The Shepherdess of Siena

I feel bad not giving this book a higher rating, because throughout the novel, the author's passion for the subject and research on the time period is evident. But... I found this book less interesting than I should have - there were murdering Medicis and dramatic horse races, but I still found myself a bit bored and hoping for it all to be over. The Medicis were hard to keep straight (and I kinda hoped they would all ended murdering each other) and I suspect this book could have been much better if an editor had shortened it down. Overall, this wasn't a bad book and I do want to investigate some of the historical sources the author mentioned at the end of the book, but I'm also a bit disappointed in it.

the readers voice seems to juvenilize the story - especially the women... and I need to go back and look at the time line - because this kid starts out about 6 or 7 years old and then in the next breath she her aunt is looking at marrying her off and then in the next breath she's helping to deliver a horse (at the age of 6 or 7)... and then a year or two later she's still petting the "fuzz" on the horses head where the mane will come in...
so because of the weird and inconsistent flow of time (compared to the internalized expectation of how old is she... (and if she's 7 or even 8 ... why is the aunt so certain she's "losing her value" with the boys at night...
Other than that time problem - the story is okay... its keeping my attention... show more and I'm enjoying the story (despite the distractions of - voice quality of the reader and the questionable progress of time.
Once the character grows up and is removed from her life - the story telling definitily improves. I might this one again - overall it was a good book. show less

Recommended by Mary Robinette Kowal on the Writing Excuses podcast.