What do you think?
Rate this book
La Princesse de lumière #2
Νουρμπανού : Η λαμπερή σουλτάνα
Πουλημένη από τον πατέρα της και τον Δόγη τής Βενετίας στους Τούρκους, με σκοπό να επηρεάσει την πολιτική του Σουλεϊμάν του Μεγαλοπρεπούς κερδίζοντας την καρδιά του και παραμερίζοντας την πανίσχυρη ευνοούμενή του Χιουρέμ, η Τσετσίλια μπαίνει στο χαρέμι του Τοπκαπί και παίρνει το όνομα Νουρμπανού, που σημαίνει Λαμπερή.
Εκεί, στην καρδιά ενός κλειστού κόσμου, βίαιου και σκοτεινού, κυριευμένη από την αγωνία ότι δεν θα ξαναδεί τον αγαπημένο της, πρέπει να μάθει να φυλάγεται από ύπουλα μαχαίρια και δηλητήρια.
Τα πράγματα όμως παίρνουν απρόβλεπτη τροπή: η Χιουρέμ, που στην αρχή βλέπει τη Νουρμπανού σαν επικίνδυνη αντίζηλο, της χαρίζει τελικά την εύνοιά της και την προορίζει για τον αγαπημένο της γιο, τον Σελίμ.
Ο χρόνος πιέζει. Ο Σουλεϊμάν γερνάει και γύρω από τους τρεις πιθανούς διαδόχους του υφαίνονται συνωμοσίες και πλεκτάνες. Η Τσετσίλια δεν έχει πια επιλογή. Ή θα γίνει σουλτάνα ή θα πεθάνει.
Σε αυτή τη συνέχεια της μεγάλης επιτυχίας "Νουρμπανού, Η σκλάβα της Υψηλής Πύλης". για τη Βενετσιάνα που έγινε σουλτάνα της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας, ο συγγραφέας συνεχίζει την αφήγηση των ιστορικών γεγονότων μέσ' από τη διαδρομή της σαγηνευτικής ηρωίδας.
Εκεί, στην καρδιά ενός κλειστού κόσμου, βίαιου και σκοτεινού, κυριευμένη από την αγωνία ότι δεν θα ξαναδεί τον αγαπημένο της, πρέπει να μάθει να φυλάγεται από ύπουλα μαχαίρια και δηλητήρια.
Τα πράγματα όμως παίρνουν απρόβλεπτη τροπή: η Χιουρέμ, που στην αρχή βλέπει τη Νουρμπανού σαν επικίνδυνη αντίζηλο, της χαρίζει τελικά την εύνοιά της και την προορίζει για τον αγαπημένο της γιο, τον Σελίμ.
Ο χρόνος πιέζει. Ο Σουλεϊμάν γερνάει και γύρω από τους τρεις πιθανούς διαδόχους του υφαίνονται συνωμοσίες και πλεκτάνες. Η Τσετσίλια δεν έχει πια επιλογή. Ή θα γίνει σουλτάνα ή θα πεθάνει.
Σε αυτή τη συνέχεια της μεγάλης επιτυχίας "Νουρμπανού, Η σκλάβα της Υψηλής Πύλης". για τη Βενετσιάνα που έγινε σουλτάνα της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας, ο συγγραφέας συνεχίζει την αφήγηση των ιστορικών γεγονότων μέσ' από τη διαδρομή της σαγηνευτικής ηρωίδας.
342 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2003
4 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 9, 2018
B.R.A.CE. 2018 4 βιβλία με γυναίκες πρωταγωνίστριες
(1/4)
Θα ξεκινήσω με το "Θα ήθελα να είχε γραφτεί και 3ο βιβλίο" όχι γιατί σε αφήνει με απορίες και να αιωρούμαι, αλλά γιατί θα ήθελα να δω την ηρωίδα μέχρι το τέλος της ζωής της.
Όπως και το πρώτο διατήρησε την αγωνία ( ευτυχώς που δεν έβλεπα Σουλεϊμάν :P ), την δολοπλοκία και την ίντριγκα! Μου άρεσε και ξενύχτησα 1-2 βράδια για να προχωρήσω και να μάθω την συνέχεια.
Πολύ ορολογία όσον αφορά τίτλους και ειδικότητες, όπως και στο πρώτο βιβλίο, αλλά αν έχεις την όρεξη και αναζητήσεις παραπάνω στο internet ένας νέος κόσμος θα ανοιχτεί μπροστά σου! Η αυλή του Σουλτάνου και οι άνθρωποι σε αυτή, απλά ένας κυκεώνας πληροφοριών!
Ωραίο ιστορικό μυθιστόρημα που απολαμβάνεις :)
Θα ξεκινήσω με το "Θα ήθελα να είχε γραφτεί και 3ο βιβλίο" όχι γιατί σε αφήνει με απορίες και να αιωρούμαι, αλλά γιατί θα ήθελα να δω την ηρωίδα μέχρι το τέλος της ζωής της.
Όπως και το πρώτο διατήρησε την αγωνία ( ευτυχώς που δεν έβλεπα Σουλεϊμάν :P ), την δολοπλοκία και την ίντριγκα! Μου άρεσε και ξενύχτησα 1-2 βράδια για να προχωρήσω και να μάθω την συνέχεια.
Πολύ ορολογία όσον αφορά τίτλους και ειδικότητες, όπως και στο πρώτο βιβλίο, αλλά αν έχεις την όρεξη και αναζητήσεις παραπάνω στο internet ένας νέος κόσμος θα ανοιχτεί μπροστά σου! Η αυλή του Σουλτάνου και οι άνθρωποι σε αυτή, απλά ένας κυκεώνας πληροφοριών!
Ωραίο ιστορικό μυθιστόρημα που απολαμβάνεις :)
April 23, 2022
*PopSugar2022 Reto #45: Una duología (2)*
Dos libros que podrían ser uno.
Lo que pasa con Cecilia es muy interesante, también la forma en la que se enfrenta a una corte llena de intrigas, pero se pierde el hilo entre tantas tramas que no aportan mucho a la historia.
Dos libros que podrían ser uno.
Lo que pasa con Cecilia es muy interesante, también la forma en la que se enfrenta a una corte llena de intrigas, pero se pierde el hilo entre tantas tramas que no aportan mucho a la historia.
September 25, 2019
Es mejor el primer libro pero entre los dos Dan una excelente clase de historia y narran muy bien los mundos occidental y oriental!
December 28, 2025
I have just read this book and all I'm gonna say is: DON'T ALLOW MEN TO WRITE FEMALE MAIN CHARACTERS.
This sequel does not deepen Cecilia Venier-Baffo.
Just as expected...
If the first book flirted with Mary-Sue tendencies, the second embraces them as DOCTRINE.
1. Repetition without Consequence: Nothing new happens to Cecilia — only the same violations.
She is again desired. Because she's beautiful (according to whom? I believe safiye sultan is better looking in any book).
Again threatened.
Again positioned as exceptional.
Again protected by the narrative.
What should be character development becomes ritualistic suffering:
a loop where danger exists only to reconfirm her untouchability.
Pain is not transformative.
It is decorative.
2. The Escalation of the “Blessed Victim” Trope
If the first book suggested that suffering ennobles Cecilia, the sequel institutionalizes it.
Violence does not scar her.
Humiliation does not distort her self-perception.
Fear never compromises her judgment.
Instead:
The world bends.
Men hesitate. (Joao, a character with some potential; Adnan; or any other man that managed to fall in love with a face that sulked all the time.)
Power structures pause — not because she fights them, but because she is Cecilia.
She's just an image. A paper-thin main character for that matter. So bland that the real life nurbanu sultan would tear these pages: "How could you dare write my lifestory?!"
This is narrative favoritism.
3. Eroticization Becomes More Explicit — and More Disturbing
The male gaze is no longer implicit.
Cecilia is:
constantly framed through bodies watching her,
constantly described as desirable while endangered,PURE and available. The text insists it.
She is innocent,
she is moral,
she is superior,
while all the other characters suck. Women are witches. Men are good if they're in love with Cecilia , they're evil if they do not worship her. The "writer" wrote her in such a way that I would never touch a single book, if all the books remained in the world were by JMT. Such a shame that he's not with is anymore and cannot read these comments.
This is not erotic tension. Because as far as I'm concerned, this is not an erotic book?
This is a fantasy that requires her passivity to function.
4. Moral Superiority without Moral Risk
Cecilia remains the sole ethical observer in a corrupt world.
She:
sees injustice,
internally condemns it,
remains above it.
Whatever the "author" does with "feminism" is merely an SEXUALISATION of Cecilia, whatever he's doing with "humanism" is merely an objectifying of her.
Her morality is safe because it is non-operative.
It flatters the reader without challenging the narrative.
The book wants credit for awareness without engaging responsibility.
5. History as Costume, Again
Venice (now Istanbul, no different), empire, religion, patriarchy — all return as a scene where Cecilia will exemplify a failed-female SEXUALITY.
Jean-Michel Thibaux:
crushes secondary characters,
justifies brutality,
but never truly constrains Cecilia.
This is an alternate historical story where even Suleiman desires her, but does not find himself to be worthy of touching Cecilia!
This "history" book makes me pull my hair.
Everyone else bleeds.
But Cecilia glows.
6. Cecilia Is No Longer a Character — She Is a Guarantee
By the sequel, the illusion collapses.
Cecilia is not written to be tested, contradicted, but:
She is written to reassure the author, the fantasy, the gaze.
She will be desired.
She will be endangered.
She will remain MORAL.
She will be central.
Always.
Final;
"La Princesa de la luz - La sultana de Venecia" does not expand its protagonist — it confirms her function as a narrative fetish.
Cecilia is:
a victim without damage,
a moral compass without ANY agency,
a woman (or a virgin, rather, because that's what the "author" has put) inside History without being shaped by it...
This is not empowerment.
This is idealization disguised as SUFFERING.
The sequel proves that Cecilia Venier-Baffo is not evolving —
she is being preserved, untouched, endlessly consumable. And this drives the reader to suffer ENDLESSLY.
And that is precisely the problem. This book should be put on a shelf and forgotten forever - or else , you may lose your passion for reading. UNFORTUNATELY...
TL;DR "twisted, messed-up, orientalism, exploitation" are just some of the key words that can describe this piece of "novel".
This sequel does not deepen Cecilia Venier-Baffo.
Just as expected...
If the first book flirted with Mary-Sue tendencies, the second embraces them as DOCTRINE.
1. Repetition without Consequence: Nothing new happens to Cecilia — only the same violations.
She is again desired. Because she's beautiful (according to whom? I believe safiye sultan is better looking in any book).
Again threatened.
Again positioned as exceptional.
Again protected by the narrative.
What should be character development becomes ritualistic suffering:
a loop where danger exists only to reconfirm her untouchability.
Pain is not transformative.
It is decorative.
2. The Escalation of the “Blessed Victim” Trope
If the first book suggested that suffering ennobles Cecilia, the sequel institutionalizes it.
Violence does not scar her.
Humiliation does not distort her self-perception.
Fear never compromises her judgment.
Instead:
The world bends.
Men hesitate. (Joao, a character with some potential; Adnan; or any other man that managed to fall in love with a face that sulked all the time.)
Power structures pause — not because she fights them, but because she is Cecilia.
She's just an image. A paper-thin main character for that matter. So bland that the real life nurbanu sultan would tear these pages: "How could you dare write my lifestory?!"
This is narrative favoritism.
3. Eroticization Becomes More Explicit — and More Disturbing
The male gaze is no longer implicit.
Cecilia is:
constantly framed through bodies watching her,
constantly described as desirable while endangered,PURE and available. The text insists it.
She is innocent,
she is moral,
she is superior,
while all the other characters suck. Women are witches. Men are good if they're in love with Cecilia , they're evil if they do not worship her. The "writer" wrote her in such a way that I would never touch a single book, if all the books remained in the world were by JMT. Such a shame that he's not with is anymore and cannot read these comments.
This is not erotic tension. Because as far as I'm concerned, this is not an erotic book?
This is a fantasy that requires her passivity to function.
4. Moral Superiority without Moral Risk
Cecilia remains the sole ethical observer in a corrupt world.
She:
sees injustice,
internally condemns it,
remains above it.
Whatever the "author" does with "feminism" is merely an SEXUALISATION of Cecilia, whatever he's doing with "humanism" is merely an objectifying of her.
Her morality is safe because it is non-operative.
It flatters the reader without challenging the narrative.
The book wants credit for awareness without engaging responsibility.
5. History as Costume, Again
Venice (now Istanbul, no different), empire, religion, patriarchy — all return as a scene where Cecilia will exemplify a failed-female SEXUALITY.
Jean-Michel Thibaux:
crushes secondary characters,
justifies brutality,
but never truly constrains Cecilia.
This is an alternate historical story where even Suleiman desires her, but does not find himself to be worthy of touching Cecilia!
This "history" book makes me pull my hair.
Everyone else bleeds.
But Cecilia glows.
6. Cecilia Is No Longer a Character — She Is a Guarantee
By the sequel, the illusion collapses.
Cecilia is not written to be tested, contradicted, but:
She is written to reassure the author, the fantasy, the gaze.
She will be desired.
She will be endangered.
She will remain MORAL.
She will be central.
Always.
Final;
"La Princesa de la luz - La sultana de Venecia" does not expand its protagonist — it confirms her function as a narrative fetish.
Cecilia is:
a victim without damage,
a moral compass without ANY agency,
a woman (or a virgin, rather, because that's what the "author" has put) inside History without being shaped by it...
This is not empowerment.
This is idealization disguised as SUFFERING.
The sequel proves that Cecilia Venier-Baffo is not evolving —
she is being preserved, untouched, endlessly consumable. And this drives the reader to suffer ENDLESSLY.
And that is precisely the problem. This book should be put on a shelf and forgotten forever - or else , you may lose your passion for reading. UNFORTUNATELY...
TL;DR "twisted, messed-up, orientalism, exploitation" are just some of the key words that can describe this piece of "novel".
February 19, 2022
3.5* Continuación de "La esclava de la puerta" que narra la conversión de Cecilia Venier Baffo, en la "Princesa de la luz".
Ficción histórica ambientada en el imperio Otomano y con figuras tan relevantes como la Kadina Hürrem, el sultán Solimán, el hijo de ambos, Selim y la propia Cecilia, también llamada Nurbanu.
Al igual que en el anterior, el autor, alarga con demasiados detalles algunos episodios, dando la sensación de no avanzar para luego apresurar el final y pasar de puntillas por partes, que considero, más importantes en la historia.
Por eso mismo, en esta segunda parte no he podido redondear al alza (como hice en el primero), me ha faltado información sobre el destino de algunos personajes y más detalle sobre la vida de otros.
Ficción histórica ambientada en el imperio Otomano y con figuras tan relevantes como la Kadina Hürrem, el sultán Solimán, el hijo de ambos, Selim y la propia Cecilia, también llamada Nurbanu.
Al igual que en el anterior, el autor, alarga con demasiados detalles algunos episodios, dando la sensación de no avanzar para luego apresurar el final y pasar de puntillas por partes, que considero, más importantes en la historia.
Por eso mismo, en esta segunda parte no he podido redondear al alza (como hice en el primero), me ha faltado información sobre el destino de algunos personajes y más detalle sobre la vida de otros.
November 29, 2022
Puede que no haber leído el primer libro, haya influido en mi apreciación de esta novela.
El argumento prometía muchísimo mas, al final es una trama que se diluye entre las paredes de un asfixiante harén, y donde hay que intuir todas esas conjuras políticas que se prometían.
El argumento prometía muchísimo mas, al final es una trama que se diluye entre las paredes de un asfixiante harén, y donde hay que intuir todas esas conjuras políticas que se prometían.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews