suffered by the people of these islands in the last 1000 years, and that's saying something!)

The problem is that one has scarcely got interested in one person's story before one is shot off to read about someone else to whom there is no obvious connection. They are of course connected in the end - some only marginally - but when you're half way through it does feel a tad disjointed.

The other issue is that in places it reads like a history book rather than a novel, as Davis digresses at length to explain some point or other, often adding what is going to happen down the line. There are, for example, a couple of pages of straight narration of Cromwell's Irish campaign that read like an extract from a school text book - probably an old Irish one. This was probably necessary (given that most readers won't know the full history of the ECW) but it adds to the disjointed feeling. This is a novel with *relatively* little dialogue.

I hope this doesn't read as a negative review, because I did enjoy this book. In fact I read it in two days, barely bothering with anything else. I wouldn't have done that if I hadn't liked it. The writing is of a high standard and not a word jarred. I've heard great things of Lindsey Davis but this is the first work of hers I have read. I now look forward to reading more.

[Clemens Schoonderwoert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book in 2014, and its a standalone book about the English Civil War.

The book has been very well researches historically, and these historical details have been superbly implemented within this huge but also entertaining story, and it is set between the years AD 1634-1657.

Its a story mainly about the lives of Gideon Jukes and Juliana Lovell, both on opposite sides of the Parliamentarian/Royalist divide, and their attraction towards each other during and after the war.

This tale is also about a King, Charles I, who refuses to listen and pay the consequences in January, AD 1649, its about the divide between Parliamentarian and Royalist, also about the Aristocrats and the peasants, and not to forget about loyalty and treachery, before, during and after the English Civil War.

What is to follow is a huge but also gripping tale about a country in turmoil, where people wherever they are must somehow seem to survive this terrible civil war that is waging throughout the land, and where friend and foe cannot be trusted, and where the fighting will go on right till the end between Parliamentarians and Royalists, and all this in a determined effort to take power and control of the land.

Very much recommended, for this is an enormous wonderful attempt to put the English Civil War into one great book, and in my opinion this author has succeeded comprehensively, and that's why I like to call this sublime effort: "A Beautiful English Civil War Tale"!

[Gram · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece! You're likely to learn more about the
English Civil War and its aftermath from "Rebels And Traitors" than from any history book.

I love how Lindsey Davis fills her novel with wonderful characters, interesting tales and very informative stories of Diggers, Levellers, Ranters, printers, abandoned wives, soldiers, thieves, prostitutes, jail conditions and a wealth of detail about the circumstances surrounding England's Civil War.

What I especially liked about the story is that it does not dwell on the major players of the Civil War - such as Charles 1st, Cromwell, Prince Rupert, Fairfax and the other generals and politicians (although many are mentioned and glimpses given of their character), but concentrates instead of the lives of "ordinary" people - from both Royalist and Parliamentarian sides and those in between - caught up in battles, sieges and the relentless drudgery of life during a major upheaval in England's history.
Highly recommended if you're at all interested in historical fiction (and facts).

[Drayton Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rather odd book that will give you great delight if you love history.

Three fifths of it is a meticulously researched and excellently written history of the English Civil War - well worth reading on its own. As history it was far more detailed and better than another book I read recently on the same period by a "serious" historian.

The other two fifths is a novel, complete with hero, heroine and charming villain with a very good supporting cast, many real historical figures. All the characters, even the minor ones, are exceptionally well-drawn, very far from being the pasteboard figures you find in most historical novels - or novels of any genre.

It has some similarities, I thought, to Gone with the Wind. In that book the writer's sympathiers were clearly with the South; in this, they are clearly with the Parliamentarians. But I thought the detail about the fearful, bloody reality of everyday lives in a chaotic, cruel period was brilliantly conveyed.

It is far more substantial in every way than the Falco series, which are great fun but pretty lightweight. I did not find it all that easy to get into, because of the long historical exposition with which it opened but having made the effort I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The more I got into it, the better I thought it was - which is very unusual indeed. I think it really is a triumph.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Sobrepeso mórbido cubre unos músculos flexibles aunque no poderosos.-

Género. Novela histórica.

Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Rebeldes y traidores (publicación original: Rebels and Traitors, 2009), con el subtítulo La revolución de Cromwell, es una dramatización narrada de los distintos conflictos relacionados que, durante algo más de una década, afectaron a Inglaterra, Escocia e Irlanda en el siglo XVII y que se han conocido como Guerra Civil Inglesa.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[James Titterton · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good history book is one thing. A good historical novel is another. 'Rebels and Traitors' tries to be both and ends up being neither.

The problem is a lack of focus. There are three protagonists but none of them have a clear goal or purpose, beyond surviving through the unrest of the Civil Wars. The 'star-crossed lovers' plot promised in the blurb only appears in the last 200 pages of this 700+ page book! Whole chapters are given over to describing national politics or military manoeuvres, with the reactions of the nominal protagonists merely used to give colour to the historical events. Davis contrives to have her characters present at nearly every major event in the manner of G. M. Fraser's Flashman but lacks the invention or dash to cover the absurdity.

I suspect that Davis originally intended to write a much shorter book, focusing on the romance between Gideon and Juliana, but her research (which appears to have been formidable) and the detailed backstories invented for all the characters grew so large that the book ended up doubling in size and squashed the narrative under great screeds of historical background.

[The Library Lady · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry, Lindsey. I've read all of your Falco books over and over again through the years. I just got the newest Nemesis AND Falco: The Official Companion from England because I can't wait for their later release in the States. And I just finished (once again) listening to all the Falco books on CD.

Problem is, they've spoiled me for this book. It may be admirably researched and the book you yearned to write.

But it's humorless. It's heavy. The dialogue is dull and the explanations too many--your Falco books weave them into the narrative.

In Falco's warmth and humor, in your portrayal as the Romans as a society very much like our own in many ways you have created something very special, Lindsey.

And as good as this book may be, judging it by that it is simply lacking.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was lengthy and I have to admit I considered not reading it to completion. It lags in the middle. I was particularly disinterested in the part where Eliza turned to highway banditry. The entire subplot with her accomplice, Jam Starling, I thought was nonsense. I also wish more time in the novel was dedicated to the historical personages. I never got to know Oliver Cromwell, Charles Stuart, Edward Sexby, etc. Still, the timeline and pace of the book fit well into the English Civil War and the battle scenes were well done. The author writes well and I did feel as if I was absorbed in 17th Century England. I liked the two main characters. This book is a good read but you need to be persistent.

[Carey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept abandoning this, then going back to it as she makes the characters likeable and believable and you want to find out how they fare - however, after a while (page 200) the turgid, humourless, heavy text finally did me in. Brilliantly researched but it was like Davies didn't know whether she wanted to write a historical book or a novel and not enough of the latter to keep me interested enough.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a highly unusual historical fiction book. More like an elaboration of history, with a bit of fiction thrown in than a novel with a bit of history, there are many long sections which feel like they've been directly cut and pasted from an honours thesis, or a really well-written textbook. The reader learns huge amounts of minutia - whether the different muskets used by cavalry or how to work a 17th Century printing press. I loved it, but could understand that others may not have the same reaction.

Part of what makes the approach work for me, is that there is a defined story - it is the story of the English Civil War. The characters serve mostly as windows onto that war (which does, at times, strain credulity that single individuals could end up in so many key events and groups). Davis captures well the slow slide among the Roundheads from idealism to cynicism, under the pressure of relentless war, and a rotating coterie of would-be aristocrats. She captures well (with the exception of the ending, which I'll come to) the rivening of households, families and communities, by political beliefs, by PTSD, by changing social and sexual mores. You can see how as societies cohesion ruptures, so too do some of the rules. It's interesting to track the increased independence, and desperation, of women left to run their own lives, with little support.

For most of the two weeks it took to read this, I would have said my biggest disappointment was Davis' failure to really capture the power of the ideas. She has her characters react to the religious, political and philosophical debates, but the who, what and where carries much more force than the why. This is particularly frustrating when she has characters join the Diggers, the Ranters and the Muggletonians in rapid succession, without capturing the fervent debate about roles and society that produced these groups. Without this passion for social change, for freedom of thought, for new paradigms and understandings, her characters come across as vaguely masochistic at times, participating in war and revolution cause it seemed reasonable, rather than imperative. It made me want to re-read Christopher Hill's World turned Upside Down, which so beautifully and passionately captures this atmosphere.

But easily my biggest disappointment turned out to be the ending. Melodramatic and vaguely ridiculous, it was like a bad parody of a good Falco novel twist. More frustratingly, it belied one of the central strengths of the book - the slow corrosive effect of the war on society and relationships, choosing instead to go with a "big bang" theory of how the war impacted on a generation.

Which is a pity, because it left a slightly bitter aftertaste on what had been a really very satisfying meal of a book.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started off so promisingly, and I was immediately captivated. Yet after about 200 pages, it nose dived-the plot and characters became progressivley more boring-and there's a limit to how many battles we need to read about to get the general gist of the novel. I rarely give up on a book-and would not normally do so with this (despite my criticisms), had it not been so long! Don't think I can sustain interest for another 500+ pages. Disappointing.

[Sumi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well-researched and some of the details of life in the time period were interesting but rarely have I ever cared less about what happened to a set of people. Perhaps I might have liked it better if there were fewer characters to follow around... no, probably not. They just weren't the sort of characters I care for.

I'll stick to the Falco books.

[Theobald Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Lindsey Davis so it pains me to say I couldn't get past page 50 in this book. It was all backstory, dull, tedious, and I just couldn't make myself go on. I would never criticize an author for stepping into new territory (i've done it myself, going from nonfiction to fiction) but it was as if a different person was writing. There was none of her usual sparkle, wit, and fun.

[gardienne_du_feu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als im Januar 1649 Charles I. unter dem Henkersbeil den Kopf verliert, sind unter den Zuschauern auch Gideon Jukes, Soldat im Dienste von Oliver Cromwells New Model Army, und Juliana Lovell, die sich um Politik eigentlich gar nicht großartig schert, aber mit einem Royalisten verheiratet ist, einem unsteten Typen, der manchmal über Monate oder gar Jahre abtaucht und sie in diesen unruhigen und oftmals auch für die Zivilbevölkerung gefährlichen Zeiten alleine lässt.

Gideon war schon als Jugendlicher ein etwas rebellisch veranlagter Mensch, der seine Druckerlehre auch aus Trotz gegen die Eltern angetreten hat, nach deren Willen er in den elterlichen Lebensmittelhandel einsteigen sollte. Durch seinen Meister Robert Allibone gerät er mit ganz neuem Gedankengut in Kontakt, das die althergebrachte Ordnung im allgemeinen und die Monarchie im besonderen in Frage stellt.

Nach dem Tod ihrer Großmutter ist Juliana weitestgehend auf sich gestellt bzw. abhängig von einem ältlichen Vormund, der sie möglichst zeitig unter die Haube bringen möchte. Eine Liebesheirat ist die Ehe mit Orlando Lovell nicht, auch seine Familie ist nicht angetan von der nicht standesgemäßen Braut, und Orlando selbst macht, was er will, ohne groß Rücksicht auf seine Gattin zu nehmen. Die lernt auf die harte Tour, für sich einzustehen und sich und später auch ihre Kinder durchzubringen, kein einfaches Unterfangen in einem Land, das über lange Jahre vom Bürgerkrieg zerrissen ist.

Es ist mehr oder weniger von Anfang an klar, dass sich die Lebenswege der beiden nicht nur bei der Exekution des Königs kreuzen, aber bis das dann tatsächlich passiert, vergehen einige hundert kleingedruckte Seiten in diesem breit angelegten historischen Wälzer. Lindsey Davis, die den meisten eher durch ihre spannenden und witzigen Krimis aus dem alten Rom bekannt sein dürfte, widmet sich hier einer signifikanten Epoche in der Geschichte ihres Heimatlandes. Zweifellos hat sie sich sehr eingehend mit den bewegten Zeiten zwischen den beiden Charleses I und II beschäftigt und lässt eine unbändige Fülle an historischen Fakten, Personen, Schlachten, Intrigen und Originalzitaten in den Roman einfließen, zu lesen ist das allerdings oft eher anstrengend, insbesondere für Leserinnen wie mich, die nicht so sattelfest mit den historischen Hintergründen sind. Ein Glossar, ein Personenverzeichnis und/oder eine Zeitleiste wäre zum Nachschlagen hilfreich gewesen.

Die Handlung um Gideon, Juliana und eine dritte Quasi-Hauptfigur, ein anfangs "Kinchin" genanntes Mädchen aus ärmlichsten Verhältnissen, dem wir immer mal wieder unter verschiedenen Namen begegnen, ist durchaus fesselnd, wird aber zu häufig von den historischen Ereignissen unterbrochen, die oft ohne direkten Bezug zu den Hauptpersonen geschildert werden und sich ab und an ein bisschen trocken lesen bzw. für wenig historisch Bewanderte schwer verständlich sind. So gerne ich historischen Kontext in Romanen mag, hier hat für mich das Gleichgewicht zwischen Background und eigentlicher Romanhandlung nicht ganz gestimmt und ich war ab und an regelrecht genervt, wenn wieder ein Abschnitt mit haufenweise Royalisten, Levellers, Roundheads, Grandees und anderen Interessengruppen kam, die ich nicht so ohne weiteres einsortieren konnte.

Immer, wenn sich das Buch Gideon, Juliana oder "Kinchin" zugewandt hat, gefiel es mir richtig gut, nicht zuletzt, weil auch immer mal wieder Davis' altbekannter Humor aufblitzt (und es einen netten kleinen Querverweis auf die Falco-Krimis gab) und einige skurrile Fun Facts auftauchen, aber der Lesefluss wurde immer wieder von den oben beschriebenen Einschüben ausgebremst, was ich richtig schade fand.

[Helen Cairns · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read a couple of Lindsey Davis' Falco books and enjoyed them, so I was interested when I saw this novel set in the British Civil Wars and their aftermath.
It is basically the story of two families the Dukes and the Lovells, one roundhead and one royalist. The book does not solely concentrate on the fighting men but describes the effect on women and children left to fend for themselves as the war moves around the country. Then, in the aftermath, what happened to the survivors.
The characters are convincing, and the love story at the heart of the book is a mature one, both parties having moulded by the events around them.
A very satisfying read.

[ERIC PECHINOT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pick my brain and I shall tell you at once that this is certainly the real thing!
Not only does Lindsey Davis unfold the chain of events always faithfully to the historical truth, she gives her telling the appeal of a vast political and military epic. Which was exactly what the Civil War was in the first place, come to think of it!
This book was a Christmas present and it made me feel like believing in Santa Klaus again!

[Jane Glaister · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tortuous and torturous.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to give the first four hundred pages of this book one star and the last three hundred four stars, unfortunately you cannot do this so I have settled on two stars over all - as you have to slog your way through the first four hundred dreary pages of almost constant battles to get to the exciting "star-crossed lovers" and the "dark shadow ...[which] continue[s] to lurk over them" part which the blurb advertises.

I must confess the only reason I picked up this book was because I adore Lindsey Davis' Falco books and I will warn you that other than seeing a slight resemblance of Helena and Falco in Juliana and Gideon this book is nothing like the Falco series in both style and tone. Linsday Davis has said in interviews that this book was her passion as is the English Civil War, and it does show, she has done her research well, and boy does she like to show it as noted above with the constant discriptions of what battles are taking place, what is happening at court etc. I suppose this does help to set the larger scene, what is happening in the world the characters inhabit but all too often I found myself skimming the pages wanting to get to the bit that I felt was most relevant, what was happening to the Lovells, the Jukes or the Tews.

And to my final point, the Tew girl, was her story necessary? Don't get me wrong, I loved it and her and I really enjoyed her parts (they got me through the first four hundred pages practically), but towards the end when it started to get really exciting and tense, we only really visited the Tews for the locating of Lovell and his firework and I don't know about anyone else but I kind of felt cheated that this wonderful character was just used in this way.

Like I say at the begining, I really wish this book was only the last three hundred pages!

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Since nobody had intended to start a civil war, inevitably no one knew how to finish it.’

The English Civil War provides the setting for this novel. The prologue, 30 January 1649, is the day of Charles I’s execution. Two of those who watched the scene, Gideon Jukes, who leads the guard that escorts the executioner to safety, and Juliana Lovell, wife of a royalist, will be the main characters in this story which starts in 1634 and ends in 1657.

The stories of Gideon and Juliana are woven around the events of the period in a way that provides different perspectives of the conflict and its impacts on both the country and individual members of society. While Gideon and Juliana are the primary characters, there are many others from every strata of society who appear in these pages. Even in an epic novel, this can provide both strength and potential weakness. The strength is obvious: events are experienced and interpreted in many ways - the lives and views of the different Parliamentarians, the Royalists and the Tews (representing an opportunistic underclass with no interest in politics) provided a multidimensional view of events. The potential weakness is that by attempting to provide broad coverage of a complex set of events some aspects may interfere with the flow of the story. I found some of the sectarian involvements by Anne and Lambert Jukes jarred, even though I found the detail interesting.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. For me, the biggest attraction of this novel is the setting, rather than the characters and their relationships. I found the ending unsatisfying but strangely appropriate.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars for this book. It sounded interesting from the blurb, but... oh dear. You know how creative writing teachers always bang on about "show, don't tell"? This book is 95% telling and the characters mentioned in the blurb don't even meet until 3/4 of the way through. We get lots of infodumping "this battle happened and so-and-so plotted with so-and-so, but it didn't work out. Then something else happened. And something else". I can appreciate that historical novels should be well-researched, but this one feels like the author is plonking all that research into the book, regardless of whether it is relevant or not.

Some of the characters - especially Juliana and Anne - are interesting, quite forward-thinking and independent for their time, but equally there are others like the Tew family, who get chapters setting them up, leading us to believe they'll be important... then they hardly figure and you wonder why all that effort was spent in telling us about them.

To be honest, it feels like a draft. There is a potentially good story in here, but it's buried under the summaries of seemingly everything that happened in the English Civil War. With more revision and cutting out of unnecessary material, this could have been a much better book. Instead, it's a 700-odd page monster that I nearly didn't bother finishing. And it ends very abruptly, which again adds to the feeling of it seeming unfinished and unpolished.

[Verity · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had very high hopes for this novel, and was excited to get my teeth into it and learn about a period of history I had not previously had much teaching on, whilst also enjoying what promised to be a romantic and adventurous fictional story.
However, this book did not meet my expectations. At times I felt like I was wading through battle descriptions for hundreds of pages at a time, desperate to reach the other side when the story would begin again.
Sadly, the battle descriptions left a lot to be desired as well, less informative than a non-fiction book would have been, and more detailed than is neccessary for what is essentially a fictional novel.
The characters kept this story afloat, and just about kept my interest until the end, but I really feel that this book could have been a third of the size and conveyed the story, the characters and the history in a much better, and more relevant way.
I was also disappointed, as the blurb held a lot of promise. I would warn others who are attracted by the blurb that the "star crossed lovers" story line does not appear until around about the last 200 pages...
I definitely wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who wanted a historical fiction book to read, nor would I recommend it to those who want factual information about the English civil war, as I am sure there are far better non-fiction works out there.

[Phil Shaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

I very rarely read other people’s reviews of books before reading the book so that I’m not influenced, so it was with growing interest that I read what others had to say about Rebels and Traitors given that I had just thrown in the towel at about a quarter of the way through. I found it to be rather slow going and more of a history book than a novel, as though huge tracts of a history of the English Civil War had been bunged in between the chapters of a small novel set in the same period. I also found the writing style a little odd and not at all conducive to allowing the reader to empathise with the characters. I was shocked when I was supposed to be by the sheer brutality of war etc, but I really didn’t care very much at all about the people affected by it. I actually found myself wishing that the writer would simply get on with it and stop giving me a history lesson.
Not one for me I’m afraid.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book although at times I also found it really hard going. I liked that the story focused on ordinary people caught up in the English civil war and that the likes of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Fairfax are essentially bit part players in the story.
I thought that this was well researched and did a good job of showing what life was like for those on both sides of the conflict. I felt the author was unbiased and she didn't just write about atrocities being committed by one side.This book also showed that while fighting for democracy and freedom was the right thing to do nobody on the Roundheads side had given much thought about what would happen after they had won.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I admire the author's interest and research in the period, this was a tough read and it took me a long time to finish. All the things I love about the Falco series are missing--it's slow and disjointed and it feels like the author was compelled to include every minute fact she had ever learned about England during the civil war. Too many characters and no flow to the stories. Things do sort of come together at the end, but a lot of that feels contrived. I sincerely hope we can get back to ancient Rome with Helena and Marcus soon!!

[Laurence · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't a particularly good read or a particularly bad one but it did lack the art of constructing an enticing narrative. The narrative was more interested in giving a blow by blow account of the English Civil war and how all the armies moved. If I'd have read this as part of preparation for one of my degree essays it would have been useful but as a story it was a bit dry until the last 150 pages where the narrative exploded into life and became enthralling. However the good ending doesn't make up for the dull nature of much of what went before

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really disappointed in this book. What I've always admired in Lindsay Davis is the way she slips meticulously researched history into her stories without interrupting the flow. Absolutely not the case here. There's more historical exposition than there is novel.

I don't mind her abandoning Falco and the Roman Empire - but abandoning her customary story-telling skill in favour of a rather dry history lecture feels like a betrayal.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As described on the front cover, this is an epic novel set during the Civil War. It follows a variety of characters, some of whom overlap in their lives and story arcs, all trying to survive as Parliament wages war on the monarchy. It's clear a lot of research went into this novel as there is a lot of detail about those tumultuous times in the middle of the 17th century. The ending felt a little abrupt but otherwise I would recommend this to anybody interested in that time period.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very long book. I only made it through 150 pages. Those pages included a lot of history, with occasional outbreaks of novel. Even though I like reading history and historical mysteries, I got bored & didn't connect with the fictional characters. Perhaps things pick up later on when (if?) the various characters meet up. Since I'm returning the book to the library, I'll never know...

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

REALLY long, boring, rambling book that covers about half of the Thirty Years War in Britain --- almost as snooze-inducing as a college textbook. The end had poor resolution and the author gave no explanation of which characters were real and which were imagined. I've read all her other books, so this one was a huge disappointment.

[Richard Penn · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a full-on immersion in the chaos and uncertainty of the English civil war, this is the best I've read. She manages to get realistic people in there and give us a reason to persevere in a very murky situation. The parallels with present-day situations in forin parts are clear, though she doesn't beat you over the head with them. Proper history.