by Philippa Gregory
Release date : May 29th, 2012
Italy, 1453. Seventeen-year-old Luca Vero is brilliant, gorgeous—and accused of heresy. Cast out of his religious order for using the new science to question old superstitious beliefs, Luca is recruited into a secret sect: The Order of the Dragon, commissioned by Pope Nicholas V to investigate evil and danger in its many forms, and strange occurrences across Europe, in this year—the end of days.Despite their vows, despite themselves, love grows between Luca and Isolde as they travel across Europe with their faithful companions, Freize and Ishraq. The four young people encounter werewolves, alchemists, witches, and death-dancers as they head toward a real-life historical figure who holds the boundaries of Christendom and the secrets of the Order of the Dragon. (from Goodreads)
Isolde is a seventeen-year-old girl shut up in a nunnery so she can’t inherit any of her father’s estate. As the nuns walk in their sleep and see strange visions, Isolde is accused of witchcraft—and Luca is sent to investigate her, but finds himself plotting her escape.
MY THOUGHTS : I liked the plot's basis and the "idea" of the book. Luca has to solve spiritual and magical mysteries in a scientific way, and I thought that was intriguing. But, somehow, I wasn't able to cling to the story. Basically, I would've liked more missions and less talks.
I had trouble getting into the book : some heavy lengths got in the way. I found the tone too cold, almost clinical, which reinforced the already icy atmosphere and situations. So it was hard for me to hang on to the story seeing that all emotions were permanently under control.
I thought the dialogues were often weirdly structured and a bit heavy: I sometimes had trouble following them. Some things felt incoherent, or at least not developed enough. For example, Luca has to follow some kind of training before he's thrown into his investigations. But we don't read anything about the training, it goes straight to his first mission... And the Changeling part is not often mentioned and it does not bring anything more to the plot (yet, anyway). I didn't really care about the characters either.
But there are some fresh passages, and the action scenes were enjoyable. They helped me getting out of the claustrophobic state that the book kind of put me in...
Overall, I thought it was a dense read, at least too dense for my taste. Unfortunately, the cold and heavy treatment left me detached throughout the whole read. CHANGELING didn't make my day, but I hope it will make yours!
I had trouble getting into the book : some heavy lengths got in the way. I found the tone too cold, almost clinical, which reinforced the already icy atmosphere and situations. So it was hard for me to hang on to the story seeing that all emotions were permanently under control.
I thought the dialogues were often weirdly structured and a bit heavy: I sometimes had trouble following them. Some things felt incoherent, or at least not developed enough. For example, Luca has to follow some kind of training before he's thrown into his investigations. But we don't read anything about the training, it goes straight to his first mission... And the Changeling part is not often mentioned and it does not bring anything more to the plot (yet, anyway). I didn't really care about the characters either.
But there are some fresh passages, and the action scenes were enjoyable. They helped me getting out of the claustrophobic state that the book kind of put me in...
Overall, I thought it was a dense read, at least too dense for my taste. Unfortunately, the cold and heavy treatment left me detached throughout the whole read. CHANGELING didn't make my day, but I hope it will make yours!
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