A review by katemarlowe
The Eyes of the Queen, Volume 1 by Oliver Clements

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Oliver Clement’s first installment in the Agents of the Crown series follows John Dee, a famous 16th century mathematician living at the birth of the Elizabethan Age who becomes England’s first official 00 Agent. Duly titled “The Eyes of the Queen”, we get the beginning of how Queen Elizabeth I and England’s secret service was born. While the book is a work of fiction, the story is based on truth as the characters did exist and there was conspiracy as to these events being the start of what we now know as MI6. What drew me to this book is the Dan Brown like intrigue involved but set in one of my favorite times in history. However, while reading it, what kept me reading was Oliver Clement’s writing style. I was surprisingly not as interested in the story itself at times but felt pulled in nonetheless by Clement’s remarkable talent at writing action sequences. I think this series has some great potential and I will definitely be picking up the rest of the books, I especially hope to see one of them starring my favorite rumored MI6 Agent, Christopher Marlowe!