For the King - Catherine Delors

-

Title: For the King
Author: Catherine Delors

Genre: Fiction (Historical)

Love/Hate?: Love!
Rating: 5/5
Did I finish?: Couldn't finish fast enough, which was bad, because then the book was over!

One-sentence summary: Police inspector fights conspiracies within police, Paris, personal life.

Why did I get this book?: It was singing my name
Source: I won a copy from Hist-Fic Chick

Do you like the cover?: Yes, although it didn't catch the flavor of the book

First line from book: It had been one of the shortest days of the Year Nine of the Republic, the 3rd of the month of Nivose in the revolutionary calendar.

Did I routinely stay up after midnight to keep reading?: Yes.
Did this book make me wish my commute were longer?: Yes.
Did I nurture a crush on one or more of the characters: Yes. (Roch and Alexandrine, of course!)

Trivia gleaned: Sodomy was decriminalized post Revolution!

Review: I stayed up until about 3am to finish this book because I was dying to find out how things concluded. Delors has written my favorite kind of historical: rich in detail with interesting characters and a detailed plot that is engrossing. I particularly loved the police procedural angle -- I adore all things Napoleonic, but haven't read a novel that was really set with the citizens. Our hero, Roch Miquel, is maddening and dreamy, which felt very real for me: his youth and experience helped and hindered him through his investigation.

Tidbit not relevant to novel but still fun: Author Catherine Delors (@catherinedelors) tweets and she kindly tweeted back with every breathless squee of mine.

Comments

  1. RedAugust 20, 2010 at 8:57 AM

    Thanks for stopping by my blog. I like your review style! The one sentence summaries and answers to questions are a nice, quick way to get a feel for how much you enjoyed the book.

    ReplyDelete
  2. India DrummondAugust 21, 2010 at 9:48 AM

    Love your reviewing style. I've not read too many historicals, but this actually sounds interesting. Will have to check it out.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AudraAugust 21, 2010 at 1:02 PM

    Red & India -- Thanks for the kind comments. My review style is definitely a WIP --but I'm glad this format is appealing so far! :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goldilocks by Laura Lam

-
Image
She said her goodbyes, one by one. She spoke out loud to them, her voice soft but unwavering. Sharing her memories, thanking them for what they had learned, what they had taught her. If they could speak, would they accept their fate? Or would they beg, plead, fight for the same chance at life? If you've seen anything about this book, you've likely seen the formula that it's The Handmaid's Tale meets The Martian , and that's a pretty apt pitch. US society has turned so conservative that women have been pushed from their jobs. Earth has been so destroyed that there's urgent need to move to a new planet and one has been found in a "Goldilocks"-zone: not too hot, not too cold. Goldilocks by Laura Lam Orbit, 2020 Review copy via publisher Read Harder reading challenge Valerie Black, genius inventor, has been building toward this momentous event -- with technology, money, and skilled crew. Her ward, Naomi Lovelace, is to be the crew's bio
Read more

The Overstory by Richard Powers

-
Image
The best arguments in the world won't change a person's mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story. A book club pick I was pretty unenthusiastic about: prize winners always disappoint me, and I am impatient with fiction by white men. Intellectually I understand the dangers of climate change but find myself unable to connect with stories about it. This book felt like it would be a slog. The opening vignettes intrigued me -- they were great! -- but I just could not fathom how they would encompass 502 pages when each one was such a brief, and seemingly complete, sliver. I should be less judgy, I know. The Overstory by Richard Powers W.W. Norton & Company, 2019 Personal copy Powers pulled together these small slivers into a book that hit me with surprising impact, a story that left me breathless and a little teary. As a tween who was obsessed with the radical environmental activists of the 1980s and 1990s who grew into an organizer whose
Read more

Weekend reads, or quaran-weekend

-
Image
How are you doing? I think this is my sixth week of pretty serious social distancing and as an extrovert, I Am Dying. I mean, there's been an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Zoom meetings, but I'm also experiencing serious Zoom fatigue. Unabridged Kid is a wicked extrovert to and while he's loving being home with me all the time, he's also missing his farm community. Our coronahobby has been gardening, in that we're checking daily on the bulbs I planted last fall and buying already established flowers and putting them into the yard. We're addicted. We've also started seeds but that's not going as well and is vastly less satisfying. Other than mock gardening, I haven't indulged in my hobbies as much as I'd like; I've been too tired and stressed to do more than watch tv. But I'm finally adjusting: I'm dressing up for work, which has actually helped me keep Work Time to work hours, and doing non-work the rest of the time
Read more