A Blackened Mirror

Memoirs of the Borgia Sibyl #1

by Jo Graham

1489—When Giulia Farnese came to Rome to make an arranged marriage with young noble Orsino Orsini, she dreamed of learning and power in the glittering city of the Renaissance popes. However, her mother-in-law seems frightened, and her husband refuses to consummate the marriage at the direction of the head of his family, Lord Bracciano. But Giulia herself has a secret: she sees visions in mirrors and hears the whispers of spirits, the gifts of an ancient sibyl in an age when magic is heresy punishable by death. Is this ability the reason Bracciano has trapped her in this sham of a marriage?

As she struggles to unearth answers, Giulia finds herself drawn to her mother-in-law's cousin, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia. Ruthless, sophisticated, and old enough to be Giulia's father, Rodrigo is a humanist, a collector of pagan art and heretical writings, and a loving father to his illegitimate children. He is a bright spot in Giulia's chilly life—but to Bracciano, he's a political rival to be removed. Bracciano's dark rites to summon demons may make Giulia the instrument of Rodrigo's destruction.

Dealing with demons is a mortal sin. Refusing Bracciano would be a fatal mistake. And Giulia’s growing attraction to Rodrigo might be her downfall—or the key to her salvation. To defy the demon's power and seize control of her life, Giulia will need to cross the line between innocence and dangerous knowledge. And once she's descended into that underworld, she is not coming back unchanged.

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Historical, Historical Fantasy

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 6, 2023

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An addictively rich, vivid and lushly written Renaissance fantasy, with all the intrigue, scheming, blood magic, assassinations, and scandalous passion that you could hope for in a story involving the Borgias. This is historical fantasy in the 'secret history' mode, with everything carefully grounded in real historical details but with illicit magic roiling underneath, all based on real Renaissance astrology and theology. Jo Graham's writing style is beautiful, as always, and her story-telling is utterly compulsive from beginning to end as her heroine goes from an innocent sixteen-year-old pawn of powerful men to a woman ready to claim her own power no matter who stands against her.

Perfect for fans of Philippa Gregory!

[SuperWendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hard book to categorize - it's a bit of a genre bender. Our young heroine finds herself bartered off into a marriage to a complete milquetoast of a husband, because a very powerful man wants to harness her magical abilities for his own political ambitions. And standing in the way of those ambitions? None other than Rodrigo Borgia. Suspense, political intrigue and sex. I mean, what more could a girl ask for?

I liked this but found the pacing a little uneven. Any time the dialogue turned philosophical I got a little bored - but I loved the little barbs the heroine lets loose with and watching her grow a pair. Also, I really enjoyed the summoning (ooooh, a demon in a mirror!) and action scenes. Those were the moments of the story that worked best for me.

[Samantha Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

By now, I'm sure each and every one of you know what a Borgiaphile I am - for years now, I've read everything I can get my hands on and conducted my own research, even writing a couple of non fiction books on the family myself. So when Jo Graham asked me if I would review her new novel, A Blackened Mirror, I jumped at the chance. Jo and I have been talking all things Borgia for a while and she has asked me a number of questions in and around the history of the family, right down to the details of floor tiles in the Borgia apartments in Rome. Let me tell you...when I saw my name in the acknowledgments section I was both surprised and incredibly honoured.

A Blackened Mirror is the first in a series of novels about the infamous Giulia Farnese, mistress of Pope Alexander VI (Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia in this novel) - the story follows her as a young woman who, highly intelligent and incredibly switched on, finds herself forced into a marriage with Orsino Orsini. It is a loveless marriage, devoid of anything physical which Giulia finds incredibly difficult. Her husband is at the beck and call of his uncle, however, who has demanded that the marriage not be consummated. But it's not because he wants Giulia sexually...

It is at this part that the supernatural creeps into the tale. I must admit that when the subject of demon summoning came up I was on edge, having read a number of novels previously in which the supernatural and history just have not meshed. I shouldn't have been worried. Graham has done her research and shows excellently the attitudes towards magic at the time. It's done so incredibly well that you truly can imagine these people from history taking part in such dark and secret things, believing in the divine (which of course they did!) and their concerns for the fates of their souls due to what they have become embroiled in.

I was particularly taken the characterisation of these historical individuals. Graham writes Giulia as a young woman who grows in confidence and proved herself to be more brave that she could ever know. Rodrigo is confident with a huge personality and charm to boot, Alessandro is protective of his little sister so much so that he is willing to fight and kill for her. And then there is Lucrezia. Oh Lucrezia, the sweet little girl with the energy of the young who could talk the hind legs off a donkey!

The story is action packed, chock full of assassination attempts, vicious sword fights, murder, politics, love and sex - it zooms along at a pace that keeps you engaged from the word go. This, mixed in with the excellent research that Graham has done on the period, creates a story that everyone who loves history should read. Engaging, funny and fast paced, Jo Graham has created something special here. And she is an author that everyone should be keeping their eye on.

Borgia fiction doesn't often get top marks from me. But this one really does deserve it.

5/5

Thanks you to both Jo Graham and Athena Andreadis at Candlemark and Gleam for the ARC of this book.

[Louis Muñoz]

I am so eager to read this. Why? Well, per Publisher Weekly (1/2/2023), “Graham (Black Ships) recalls the mid-century legacy of Taylor Caldwell and Mary Renault in this smart series launch, humanizing history from the perspective of deeply imagined, unironically presented characters.” Seeing as Taylor Caldwell and Mary Renault were the two authors I read pretty much everything of when I was a teenager, I'm definitely IN!!!

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I inhaled this book in 24 hours, sleep included. It straddles genres, but overall I have to say cloak-and-dagger is dominant - the adventure kind, set earlier than most works of this genre but with that sensibility of derring-do and high emotions and romance, and characters who are not afraid to act. Giulia is very much the action hero, making the best of her circumstances in every way, and at the same time so secure in her femininity.

The magic element draws a veil of the fantastic and numinous over all of the plot. I also liked the treatment of religion and theology, considering that many characters are Catholic priests and actually believe in their own calling despite the many ways they infringe the rules of the priesthood.

Trigger warning for period sensibilities of course - at 17 Giulia is considered a mature woman, and she has a (historically accurate) romance with a man more than 40 years her elder. It's treated quite delicately to establish how careful he is to give Giulia as much agency as he can, with the imbalance of power acknowledged.

Overall this was a ripping yarn and transported me entirely to Renaissance Italy for hours. I only wish it were longer but there are two more Giulia books coming.

(Disclosure: I've known Jo for years online and had the pleasure of pre-reading some earlier works. Her writing just keeps getting better!)

[K.V. Johansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d been looking forward to reading the historical fantasy A Blackened Mirror for a while, intrigued by Jo Graham’s hints on social media about her research and her conception of the historical personalities who would become her characters, so I was delighted to plunge into it at last, and yes, it fully lives up to my anticipation. This is the first part of a planned series about Giulia Farnese, the young intellectual who became the mistress of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia -- later, as Alexander VI, pope. (Giulia’s brother was Alessandro Farnese, the future Pope Paul III.) In Italy, these were the first decades of the Renaissance, when, following the fall of Constantinople, refugees brought with them Greek texts long unknown or forgotten in the west, and the Church was not yet the bastion of intellectual conservatism it would later become. Giulia’s world is thus one of expanding intellectual horizons, both for Rome and for her personally, as well as one in which conflicting attitudes towards these new and newly-rediscovered works could be deadly serious -- literally deadly.

A Blackened Mirror tells a vivid story involving a skilful interweaving of history and Renaissance beliefs about magic. It’s a fascinating look, though through a fantasy lens, at a time when Church history, and that of the western world, might have seemed to be set on a different path from the one on which it ended up. Giulia has a keen intellect combined with confidence in her own abilities and potential, a deep religious faith as well as an open mind, a desire for physical passion and a willingness to love, a sense of duty, and depths of kindness as well as ruthlessness in defence of herself, those she cares about, and the future she wants to see come into being. Through the course of the story she not only acquires a tutor in Greek and a passionate lover, both items high on her to-do list, but the patronage of an ancient goddess, while becoming involved in the summoning of demons, assorted assassination attempts and sword-fights, vicious family rivalries, and papal politics. Graham, who as always writes with deft assurance, creates an utterly engaging protagonist who is both contemporary in appeal and true to her time, and tells a story that is utterly engaging from start to finish. It all makes for a great read.

[Diana Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had previously read Black Ships by this author and enjoyed it, but A Blackened Mirror exceeded my expectations. This is an intriguing, nuanced, cleverly plotted historical fantasy with a great sense of time and place, as well as compelling multi-dimensional characters. All my favorite things! I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's another book that went straight to my "must read" list the moment I found out it existed. For one, as far as I can tell, Jo Graham is absolutely incapable of writing a book I don't enjoy, and for another - historical fantasy involving the Borgias? Hell yes!
At the center of this story is Giulia Farnese, the teenage beauty that will become the mistress of Rodrigo Borgia, the future Pope Alexander VI. I enjoyed her POV and seeing her character grow, while the supernatural elements added an intriguing twist. Having read extensively about the Borgias, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this extremely sympathetic portrayal of a very controversial historical figure - it's without a doubt the most unrelentingly positive and uncritical depiction of Rodrigo Borgia I've ever encountered, though I suppose it's understandable insofar as we're seeing him through the idealizing eyes of a (for all that she's been through by the end of this volume) naive teenage girl. I'm definitely interested to see whether/how that will change in the sequel.
Beautifully written, vivid and imaginative take on a piece of history I will never cease to find fascinating.

[Yasaman · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. I prefer the Numinous World books set in ancient times, and I'd have liked a bit more time to settle into Giulia's POV in the opening chapters of the book, but I liked this well enough. I have no particular knowledge of the Borgias though, not beyond the basics, so no idea how this would land with someone more well-acquainted with the actual history. At any rate, this series is much more historical fantasy than historical fiction, which is much easier to roll with for those books set in more ancient times.

[Catherine Richmond]

In this historical fiction with fantasy elements, Guilia Farnese takes charge of her life in Rome, 1489.

Writing about the Borgia family is like setting a story in New Orleans - anything can happen!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very random read, but a very good mix/combination of historical and fantastical elements

[Bücherspaß · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das war ein etwas seltsames Buch - bzw. es ist nicht ganz klar einem Genre zuzuordnen. Teilweise ist es ein historischer Roman, und die Charaktere - die Heldin Giulia Farnese, ihr Bruder Alessandro, Rodrigo Borgia, Lucrezia Borgia usw., haben tatsächlich existiert. Aber es kommen auch Dämonenbeschwörungen, Zaubersprüche usw., also übersinnliche Elemente vor. Und eigenartigerweise zweifelt weder Giulia noch einer der anderen Charaktere daran, dass es diese Dinge tatsächlich gibt, und dass sie funktionieren. Was interessant ist, und was meiner Ansicht nach gerne ausführlicher hätte beschrieben werden können, waren die unterschiedlichen Ansichten insbesondere in der katholischen Kirche, wie diese Dinge einzuordnen sind. Oder auch, was von den Schriften antiker Gelehrter zu halten ist. Was ich eher unwahrscheinlich fand, war, dass Kardinal Borgia im Buch eigentlich ein ganz netter Typ war. Aber die Autorin musste ja irgendwie erklären, was die Heldin, immerhin über 40 Jahre jünger, zu dem Mann hingezogen haben könnte. Insgesamt war das Buch sehr unterhaltsam geschrieben und hat mir gut gefallen.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this look at the beginning of Pope Alexander VI's, still Rodrigo Borgia here, affair with his second mistress, Giulia Farnese, who would go on to be not only the mistress of a pope, but the sister of another, and wielded no little influence on her own. This novel explains how she came to Rome for what would turn out to be a sad marriage, but met the Cardinal Borgia as a result of his daughter, Lucrezia's residence at the house of her mother-in-law, Borgia's cousin. Lucrezia is a stand-out character all on her own. But it was lovely to see Giulia come into her own. The magic was well-woven in, completely authentic to the thinking of the time.

Can't wait for the next installment!