The Devil's Blade

by Mark Alder

The story of Julie D'Aubigny is well known. Her tumultuous childhood, her powerful lovers, her celebrated voice. Connected to most of the nobility of 17th century Paris, feted for her performance, unwilling to live by the rules of her society, she took female lovers, fought duels with noblemen and fled from city to country and back again.

But now the real truth can be told. She also made a deal with the devil. He gave her no powers or help, but he kept her alive for only one reason. To take revenge...

Genres: Historical Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2020

Reviews

[James Tivendale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a review copy of The Devil's Blade in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank Mark Alder and Gollancz for the opportunity.

This is the first time that I have read anything by Mark Alder. When Gollancz e-mailed me asking if I would be interested in reviewing The Devil's Blade I was won over completely by the striking cover and the intriguing premise so I opted to check the book out. I have started reading more historical fiction recently so this novel ticked the box for me to continue that trend. I knew nothing about The Devil's Blade's protagonist (Julie D'Aubigny), whose real life this story is loosely based on, so I decided this novel would be an interesting entry point to find out about her.

Set in 17th-century Paris, The Devil's Blade begins when Julie is invited to sing on All Hallows Eve in a foggy wood for thirteen masked men of influence who call themselves the Tredecim. She sings beautifully for the gentlemen with notes so pure, clear and delicious. At the conclusion of her performance, it transpires that she was invited by the group to be a sacrifice. They wished to spill the blood of a lady pure and beautiful so that they could call forth the Devil to do their bidding. Unfortunately, Julie is not a virgin, and after heated exchanges with the gentleman, her friend Paval is murdered and her throat is pierced by a rapier. Whilst Julie is lurking at death's door and about to pass, the Devil arrives at the scene as they were summoned. At this point, the men have left and because of their arrogance in raising them from the underworld, the Devil is a bit pissed off. Julie makes a deal with the Devil that if she lives she will murder the thirteen men, sending their souls to Lucifer. As some of the Tredecim will be notoriously difficult to kill, such as a three-fingered gentleman who is the self-proclaimed greatest swordsman in France, the Devil promises that in return for each soul they claim, they will reward Julie with one fencing lesson. If she is unable to present all thirteen souls to the Devil within one year then they will return and take her to Hell still living.

Written in the third-person present tense, The Devil's Blade follows Julie D'Aubigny through three acts and numerous scenes. Written this way it makes the reader think that they are part of the play, that events are happening in real-time, and it connects us closely with Julie through the year's events and the emotions that she feels. Each scene takes about ten to fifteen minutes to read so it is extremely easy to just read one more chapter.

I liked Julie's character quite a lot. After the ordeal at the beginning, she loses her beautiful singing voice and one of her only friends in Paval, so I sympathised with her a fair amount, even when she was plotting the demise of those that had wronged her. She is clever, crude, sweary, not afraid to use her sexuality to get what she wants, and is a master of disguise. Lucifer granted her ghost sight which is a useful ability, and after delivering one soul she is given a fox scarf called Furie who can come to life. She was an able fencer to begin with yet as the Devil teaches her moves and techniques when she crosses identities off her list, she becomes an excellent swordswoman, causing havoc around Paris and building up quite a reputation. A reputation that earns her the moniker The Devil's Blade.

The plot of the novel is straightforward in how Julie moves from one target to the next but I didn't find this tedious or repetitive. Some of the assassinations are excellently executed by the author (no pun intended) and thrilling to read. There isn't that much to distinguish the thirteen gentlemen from each other, they are just names on her list after all, and we don't find out that much about the majority of these characters other than that they are wealthy scumbags.

I always enjoyed the scenes where Lucifer popped up on the page. He/she/they are beautiful, charming, mischievous and notorious too. Other characters I enjoyed reading about were Julie's highborn love interest Charlotte-Marie who is kooky and out-there, and her father's sword-master Sérannes who is infatuated with Julie.

The Devil's Blade steadily builds up to a fitting, fulfilling and exciting culmination. Alder wraps up everything nicely and makes it clear that this is only one period in Julie's life and it would be easy for him to return to this imagined 17th-century France to detail more of her escapades. If he does, I am pretty certain I will check it out. At 370-pages this was a novel that I savoured rather than raced through, perhaps reading about the build-up to and then the act of one or two murders before then putting it down for a day or so before continuing. To conclude, I would describe The Devil's Blade as a fine revenge-driven historical fiction adventure that features a strong and intriguing female lead. It's full of love, infatuation, duels, deceit, disguise, murder, devilishness, and music with a lovingly crafted picturesque 17th-century Paris as the backdrop. The Devil's Blade isn't a perfect novel but I had a pleasant and entertaining time reading it and I give it a pretty solid 7/10.

[Michaela (Journey into Books)]

DNF @35%

The only thing in this book that slightly intrigued me was our main character Julie Daubigny but unfortunately not enough for me to continue reading. The plot failed to capture my attention, I found myself bored when reading it and the writing style just didn't work for me.

[charlotte, · Rating 3 out of 5]

On my blog.

Rep: bi mc, nonbinary side character

CWs: gore, death, attempted rape, mentions of past statutory rape

Galley provided by publisher

The Devil’s Blade is a tale of a pact with the Devil (hence the title) and a tale of revenge. But it’s also vaguely satirical and irreverent. In short, the perfect mix.

The story purports to be the true beginnings of Julie d’Aubigny, a French opera singer known for her skill at fencing. When Julie is lured as a sacrifice to the Devil, and then left for dead when it goes wrong, she makes a pact with them herself. She will kill every one of the men who brought her there within the year, or her soul will be forfeit.

What I enjoyed about this book was that it focused on a woman getting revenge on the men who had wronged her. After the prologue, I was so invested in seeing her kill them all, and this book gave me what I wanted in that respect. I also appreciated the slightly satirical tone it took, because it made it clear that the men were not to be pitied as she did this.

The only problem was, the writing style got a bit tiring after a while. I don’t know what it was, but it started to feel a little forced and overdone. Not so much that I wholly stopped enjoying the book, but enough that it was noticeable. Almost as if it was trying to be too funny, in a way.

Add onto that the plot becoming repetitive (killing men is all well and good, but there wasn’t much more to it than, she kills this one, then she kills that one, now she kills that one), and you can see why I rated lower than I initially expected.

And then there’s the fact that Julie is sixteen. I tried to set it aside and take the book ignoring that, I really did. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t when the book sexualised her, I couldn’t when the book decided a couple of 40 year old men would fall in love with her. It just wasn’t possible. I mean, how hard would it be to just adjust her age ever so slightly, so she’s actually an adult?

Which is probably the main reason I couldn’t enjoy this book much more than I did.

[Asha - A Cat, A Book, And A Cup Of Tea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was apprehensive going into this book about how good the representation of a queer female main character would be, given that it's written by a man (and one whom I have never seen to talk about being queer). Unfortunately, all my worst fears were confirmed; it's massively sexualised, and Julie D'Aubigny - one of the most interesting historical figures - is reduced to a revenge cipher, with nothing in the way of character depth. She lurches from scene to scene without ever giving us a sense of her personality. She mostly exists to sneer at people's dicks (dear god, so many flaccid dicks) and stab things. Oh, and be hugely sexualised.

The writing style is so sparse as to be bare - you could really take each sentence as a bullet point, rather than fluid prose. There's no showing, only telling, which at least makes it swift to read, but makes it extremely hard to connect to in any way. It's also aggressively stuffed full of modern day swearing, which I assume was intended to add some 'spice' - I don't even mind modern-world swearing in historical/fantasy settings (sometimes you really do just need a perfectly placed F word after a heist goes wrong!) but the frequency and randomness of the swearing here meant this felt more like a boys' locker room than 17th century France. What may be intended as satirical comes off as try-hard and "edgy" - one of the final straws for me was the use of a David Bowie lyric in dialogue. It didn't make sense in context, and just destroyed any tiny amount of immersion I'd built up.

I persevered for as long as I could, but there is nothing about this book that worked for me. I'm gutted to see a plotline I was so excited for, about a historical figure I find fascinating, reduced to the maturity and depth of a teenage boy's drawn-in-Paint webcomic circa 2007. I couldn't bear to read on. DNFed at 33%.

[Susan Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

It turns out this book was exactly what I needed to leaven my lockdown melancholy: a subversive, irreverent main character skewering obnoxious aristocrats. If there's a What Julie Did Next to follow, I'll be there for it.

[Eryn Bradshaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

They say the Devil made her, but I know better.
~ Mark Alder, The Devil's Blade

On All Hallow's Eve, thirteen noblemen gather together to summon the Devil. A virgin sacrifice is required, and who better to sacrifice than a 16-year-old girl who sings like an angel in the streets. Panicked by the revelation that Julie d'Aubigny was to be murdered before she could achieve her goals of singing in the opera, she reveals that not only is she not a virgin, but thoroughly enjoys participating in the act regularly. Attempting to save herself, Julie challenges a nobleman to a duel. While talented, she loses to the nobleman who punishes her by piercing her throat to prevent her from ever singing again, if she doesn’t die from the blood loss. The noblemen flee the scene, leaving her to die, but little do they know they had caught the attention of the Devil himself. Julie begs the Devil to help exact revenge against these men and a pact is struck. Kill all thirteen noblemen in one year, giving their souls to the Devil, however, if she cannot complete the task in the given year, the Devil will take her to Hell.

The Devil’s Blade by Mark Alder is a historical fiction novel based on a real person, Julie d'Aubigny. She was born around 1673 and was, in fact, a famous opera singer and had many flirtations with men and women both in and out of the French court. Alder does note at the end that he attempted to make the book historically accurate, but was lax in moving dates and key events in order to make the novel flow. Although I don’t know much about Julie and have not done extensive research, I’d say this is a far shot from being historically accurate. Julie in real life was an opera singer with an amazing voice, often dressed as a man, loved men and women, was excellent at swordplay, harmed and/or killed men in duels, and was pardoned by the King’s brother, I have not read anywhere she may have made a deal with the devil and went on to kill many men for that cause. Trust me, I love crossroad deals with devils and rumors that might spring up, but in the few places I’ve read about Julie, nothing about the devil has sprung up. Now, I could be wrong and there may be these rumors which would fuel this fun novel, so take my words with a grain of salt here. People in the novel are real, and Julie’s interactions with them have some basis in reality, but the novel as a whole doesn’t really represent her life for a year.

HOWEVER, all of that aside, the premise for The Devil’s Blade was really fun! Revenge stories on a timer are always a blast to read and are usually really quick to get through because they tend to be very fast-paced. It’s not really a character-driven novel and there’s no world-building that needs to be done, so it’s a nice, easy read. But there are some hang-ups in the way it’s written that made my stumble through it.

The Devil’s Blade is in present tense, and while I am not a huge fan of present tense, it definitely fits the narrative. It lent way to feeling like there was a rush and a pressure against the clock for Julie to accomplish her goals. The whole novel does take place within the span of a year and there are parts of that year that are completely skipped over, so things can feel very rushed in general, though I don’t think it’s a novel that would suit a series. It’s best as a standalone novel.

A fair warning to anyone interested in picking this book up, it is very crude. While it isn’t exactly up there in the “men writing women poorly” section, it’s definitely on the edge. Julie has a nervous tick of swearing profusely. There’s a lot of talk about “spunking a cock.” And just a lot of descriptions of men’s tiny dicks when framed next to their large stomachs. Julie, in the novel, is quite promiscuous, continually using her feminine wiles to take advantage of different men. All of this didn’t necessarily put me off the novel, but there were plenty of times when it felt like it didn’t add to it.

I was fortunate enough to read this as an ARC, so there were a few hiccups I noticed that I hope were fixed in the release of the novel. My biggest issue, which I don’t think were mistakes, but was Alder’s style of writing that did come across as mistakes and absolutely drove me crazy, was the number of times phrases and words were repeated. The number of times phrases and words were repeated. See? Doesn’t that seem like a typo? I think it was Alder’s way of adding emphasis to what a character had said or what Julie was thinking, but it really made the writing feel clumsy.

And the last thing that really annoyed me was the phrases some of the characters used. The novel takes place in the late 1600s. While I’m not opposed to modern language in historical novels for the sake of the reader, there were some phrases that really threw me off. Phrases like “Crikey, blimey, blinking flip” and “Zookers.” These phrases were mainly used by a woman of nobility. which really didn’t fit the scene that was set.

There isn’t a lot to say about the characters of the novel since the novel was so plot-driven. So if you like character development, maybe give this one a miss. The two major characters, the Devil and Julie don’t really change throughout the novel. You wouldn’t expect development from the Devil and since Julie is driven solely by revenge, she isn’t interested in developing herself aside from her swordplay and singing. I didn’t feel anything if a character died, whether for revenge or was a character Julie was friends with. It just happened and that was that.

The Devil’s Blade isn’t a standout novel for me. It’s not bad, but it’s also not good. It was okay. I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but as apparent by my inability to remember it a year and a half later shows that it just wasn’t that memorable as a book. There are novels I can distinctly remember the main points of that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed years later. This isn’t that novel for me. I give The Devil’s Blade a 3-star rating. Again, it was okay. Some people may really enjoy it, but I know there will be people who don’t. Because the whole plot is kill a nobleman, find another one, kill that one, find another, etc, it gets dull. I’m really glad it was a standalone novel because I would not read it if it was a series. I feel that would drag on for ages and would not be worth it at all.

Orion Publishing Group, Gollancz provided a copy of The Devil's Blade through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to read this book!

Check out more reviews on my blog!

[Artemiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Devil’s Blade had got its inspiration from Mademoiselle Maupin, who lived in Paris at the time when Louis XIV was the king of France. She was a fencer and an opera singer. Author has used his creative licences to make the story more magical and more extraordinary.
In a way, Juliet with her balde and her fox was for me like Dumas’ Musketeers’ paranormal version, where instead of hero is a heroine and her friends are devil, fencing teacher, doctor, theater’s errand boy and her soft spot is a lady, who will be her ruin.
It’s a thrilling and brisk story, with humor and brilliant fantasy, which gives the historical characters fantastical abilities and offers readers excellent snaps of fencing lessons and duels. It’s a bloody story, our heroine is often injured, but it goes with the story.

Wonderful story, thrilling way to give history a new fantastical spin.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

So: The Devil’s Blade is a story that builds on traditional tropes – it’s a revenge story – but combines reality with decidedly fictional elements.

Our lead character, Julie D’Aubigny, was a real person, whose antics in 17th century France were well known at the time. By most accounts she was a multi-talented polymath who could sing, sword-fight and, if that wasn’t exhausting enough, had a variety of lovers of both sexes. In short, a bisexual, duelling, feminist opera singer seems like someone that if you made up would seem too ridiculous, but I guess that sometimes truth is as strange as fiction.

With such a variety of talents, this suggests a character ripe for an adventure story that the author clearly takes advantage of. Mind you, where Mark takes her, I suspect, is not entirely true. The Devil’s Blade begins with a young Julie, a promising young singer, heading to a meeting with gentlemen of influence who can hopefully gain her access to the levels of society currently blocked to her. This is, however, a ruse, as the men are really a group known as The Tredecim, who actually wish to sacrifice her to the Devil for their own uses. Julie is attacked and left for dead, her throat is ruined and her lover killed, so she seeks revenge on the thirteen men who wronged her – by making a deal with the Devil, no less. Welcoming the chance to gain more souls in Hell, he/she/it agrees to give Julie about a year on which to wreak her revenge on the men. If she fails, of course, her soul is his.

The rest of the book follows Julie as she attempts to reach her goal. In a plot reminiscent of Arya Stark’s kill list, Julie begins to dispose of her victims, making sure that they renounce God before dispatching them. After each death, the Devil appears to take the recently deceased soul off to Hell and gives Julie the chance to have one duelling lesson before setting off towards the next victim.

Although her voice is ruined, working behind the scenes in the Paris Opera gives Julie the means of making connections beyond her station in French society and allows her to travel in order to catch up with her intended targets. She also begins a scandalous affair with Charlotte-Marie de la Porte Mazarin de la Meilleraye, one of the aristocracy. This all leads to a big showdown at the end between Julie, the last of her quarry and the Devil himself determined to make good on their deal.

It all reads as an enormous romp, a sort’ve female version of Faust or Daniel Webster meets The Scarlet Pimpernel , which makes it great fun. Julie is a fascinating character whose lack of manners and diplomacy cut through the decorum of French society whilst her duelling skills cut through her victims rather messily. The Devil is both charming and monstrous, mercurial in his/her/its manner, which reminded me a little of the part played by Tom Ellis in the Lucifer television series.

Having said that, some, but not all, readers will appreciate the frankness of the novel’s use of florid expletives, for example:

“ “If you think you can bargain your way out of this by offering your twat…” he says. She kicks him so hard in between the legs that it’s amazing his bollocks don’t pop out of his eyes.” (Page 96)

 The book seems determined to be outrageous in both the actions of the characters and what they say, tapping firmly into that Grimdark style, even if at times they sound more contemporary than what I would expect from 17th century France. It is even quite amusing at the variety of ways the characters manage to use expletives towards each other, but I must say that by the end of the novel I felt that the constant badinage actually dulled the language’s impact.

More worryingly, my biggest niggle is that throughout there was the impression that the author feels the need to make points over and over, again and again. One example is the amount of shit France seems to have and to emphasise the point how much Julie and her fellow players seem to roll around in it – the streets of Paris are shitty, the carriages are covered in it, Julie seems to spent most of her time walking through it, fighting in it, even rolling in it. I got the point, but it is a point that is repeatedly made, when really once or twice would have been sufficient. The point is made, but then overdone. Like the swearing, there are times that its constant repetitive use becomes wearying.

The ending seems a little forced, as Julie has to fight a final duel in-between performing acts in an opera, which stretched the credulity a little. Disappointingly, the ending of the book leaves things open for sequels. This would, in my opinion, have been better for being a stand-alone tale, but I realise that future prospective sales may determine otherwise.

Despite all of this, I enjoyed The Devil’s Blade. It’s an impressive step-up of talent that certain readers will like. The setting of 17th century France made a nice change from the usual medieval-esque settings of Fantasy.  It is dark, very violent, very sweary but at the same time quite good fun. Although there are moments of the “one bound and she was free” stuff going on here, and the author does overdo matters on occasion – some of the presumably intentional moments of farce didn’t really work for me, for example – this one was a good read.

[Graham Dragon · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on the life of the true historical character of Julie D’Aubigney, a 17th Century French opera singer famed for her prowess with the sword and for her affairs with both men and women as well as for her singing ability.

Most of the characters in the novel are genuine historical characters, as are a number of the described events.

The fictional element is a fantasy in which Julie enters into a relationship with the Devil in order to take her revenge on a group of men who molest and attempt to kill her.

There is much in the novel on the art of swordsmanship, as is the case in a very different novel (by a different author) called “The Devil’s Sword”. There is also the suggestion that Julie’s bewitching voice owed at least some debt to the pact she made with the Devil, just as legend says was the case with the uncanny effects Paganini produced from the violin.

The pace of this novel is good, with plenty of action to grip the reader, although it could be argued that many of the scenes are too repetitive.

There are some deliberate loose ends, with the reader not being certain whether the Devil will eventually get his or her come-uppance, even though Julie does mostly achieve her objectives.

I did not find the writing beautiful or inspiring, but did enjoy the novel for the view it gives on life in 17th Century Paris and the morals of its upper class residents, as well as for its thrills.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever wondered about the best way to get revenge?

How about making a deal with the devil, setting off on a killing spree and ending your life as an opera singer? That’s the premise of Mark Alder’s book, which I can tell you right off was an absolute hoot. This is the reimagined story of Julie D’Aubigny,an unconventional woman who fought duels, took female lovers and skipped around the country like a frolicking milkmaid. Alder’s version merely adds the devil: Julie has a year to take revenge on the thirteen men who killed her lover and took her voice, or she’s destined for hell.

To be honest, D’Aubigny’s story is spicy enough not to need the paranormal element thrown in, but it definitely makes for a rollicking ride. Julie is very much an antiheroine, who has no qualms about brutally killing people or using them. She’s endlessly fun to follow along on her journey, whilst her companion, the devil, is sinister and charming in a Lucifer-y kind of way, giving her presents and skills that enable her to dispatch the next person on her list even more inventively. And although the story goes on a touch too long, it’s a great ride.

[John Mcgowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you pick up a book by Mark Alder (also published under Mark Barrowcliffe and M D Lachlan) you know that the book you are about to read will be extremely well written and the Devils Blade is no exception. The setting is 17th century Paris brought to life wonderfully here from the filthy, shit encrusted city streets to the lush palaces of the ludicrous aristocracy. Julie D'Aubigny, her life and dreams in tatters makes a deal with the Devil to take revenge on the masked men who ruined her life. She must do so within a year or lose her own soul to Lucifer. Alder's Devil is one of the most original i have ever read. We follow Julie as she takes her revenge falling in love along the way and sidestepping Lucifers tricks and deceits. An absolute page turner, we have duels and daring deeds, near death escapes (and eternal damnations) and some wonderful humour, this is the most entertaining book yet from Mark Alder. I almost punched the air with glee when the Devils teases the reader at the end that he has yet more business for our heroine! A ripping yarn in the very best of the tradition.

[Jordan Pike · Rating 5 out of 5]

The premise of The Devil's Blade by Mark Alder is fantastic. The novel recounts the life of Julie D’Aubigny, a real-life firebrand who fought duels, pursued lesbian relationships and generally lived an adventuresome life. Throw in an appearance by the devil—Julie is given one year to kill the men who murdered her lover and took her voice, or she'll be consigned to hell—and you have a page-turning piece of alternative history.

What I loved most about the book was its depth of character. Julie is not your typical sweet female protagonist—she's remorseless about killing people, for instance, if that's what gets the job done—and the book benefits from this, becoming a refreshingly unsentimental adventure about real, three-dimensional person. The charming, sinister devil is also beautifully imagined, spurring the story along by granting Julie powers that enable her to rise to each challenge in ever more creative and exciting ways. The Devil's Blade is a fantastic read, recommended for all.

[Annarella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even if I liked the style of writing and humour I couldn't connect the characters and the story fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

[Tom Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and bawdy romp through the sights and smells of Paris. Not as full-on as Son of the Morning, his 'other' devil book, this is a much quicker and easier read, clearly well-researched still but with a lighter tone despite the bloody contents.

[Shelbycat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. Fairly entertaining.

[Meitswhatever · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not gay enough.

[Kara Rowley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool and scary

[Trigger Warning Database]

Trigger & Content Warnings

Attempted rape
Statutory rape mentioned
Gore depiction