Arnaud Delalande

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Volume 5 deals with the first years of Eleanor‘s second marriage to the future King Henry II of England. The art and characterisation remain gorgeous, but I felt that the writers were a little less in control of their material than in previous volumes. Volume five has a weird subplot between Henry and one of Eleanor’s former lovers, and also gratuitously kills off Eleanor’s sister, when in fact she lived until the 1190s. There is also some show more nasty ableism around Henry’s younger brother, who is deformed and stutters, and therefore is evil. Overall it’s been a solid series, and I will in particular look out for more work by Simona Mogavino. show less

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3066716.html

Volume 6 deals with the last half century of Eleanor's life, telescoping five decades into 55 pages. The art and characterisation remain gorgeous, but I felt that the writers were a little less in control of their material than in previous volumes. Volume 6 simply has too much material to cover in too short a space, though I did like the characterisation of Henry and Eleanor’s children, and the structure of telling the story through flashback from show more Eleanor’s old age in Fontevrault. Overall it’s been a solid series, and I will in particular look out for more work by Simona Mogavino. show less

The body of one of Venice's brightest young actors is found, crucified, his eyes gouged out and a line of verse carved into his chest. His is just the first death as a shadowy group stalk the rulers of Venice and their supporters. The murderer, known only as The Chimera, is the leader of this dangerous fanatical group - the Stiges or Firebirds - determined to kill one of the depraved, the gluttonous, the traitors to their cause - one for each of the nine Circles of Dante's Inferno.

The Doge show more of Venice turns to Pietro Viravolta, a dashing young adventurer, best friend of Casanova, seducer of women in his own right, and lover of the beautiful wife of the powerful Senator Ottavio. Pietro - The Black Orchard - awaits execution in jail for adultery, but he is called from that jail to investigate the deaths by the Doge, on the proviso that he does not escape the city and does not contact Anna - the love of his life, the Senator's wife.

The Black Orchid's investigations lead him to Luciana, the beautiful courtesan; Spadetti, the master glass-maker of Murano and his son, the maker of the glorious crystal gown; Caffelli, the tormented priest of San Giorgo Maggiore and further and further into the echelons of power and to Senator Ottavio - the husband of the woman he loves. As he goes murder follows and the Firebirds draw closer and closer to The Doge, completing their nine circles in the brutal fashion.

THE DANTE TRAP is a very intricate historical work, written originally by a Frenchman, and translated to English, the text is dense and peppered liberally with non-translated quotations and references. It's a very elaborate and quite decorative style of writing that immerses the reader in the other world of 1756 Venice - the descriptions of the location, the costumes, the styling of the dialogue has a very authentic feel to it. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a reader of historical mystery fiction of this style, and I suspect that personal preference means that I missed a lot of the intricacies of this book as I found the use of those non-translated references and the complications of the names and the relationships quite confusing on occasion.

THE DANTE TRAP certainly read like a book that is extremely competently done, with an elaborate and quite intricate and multi-layered plot; with mystery and political intrigue; a lively and slightly irreverent central character in Pietro; with a more than healthy dose of romance and difficult love; with some pointed references to the life of women - courtesans or nuns if they don't want to make the marriage that is deemed by others to be acceptable; and with a glorious picture drawn of Carnival in Venice, I suspect that THE DANTE TRAP will greatly appeal to fans of this style of historical mystery fiction. show less

Set in Venice in 1756 this novel is a pretty straightforward international conspiracy wrapped around a very nasty series of murderous set pieces based on Dante's twelve circles of Hell. The first few chapters were very hard going but the middle of the book made it all worthwhile before a rather hasty and unremarkable denouement. Part of the problem is that the characters are only lightly personalised and the language is rather rococo. Eventually, however, I became accustomed to the baroque show more style and the shallow characterisation. Once I was able to distinguish the various characters I could enjoy the absurd theatricality of the murders and accept the justification for this extremity. I was, however disappointed by the sudden and predictable course of the last three murders and their ultimate solution. show less