2.5/5
(more reviews at inmybooknook.blogspot.ca )

This book was nothing like what I expected. In fact, it just barely follows it's synopsis. That was what frustrated me the most; I expected a dramatic tale of love, witchcraft, and alchemy and what I got was a story of questioning faith and Christianity. That's not to say that parts of the novel weren't enjoyable; I felt like the character of Isolde was very well-developed and it's obvious that Philippa Gregory knows what she's talking about. However, this may have led to what I'm going to call the "latte syndrome". By this I mean that there was a lot of whipped cream in the plot and very little substance. The substance that was there was very good and captivated me, however there was a lot of extra material that just didn't need to be there. This made it difficult for me to indulge in the plot and I found myself having to re-read certain parts to truly get a feel for what was going on. Finally, there is one particular place in the plot where the entire world seems to change. This frustrated me and made the characters feel a lot less real. The last issue that I had with the book was the lack of romance. Based on the synopsis, I expected Luca and Isolde to have a sudden, dangerous romance and they rarely interacted.



I really wanted to become enveloped in this medieval society; and I was disappointed. However, I haven't read any of Philippa Gregory's other books and this may just be a matter of getting used to her writing style. I'm also sort of obsessed with witchcraft and medieval society, so my expectations may have been set a little high. While the world and character-building lacked some depth, this book is a solid start to what has the potential to be a very good series. I hope that Gregory will be able to answer some questions in the sequel, and that Luce's journey will continue. The story itself has a lot of potential, and I will definitely be picking up the next book when it is released.