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A review by sherwoodreads
Solomon's Crown by Natasha Siegel
A really ambitious first novel that I think needed one more hard pass to come into focus. That's not to say it isn't worth reading.
The author gives us our history one universe over, wherein neither Richard Plantagenet nor Philip of France were quite the stinkards they were in real life. Here, they end up in a romance with one another.
The two main threads are Richard and Philp's slow progress toward romance, and family dynamics, especially among the Plantagenets. They talk. A LOT. There's less of the minnesinger/troubedour/ courtly love rituals and settings, fewer jousts and wars... I'm okay with that, but over the course of the book I got this sense of everyone sitting around in modern comfort talking up a storm.
Readers looking for m/m might be disappointed, because although this novel has the m/m frame, and a lot of the angst, it doesn't have the steam. Which again is okay by me.
My favorite part was actually the friendship and respect that Philip had for his wife Isabella, forced to marry him at way too young an age, as sometimes happened in dynastic marriages with huge tracts of land and political fortunes at stake. Their dynamic is what really drew me. The historical accuracy is more Hollywood backdrop, but the author says up front this is a what-if. The book stands on its characters, who are larger than life and complex, and I look forward to seeing what this author does next.
The author gives us our history one universe over, wherein neither Richard Plantagenet nor Philip of France were quite the stinkards they were in real life. Here, they end up in a romance with one another.
The two main threads are Richard and Philp's slow progress toward romance, and family dynamics, especially among the Plantagenets. They talk. A LOT. There's less of the minnesinger/troubedour/ courtly love rituals and settings, fewer jousts and wars... I'm okay with that, but over the course of the book I got this sense of everyone sitting around in modern comfort talking up a storm.
Readers looking for m/m might be disappointed, because although this novel has the m/m frame, and a lot of the angst, it doesn't have the steam. Which again is okay by me.
My favorite part was actually the friendship and respect that Philip had for his wife Isabella, forced to marry him at way too young an age, as sometimes happened in dynastic marriages with huge tracts of land and political fortunes at stake. Their dynamic is what really drew me. The historical accuracy is more Hollywood backdrop, but the author says up front this is a what-if. The book stands on its characters, who are larger than life and complex, and I look forward to seeing what this author does next.