The Kingdom of Light

Dante Alighieri #3

by Giulio Leoni

Strange news arrives in Florence, on the banks of the river Arno, a galley has been found, the entire crew dead. Dante Alighieri, Prior to the City, suspects poison. The only clue is a damaged mechanical device, possibly of Arabic origin. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, known for his obsession with science and medicine, would have been one of the few who could understand such an instrument. At a time when conspiracy theories abound concerning the death of the Emperor, is this a coincidence or something more sinister? Whilst working on his magnum opus the Divine Comedy, Dante returns to the city only to discover the renegade monk, Brindano, stirring up trouble and recruiting Florentines for a new crusade to liberate the Holy Land. In "The Kingdom of Light", Leoni paints an atmospheric medieval Florence, seething with plots and intrigue, and in Dante delivers a credible, intuitive detective and a fascinating man.

Genres: Thriller, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Mystery, Italy, Detective

324 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Giulio Leoni is a professor of Italian literature and history. He lives in Rome with his family.

Also known as J.P. Rylan, author of the fantasy series of Anharra.

Reviews

[Tannaz · Rating 1 out of 5]

no way!

[kostas vamvoukakis · Rating 3 out of 5]

περιπου ιστορικο...περιπου αρυνομικο...περιπου μετριο...αδιαφορο βιβλιο αλλα οχι κακο

[Πάνος Τουρλής · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ψιλοκαλό, λίγο μπερδεμένο και αρκετά απλοϊκή λύση που φαντάζομαι ήθελε οπτικοποίηση κι όχι περιγραφή. Διαβάστε το και θα δείτε τι εννοώ.

[Celia Merrill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been attempting to read The Divine Comedy for many years and have several translations and art books which relate to the imagery. The book gave some background to the era in which it was written and brought the man, Dante, and the medieval period to life (and death) in all its raw detail. I was initially surprised at how hardened he was, despite his young age (36), but then you don’t get inspiration for world-famous literature without experiencing challenging times.

As a bookkeeper, I did notice several references to “debits and credits” weighed up at the end of a man’s life: was this a reflection of Dante’s financial responsibilities as a community leader, or medieval interpretations of earning one’s right to enter Heaven?

Islamic ingenuity is also a fascination, but I get the sense that Leoni is just playing with his vast knowledge of medieval and Italian history, and struggled to draw it together in an intelligible way. I agree with some other reviewers that some features of the plot might have been lost in translation. After the senseless massacre towards the end of the book, the plot rushed to a limp conclusion, “..then he walked slowly to the night outside, beneath the stars.”

In summary, a “Daily Mail” history of the medieval era.

[Ángel Real · Rating 3 out of 5]

La verdad que este año no he elegido muy bien los libros de ficción histórica, éste ha sido mejor que el anterior (La secta de Lázaro (ALGAIDA LITERARIA - INTER), que tan solo recomendaría bajo determinadísimas circunstancias) pero no me ha terminado de gustar.

Queriendo abarcar la ficción histórica y la novela detectivesca, éste libro se apoya demasiado en la carismática figura de Dante para salvar la calidad de la obra, lo cual no hace sino resaltar sus puntos débiles. No es mala obra, pero tampoco quedará en las destacables.

[Noloter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Senz'altro ben scritto. I colpi di scena non mancano, le descrizioni sono vivide, il ritmo è sempre serrato, e in alcuni momenti la tensione è davvero alta, non si può fare a meno di proseguire la lettura: bisogna a tutti i costi svelare il mistero!
Però...Dante Alighieri come investigatore/uomo d'azione trecentesco lo trovo poco credibile, e sfruttare elementi para-esoterici tanto in voga ultimamente (templari, "mistero" di Castel del Monte, alchimia, segreti pseudoreligiosi, et similia) per costruire una storia è un espediente troppo inflazionato.
Manca quell'originalità che avevo trovato in E trentuno con la morte, dello stesso autore.
Peccato.

[Krishnapriya Kamalakshan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Slow moving.. Tested my patience.
Why did I buy this book in the first place?!

[Anne-sophie Olsen · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story in it self seems very interesting and sports a mysterious plagueship that turns out to be a ship full of murdered people, what seems to be autamatons and a relic of a virgin from Antioch, who stille seems to be very much alive even though she was cut in half by her father to prevent the islamic horde ravaging her. All in all it sounds very promising does it not? But it really isn't. The promising foundation for a hell of a mystery novel is utterly spoiled by the way it is written (or maybe it's the way it's translated into Danish.) It's just so horrible I can't stand it. The language is archaic, boring and there are a lot of names and references to the intricate political schemes between the Italian great-houses of the period, but they are not explained, so the story drowns in this quagmire of obscurity. With some patience I could get through it as I did with the first one in the series but, frankly, I don't want to force myself to read a book. It has to be a pleasure all the way through and this was not for me. So i'm going to capitulate and give up this time. Maybe I will return to it one day, but I don't think it likely.

[Monica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anni fa lessi I delitti del mosaico e non mi entusiasmò particolarmente. Purtroppo il risultato è stato il medesimo anche questa volta. Il protagonista del romanzo è Dante Alighieri che, in qualità di priore, carica effettivamente ricoperta nell'estate del 1300, si ritrova ad indagare su alcuni omicidi. La trama, che ho fatto molta fatica a seguire, è un misto di fantasia e realtà, ma non credo sia stato questo il problema quanto piuttosto i troppi personaggi a cui dover stare dietro, secondo me in gran parte trascurabili, e l'infinità di dettagli che anziché arricchire rendono tutto eccessivamente ingarbugliato.
In realtà ero attratta dalla figura di Dante, speravo che venisse approfondita, se non la sua personalità, almeno le vicende che lo portarono all'esilio, invece emerge solo un uomo altezzoso e permaloso, particolarmente sensibile ai piaceri della carne. Probabilmente è stato un errore mio aver avuto aspettative eccessive, date magari anche le scarse fonti storiche, ma a conti fatti la presenza del Poeta risulta ininfluente ai fini della storia.
L'unica cosa che ho apprezzato è la nota finale dell'autore dove spiega il funzionamento del macchinario ideato da Armand Fizeau, da cui ha preso spunto per il romanzo.

[Roger Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A medieval mystery set in Florence, Italy and featuring Dante Alighieri, Prior to the city searching for the answers to a galley with a dead crew, on the banks of the Arno River and a mysterious mechanical device commected to the now dead Emperor Frederick from the Holy Roman Empire. The novel is full of intrigue and plots, many of them difficult for us to understand.

[Linsey Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine, but a bit boring. Skimmed.

[Giu · Rating 1 out of 5]

L'idea di Dante Alighieri come detective è carina.
Peccato che il testo sia poco scorrevole e l'intera vicenda non mi abbia presa più di tanto. Ho dovuto abbandonare a pagina 151.

[Sandra Perez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Imposible, lo he intentado pero es demasiado artificioso. Igual es un problema de la traducción pero sospecho que no…

[Hanni · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was poorly translated from Italian, and I didn't understand half of what was going on.

[Nicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I quite liked it, but at the same time, I found the plot quite hard to follow. I'm not really sure of the quality of the translation, either; that might have helped with making it hard to follow. Also, not that this is really mentioned anywhere on or in the book, but apparently it's part of a series?

It was interesting enough to keep reading, for the solutions, but something about it failed to get me really invested in it.

[Alina Elena · Rating 1 out of 5]

UPDATE : AM DAT DNF

Update: Am început sa o citesc din nou. Da simt ca nu înțeleg nimic dar ma prins asa ca tot o citesc în continuare doar ca sa o termin . Sincer ma simt de parca vad un film la TV si deja e trecut de jumate si nu știu ce sa mai întâmplat bine dar te-a prins asa ca tot te uiți, fix asa sunt eu cu cartea asta .🤷‍♀️

I don’t want to read it anymore .

[Elerwen · Rating 1 out of 5]

non ce la faccio, davvero. Chissà cosa mi aspettavo quando ho comprato questo libro!
Dante: il peggior investigatore della storia. un personaggio che non riesce ad appassionare il lettore.
sconsigliato davvero!!!

[Linda Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in Renaissance Florence,the poet and Prior of the city,Dante takes a break from writing The Divine Comedy,to solve a multiple murder mystery. As the murders continue Dante has to confront a mystery involving alchemy,religion and science.

[Riobhcah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book 3 of Giulio Leoni's "Dante Alighieri" series and the books just keep getting better with each volume that I read! This again, was a fascinating metaphysical mystery from which I hardl was able to tear myself away. I am very much looking forward to reading the next in the series.

[Pier Mario Canu]

Edizione "Il Giallo Mondadori" n°2924 12/4/2007 con in appendice il racconto di Stefano Marinucci "Il maestro delle soffianti", vincitore del concorso Profondo Giallo 2006

[feffelore · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was so bad that if my teacher didn't give me to read it i'd probably burn it after the firt 20 pages.

[Pedro Aquino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Altamente mais ou menos...

[Sehar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh! Why did I even force myself to finish this?
A more appropriate name for the book would be 'much ado about nothing'.
Finding it hard to think of anything I have read that is worse than this!!

[Maria Chiara Maestri · Rating 2 out of 5]

E' una ripetizione del primo romanzo. In una parola trito

[Hadrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

6,5/10