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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-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:
No
Historical fiction can be great. I find it at its most compelling when it plausibly recreates a time and place through the details, the values, and lived experiences of those who inhabited those eras. This was not The Burning Chambers.
This plot was mildy entertaining and the climax was attention-grabbing, but I realized halfway through what was wrong with this book: despite dealing with dark and violent topics, including murder, ethnic cleansing, and torture, it still felt like a Disney story. Characters were weirdly one dimensional and anachronistic in their beliefs (the main character seemingly was an avowed 19th century feminist), and villains were evil either because they were homicidally disturbed or power hungry for the sake of it. The ending,when the main character anounced that she will not discriminate against Catholics or Protestants to a crowd of peasants is met with 'and then everybody clapped and lived happilly ever after' energy.
I wasn't that interested in the chaste romance that developed, and the mystery was gripping but not that original. The most interesting features, in my opinion, were the historical snapshots of life in 16th century France at the beginning of the wars of religion. Unfortunately, although the research seemed detailed enough (and taking into account I am unfamiliar with the French wars of religion), the author's introduction speaking of 'Louix IX' in the 16th century and her claim that Basque is closely related to Occitan made my critical eye take more discerning view. Frankly, it made it easier to doubt the overall veracity of the rest of her writing.
Despite it all, this wasn't a horrible book. It was entertaining and competently written in a family movie kind of way, and the historical dimensions were interesting. The characters were likeable, but one dimensional. Do I regret reading it? Not really - it scratched an itch. Would I read this author again? Probably not .2/5
This plot was mildy entertaining and the climax was attention-grabbing, but I realized halfway through what was wrong with this book: despite dealing with dark and violent topics, including murder, ethnic cleansing, and torture, it still felt like a Disney story. Characters were weirdly one dimensional and anachronistic in their beliefs (the main character seemingly was an avowed 19th century feminist), and villains were evil either because they were homicidally disturbed or power hungry for the sake of it. The ending,when the main character anounced that she will not discriminate against Catholics or Protestants to a crowd of peasants is met with 'and then everybody clapped and lived happilly ever after' energy.
I wasn't that interested in the chaste romance that developed, and the mystery was gripping but not that original. The most interesting features, in my opinion, were the historical snapshots of life in 16th century France at the beginning of the wars of religion. Unfortunately, although the research seemed detailed enough (and taking into account I am unfamiliar with the French wars of religion), the author's introduction speaking of 'Louix IX' in the 16th century and her claim that Basque is closely related to Occitan made my critical eye take more discerning view. Frankly, it made it easier to doubt the overall veracity of the rest of her writing.
Despite it all, this wasn't a horrible book. It was entertaining and competently written in a family movie kind of way, and the historical dimensions were interesting. The characters were likeable, but one dimensional. Do I regret reading it? Not really - it scratched an itch. Would I read this author again? Probably not .2/5
adventurous
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you Minotaur Books for the finished copy.
The Burning Chambers is a plot driven reader's dream come true. There is action, adventure, suspense and romance. There are a ton of characters - all of whom are simply fantastic. The heroes are brave and charismatic. The villains are selfishly driven and pure evil. And although it is a historical fiction based in the 1500's of France, it often felt as it I was reading a mix between The Tudors (as in the tv series) and a fantasy novel.
I cannot wait to read The City of Tears next!
The Burning Chambers is a plot driven reader's dream come true. There is action, adventure, suspense and romance. There are a ton of characters - all of whom are simply fantastic. The heroes are brave and charismatic. The villains are selfishly driven and pure evil. And although it is a historical fiction based in the 1500's of France, it often felt as it I was reading a mix between The Tudors (as in the tv series) and a fantasy novel.
I cannot wait to read The City of Tears next!
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I’m not much of a historical fiction reader. I don’t know why, but I do tend to struggle with reading this and it makes me take longer to reading it (look at how long I’ve been reading Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare at the moment to prove my point). But the past few months (late last year), The Burning Chambers have been calling to me. So has a few other historical fiction novels. But when I saw this was on my library’s BorrowBox app, I decided to go for it and try upping the speed of the reader (something I don’t do normally, but I thought I would try as the reader, Hattie Morahan, has a slower tone to her reading so I thought me upping the speed to 1.25 and, on some occasions, 1.5 will be useful).
The first is an epic historical saga, The Burning Chambers is set in Carcassonne 1562 where nineteen year old Minou receives a myserteous letter at her father’s bookshop: SHE KNOWS THAT YOU LIVE.
Before she has time to decipher the message, a chance encounter with Piet, a young Huguenots convert on a dangerous mission . Meeting him changes her destiny and soon, the two find themselves wound together at Toulouse several months later when religious tensions between Huguenots and Catholics react boiling point…
And all the while, the dangerous mistress of Puivert is waiting, desperate to find a missing document and her eyes are slowly turning towards Toulouse and onto Minou and her family…
Now, like I said earlier, historical fiction isn’t my normal go to. I find historical fiction to be slower in pacing and tone, there’s a lot of info-dumping about details (politics, gender, etiquette, etc) that fit the time perfect and yet are jarring nowadays. And because of this, I never fall into the stories the same way I fall into fantasy or sci-fi (which, when you think about, is the same thing, but in different styles and explain in different ways).
And yet… I did like this. There were times that, even when I fasten the speed of audiobook, I did care about the characters and the situations they were in. And it was this that kept me listening.
And then, we have the mystery of the prologue, which is set in Franschhoek in 1862. With Burning Chambers and the sequel, City of Tears, following Minou, this mystery intrigues me. How are these two connected and how many books in the series are we going to wait to find out the connection? I have a theory, but I might be wrong.
While this genre might not be a genre I rush towards, I am intrigued to see where this series goes and seeing as I have City of Tears (due to the kindness of publisher via NetGalley) and I have an audiobook of Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth (the first in the “Languedoc Trilogy”), I will be sticking around with this author for a while…
The first is an epic historical saga, The Burning Chambers is set in Carcassonne 1562 where nineteen year old Minou receives a myserteous letter at her father’s bookshop: SHE KNOWS THAT YOU LIVE.
Before she has time to decipher the message, a chance encounter with Piet, a young Huguenots convert on a dangerous mission . Meeting him changes her destiny and soon, the two find themselves wound together at Toulouse several months later when religious tensions between Huguenots and Catholics react boiling point…
And all the while, the dangerous mistress of Puivert is waiting, desperate to find a missing document and her eyes are slowly turning towards Toulouse and onto Minou and her family…
Now, like I said earlier, historical fiction isn’t my normal go to. I find historical fiction to be slower in pacing and tone, there’s a lot of info-dumping about details (politics, gender, etiquette, etc) that fit the time perfect and yet are jarring nowadays. And because of this, I never fall into the stories the same way I fall into fantasy or sci-fi (which, when you think about, is the same thing, but in different styles and explain in different ways).
And yet… I did like this. There were times that, even when I fasten the speed of audiobook, I did care about the characters and the situations they were in. And it was this that kept me listening.
And then, we have the mystery of the prologue, which is set in Franschhoek in 1862. With Burning Chambers and the sequel, City of Tears, following Minou, this mystery intrigues me. How are these two connected and how many books in the series are we going to wait to find out the connection? I have a theory, but I might be wrong.
While this genre might not be a genre I rush towards, I am intrigued to see where this series goes and seeing as I have City of Tears (due to the kindness of publisher via NetGalley) and I have an audiobook of Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth (the first in the “Languedoc Trilogy”), I will be sticking around with this author for a while…
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated