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court1824's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
jasmyn9's review
4.0
A fantastic second book in The Troy Game series. All the players are re-born in the mid 1000's in England - and they all have an agenda, especially Asterion. As characters develop and evolve we get to see how not even a soul must always remain the same. While some make the decision to stay the same, many others make the decision to grow beyond their previous life's hatreds and desires and move forward towards a greater goal. With quite a surprise at the conclusion that left me shocked and hardly able to wait to pick up book 3.
jschreiber's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
shanbear16's review
4.0
Things start to get weirder in this book. By that I mean we are introduced to the Fairy world and the Troy Game itself starts to take up a life of its own. Our main players have all been reborn. Cornelia reborn has found she has been reborn with a bit extra to her. Brutus has been reborn as William the conqueror and has to fight his way back to England. Overall I like the plot. The story is still working itself out. I feel like there are some gratuitous sex scenes and violence that really may not have needed to be there. It gets worse in the next book as far as gratuitous sex, however so I didn't let it detract from my rating.
angelahayes's review
5.0
5 Stars
God's Concubine is the second book in The Troy Game series by Sara Douglass. Part of my 2019 reading challenge was to read an Australian author- well how do I narrow that down, there are so many great Aussie authors, but Ms. Douglass was one of the first Aussie authors whose work I fell in love with. I have devoured everything she had ever written and was devastated when she lost her battle with cancer back in 2011. Her books really stuck with me over time, and I don’t revisit them as often as I’d like. The last few months have been emotionally draining for me, and I really wanted/needed to lose myself in another world- so I chose to revisit some old favourites that have a comforting nostalgia associated with them. I couldn’t choose just one of her books, they are all so great, and quite a few of them are interconnected- so I chose to read them all.
I still love this series as much as I did the first time I read it. It is an epic fantasy interwoven with mythology, history, gods and goddesses, an evil Minotaur mysteriousness, fun, revenge, intrigue, sorcery, good vs evil, adventure, action, drama, magic, and so much more I won’t go into here so as not to spoil the surprises.
Ms. Douglass weaves her stories quite masterfully, crafting a truly believable and sumptuous world in which to set her story. Her attention to detail brings her world and story to life. This is such a complex and multi-layered story which Ms. Douglass choreographed brilliantly- there are multiple story threads woven through these books, two major ones playing out at the same tim-, one in the future, and one in the past. So engrossing!
The Troy Game Series Books are:
-Hades Daughter (Book One)
-God’s Concubine (Book Two)
-Darkwitch Rising (Book Three)
-Druid’s Sword (Book Four)
Epic fantasy done so very well!
Happy Reading!
God's Concubine is the second book in The Troy Game series by Sara Douglass. Part of my 2019 reading challenge was to read an Australian author- well how do I narrow that down, there are so many great Aussie authors, but Ms. Douglass was one of the first Aussie authors whose work I fell in love with. I have devoured everything she had ever written and was devastated when she lost her battle with cancer back in 2011. Her books really stuck with me over time, and I don’t revisit them as often as I’d like. The last few months have been emotionally draining for me, and I really wanted/needed to lose myself in another world- so I chose to revisit some old favourites that have a comforting nostalgia associated with them. I couldn’t choose just one of her books, they are all so great, and quite a few of them are interconnected- so I chose to read them all.
I still love this series as much as I did the first time I read it. It is an epic fantasy interwoven with mythology, history, gods and goddesses, an evil Minotaur mysteriousness, fun, revenge, intrigue, sorcery, good vs evil, adventure, action, drama, magic, and so much more I won’t go into here so as not to spoil the surprises.
Ms. Douglass weaves her stories quite masterfully, crafting a truly believable and sumptuous world in which to set her story. Her attention to detail brings her world and story to life. This is such a complex and multi-layered story which Ms. Douglass choreographed brilliantly- there are multiple story threads woven through these books, two major ones playing out at the same tim-, one in the future, and one in the past. So engrossing!
The Troy Game Series Books are:
-Hades Daughter (Book One)
-God’s Concubine (Book Two)
-Darkwitch Rising (Book Three)
-Druid’s Sword (Book Four)
Epic fantasy done so very well!
Happy Reading!
katiekatinahat's review
4.0
I tried this series because I liked the Wayfarer Redemption books so much, and I have to say I enjoy basically all of the books by Sara Douglass.
raidingbookshelves's review
4.0
God's Concubine is the second entrancing novel in Sara Douglass' quartet: The Troy Game. Closely following the events of Hades Daughter, God's Concubine is set two thousand years after Brutus and Genvissa's thwarted attempt to close the Labyrinth and gain the ultimate immortality. It is the first time since their original lives that the malicious Asterion has allowed those bound by the Game to return.
God's Concubine is set during the reign of Edward the Confessor and a familiar cast appear in unexpected places. Cornelia, now Caela, is the chaste virginal wife of King Edward, while Genvissa lurks as the beautiful Swanne, wife to Caela's brother Harold Godswine, Coel reborn. Meanwhile, across the waters, William of Normandy plans his invasion, and will once again be crowned King of England as Brutus was two thousand years earlier. Others familiar characters are reborn to aid, or disrupt the Game's progression; Loth returns as Seaweald, royal physician and lover of Judith, Mother Erith reborn; Mother Ecub returns as herself, now the prioress of Saint Margaret (affectionately known as St Mags); and Asterion arrives in all his malevolent glory.
Once again Douglass has chosen a significant, and tumultuous, time in history. Spanning the last 15 years of King Edward's reign, and the following year of war, Douglass draws the reader into the true history of our world. Her attention to detail, from sexless marriage of Edward and his wife, to the support of Harold Godswinson for the crown, keeps the reader riveted. Unlike the historical, or rather mythological, details of Hade's Daughter, the Norman invasion of England is an accepted part of history. The reader knows, or can investigate, how events unfold. What makes God's Concubine interesting is how the events unfold within history; how Caela and William interact outside our knowledge of history.
Caela (Cornelia reborn) is a much stronger and more mature character than Cornelia ever was. Prior to awakening to her past memories, Caela is strong but too timid to present herself. The mixed memories and strengths of Cornelia and Caela give her a potency that was missing in Hade's Daughter.
Genvissa is as spiteful as Swanne, and her lust for William and for power has not faded. However, her own strengths, as MagaLan and as Mistress of the Labyrinth has faded with rebirth. Interestingly, Swanne lacks many of the advantages Genvissa had as a woman and must play wife until William returns to complete the game with her.
William is staggeringly different to his Trojan counterpart. Where Brutus was all action, and power, William allows time for thought and emotion. William learns to regret Brutus' brusque and hateful nature and slowly begins understanding more about the Game and it's participants.
The secondary, and present day, storyline following Major Jack Skelton and his reborn companies unrolls slowly, preparing the reader for the final book while foreshadowing certain events in the main story.
God's Concubine is the thrilling second instalment of the Troy Games; the adventure that began with Hade's Daughter and continue's in Darkwitch Rising.
God's Concubine is set during the reign of Edward the Confessor and a familiar cast appear in unexpected places. Cornelia, now Caela, is the chaste virginal wife of King Edward, while Genvissa lurks as the beautiful Swanne, wife to Caela's brother Harold Godswine, Coel reborn. Meanwhile, across the waters, William of Normandy plans his invasion, and will once again be crowned King of England as Brutus was two thousand years earlier. Others familiar characters are reborn to aid, or disrupt the Game's progression; Loth returns as Seaweald, royal physician and lover of Judith, Mother Erith reborn; Mother Ecub returns as herself, now the prioress of Saint Margaret (affectionately known as St Mags); and Asterion arrives in all his malevolent glory.
Once again Douglass has chosen a significant, and tumultuous, time in history. Spanning the last 15 years of King Edward's reign, and the following year of war, Douglass draws the reader into the true history of our world. Her attention to detail, from sexless marriage of Edward and his wife, to the support of Harold Godswinson for the crown, keeps the reader riveted. Unlike the historical, or rather mythological, details of Hade's Daughter, the Norman invasion of England is an accepted part of history. The reader knows, or can investigate, how events unfold. What makes God's Concubine interesting is how the events unfold within history; how Caela and William interact outside our knowledge of history.
Caela (Cornelia reborn) is a much stronger and more mature character than Cornelia ever was. Prior to awakening to her past memories, Caela is strong but too timid to present herself. The mixed memories and strengths of Cornelia and Caela give her a potency that was missing in Hade's Daughter.
Genvissa is as spiteful as Swanne, and her lust for William and for power has not faded. However, her own strengths, as MagaLan and as Mistress of the Labyrinth has faded with rebirth. Interestingly, Swanne lacks many of the advantages Genvissa had as a woman and must play wife until William returns to complete the game with her.
William is staggeringly different to his Trojan counterpart. Where Brutus was all action, and power, William allows time for thought and emotion. William learns to regret Brutus' brusque and hateful nature and slowly begins understanding more about the Game and it's participants.
The secondary, and present day, storyline following Major Jack Skelton and his reborn companies unrolls slowly, preparing the reader for the final book while foreshadowing certain events in the main story.
God's Concubine is the thrilling second instalment of the Troy Games; the adventure that began with Hade's Daughter and continue's in Darkwitch Rising.
ryner's review
4.0
Gods' Concubine is the second book in Douglass' 'Troy Game' series, and it was definitely more engaging and enjoyable than the first. This time around, a thousand years have passed, and the characters we met in the first book have been reborn into the age of William the Conqueror. In fact, Brutus is William himself and Cornelia is the queen of England, wife to Edward the Confessor. Coel is reborn as Harold Godwinson (Harold II) and in a cruel twist of fate, Genvissa has been reborn as Harold's wife. Other characters from the first book are also reborn and find themselves drawn once again into the struggle for control over the Troy Game, which has itself been lying and waiting for a thousand years.
This combination of fantasy and historical fiction is an intriguing way of presenting a time period in history. The reader is left guessing, and possibly researching further, as to which details are real and documented and which are purely the product of the author's vivid imagination.
This combination of fantasy and historical fiction is an intriguing way of presenting a time period in history. The reader is left guessing, and possibly researching further, as to which details are real and documented and which are purely the product of the author's vivid imagination.