The Laurentine Spy

I found this an enjoyable read, particularly the first two-thirds, which are driven primarily by the tension of the premise: spies in the court of an enemy kingdom, who meet anonymously and thus don't recognize one another when they meet in public, struggling to fulfill their mission before a cruel spycatcher finds them out. I found the last third of the book was somewhat less satisfying as it seemed to rely more on the interpersonal angst of the main characters to provide tension. For me, this worked best as a thrilling spy adventure. I found the prose very readable and it drew me deep into the world right away. I would be interested to read more by this author!

Note: This is an adult novel, and contains plenty of adult content.

This was a very quick read: once I started I didn't want to stop. I got very caught up in the intrigues of the two main characters and the danger they faced if their covers were blown.

That said, the world building needed some serious work. The plot focuses very tightly on the lives of Athan and Soliel, Laurentine spies in the enemy Corhonase citadel. Great for character development. But not so great for the larger picture. Questions I had were never addressed. Like: Just why were the two countries enemies? What was the bigger political picture?

And on a more philosophical question: Which side was on the right? The POV characters were Laurentine so of course sympathies naturally lie there. But the Corhonase were not evil. Their culture show more had problematic elements... but then so did Laurentine's.

In the end I had to give in to the inevitable and accept the book was never going to be a larger political epic. Instead, it was a snapshot in the lives of two spies finding their way through danger together. That story was satisfying at least. show less

Saliel has two lives: to the outside world she is Lady Petra, a noblewoman of the Corhonase court. But to the three men she meets in the catacombs at night, she is known simply as Three, a spy for the country of Laurent. Her co-conspirators are One, a nobleman, Two, a servant, and the Guardian, their commander. In the above-ground world, Saliel’s job is to gain as much information as possible about Corhonase military movements; she must brave the ever-watchful eyes of the Royal Consort as she tries to blend in with the other ladies of the court. But her mission quickly takes a turn for the worse when the Consort arranges a marriage for her to the dimwitted Lord Ivo. Then a spy-catcher arrives at the court who has a sadistic streak and show more an uncanny ability to make people tell the truth. Saliel and her fellow spies must do their utmost to outwit him, but several twists of fate bring them into greater and greater danger.

The plot of this novel hooked me from the very beginning and never let go. It has all the elements I love in a book: fantasy, intrigue, suspense, mystery, and romance. I would probably be squeeing with delight even if it were poorly written and had wooden characters, but luckily, it avoids both of these problems! While this is certainly not a groundbreaking book in terms of style or characters, it’s quite well written, and main characters Saliel and Athan are both well-rounded and sympathetic. Gee does rely on stock character traits to some extent – the novel is definitely more plot-driven than character-driven – but the plot was enough to keep me turning the pages! I really enjoyed this novel and would recommend it wholeheartedly for those who like fantasy and political intrigue. show less

This review has been originally written for The David Gemmell Legend Awards website (http://gemmellaward.com/).

Emily Gee’s The Laurentine Spy settled in a British Regency/Victorian era type-of period and space, tells the story of Saliel and Athan who, without knowing each other’s identity, work together as spies at the Corhonase court for Laurent, their homeland. While Saliel spies the ladies, Athan does the same with the lords, since in this patriarchal niche males and females do everything separately. Even the married couples seem to interact only at the ballroom and/or in bed (scarcely, in both situations). So, the protagonists have been infiltrated in court for two years gathering all the useful information they came upon, but show more now they need to get their hands in a code book, make a copy, and take it on their journey back to Laurent. But a spycatcher arrives at court, and he watches everyone’s moves. Measures. Questions. Intimidates. This shouldn’t be an easy task, nevertheless, for Saliel and Athan it kind of is, which doesn’t mean everything goes well all the time for them.

I liked Saliel, she’s an okay heroine: brave, proud in a modest way, hates pretence, and even though she comes from the so called “Laurent’s cesspit”, she refuses to hide it or pretend otherwise; her goal in life is to be over with the spying and with its reward get her own house, and be self-sufficient. Athan… Athan has his moments. During a significant number of pages I only liked him as One, his spy persona; as for Lord Ivo, the nobleman he pretends to be, he’s… bearable, I guess. His character does improve slightly; after all he gets into a fist-fight with grown men to rescue a kitten from being stoned to dead in the street, still the improvement fails later on when he finally shows his snobby (asshole) side.

Let me just pause here for a second just to make clear that I enjoyed this book. Very much.

Continuing.

Although I find it, at times, in some way, repetitive, Gee’s writing style in this is just what it needs to be. Straightforward, fast-paced, with non-boring descriptions or dialogues and given that the main characters, which are the narrators, are always pretending their actions and sayings even when they interact with someone they actually like, the reader gets to be aware of their true feelings because the author gives that away most of the time.

Finally, and I have to say this, even though this is (supposed to be) a book about spies, secrets, life saving magic (it’s just hypnosis, really), a hero and a heroine who go through all this danger in court, in the catacombs, while fleeing, I felt like I was always reading about sex. Forced sex. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no violence involved, or graphic scenes, it’s just that the theme is always there, somehow. From Athan’s frequent visits to the courtesans’ salons so he can inconspicuously extract informations out of the nobles while they “relax”, to Saliel’s perpetual numbness and grave disgust just of the thought her husband, who she can’t stand, bedding her. And there’s always the remorse, the guilt, the shame, the abhorrent memory of their quite disturbing wedding night. Even though he can be a total ass sometimes, Athan can’t really get all the blame for this, in fact, from my point of view, both he and Saliel are figuratively raped by their master in that fatidic oh-my-god-what-just-happened scene. Which, by-the-way, brought me to mind (bear with me on this) Mr.Darcy, yes, Mr.Darcy insightfully telling Bingley how Lizzie was tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt him, with Lizzie at an audible range. I couldn’t read fast enough to know what the hell he was going to do to make things right, because I was 100% sure there was no way she would ever forgive him. So I found myself in that same situation again as Athan neatly undressed and climbed onto the nuptial bed while Saliel looked as if she wished someone could just please kill her right there.

Believe it or not, in a nutshell this is a love story. Think “Pride and Prejudice” meets “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, and since I’m a sitting duck for love stories I have to recommend and say I’ll certainly read Emily Gee’s previous and further novels.

(A big thank you to the DGLA for this review book!)

Review also at http://cuidadocomodalmata.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/the-laurentine-spy/ show less

This started out good but went downhill to annoying.

Male spy is hot headed and not as competent as his female colleague. And that combination means he does foolish things that cause problems. On top of the last 2/3 of the book is her saying ‘no I’m not marrying you’ and him being possessive, insistent, and causing trouble. And then there is the ‘you had sex once so you are pregnant’ bit.
But it all works out because she gets shooed off for a rest while he tells the people in charge about everything that happened, disinherits himself, and she finally agrees to marry him.

Irritating.

Not to mention all the crap with rape. Because there is a bunch of crap with rape. Also some generally problematic sex.

Solid, engaging work. You end up really caring for the characters, and the traumas that they undergo are believable and compelling. (I don't think I've seen a book deal as convincingly as it does with the effects of coerced sexual activity on both the man and woman involved.)

I loved the plot intrigue in this book, suitable for those that sometimes get flumoxed by too many charachters, they are quite distinguishable. This book stands well on it's own. I'd love to see a sequel though where it would go... This is a romance story, the age range would be hard to pin point, it's would not really appeal to most adults, I would place Saliel and Athan in their early 20's though, may appeal to the older teen, there are some scenes of a sexual nature that may not be appropriate for younger readers.