I enjoyed The Oracle Glass so much I decided to read another book by the same author. After finishing it, I am somewhat at a loss as this one is not even three fourths as good as the first. Taking place at the time of Henry VIII's youngest sister, Mary marrying the old King Of France, the heroine is a newly made widow trying to make a living by painting. That is something women did not do at the time but as Susanna has even more skill at it than her deceased husband, she is able to pass off the first of her work as his. Enter a evil character called Crouch who may as well be out of a Dickenesian noveland brings along with him a released demon. Then we have an angel and several cherubs as well as the Archangels who enter at the end of the story. We also have a secret society trying to find a secret book the Templars have hidden. Now we are reading a fairy tale. I found all this nonsense with the demons and Crouch highly amusing rather than horrible. The secret book involves Christ having evaded Crucifixion which is heresy at this time in history. All unknowing Susannah has part of this book which she is using for her paintings not even understanding the ancient writing on the expensive vellum. Although there is romance in this book, there is too little for me to really think of it as a romance. I think the author would have done a better job to have concentrated on Susanna, her romance and her struggle to make a living and left out all the demons and angels which seem to me to overcrowd the book and distract from the main character. Rather than being a book of suspense and horror, to me this was merely comical hence the three stars rating.
This fun historical novel is about Susanna Dallet, a woman trained by her father in the art of painting. When her wastrel of a husband is murdered, she takes up painting professionally to support herself, specializing in the art of miniature portraits. Her talent brings her to the attention of Cardinal Wolsey, and thus she becomes part of the Tudor court and ends up accompanying Princess Mary to France upon her marriage to Louis XII. Due to some of her husband's activities and her unwitting possession of an old manuscript, Susanna also attracts the attention of a necromancer and a secret conspiracy. Riley also weaves in some fantasy elements, with the appearance of Hadriel, an angel responsible for artistic inspiration, and Belphagor, a demon conjured up by the diabolical Septimus Crouch (what a wonderful name for a villain). Along the way, there is a slow-building romance with robert Ashton, one of Wolsey's retainers.Riley writes with wit and a good sense of humor. Susanna is engaging and spirited, with an amusing mixture of pragmatism, wit, and artlessness. Belphagor and Hadriel provide humor and the occasional literal deus ex machina (or diabola, as it were). I loved the descriptions of the process of painting and Susanna's relationship to her art. I also liked reading a book that looked at historical people and events from the view of those who are only peripheral.On a side note, Riley manages to do a bit of a prescient send-up of The Da Vinci Code (her book was published a few years before his).
Do You like book The Serpent Garden (1997)?
Loved it! Especially enjoyed the details about painting miniatures, the artist POV, and the absolutely delightful characters! I found Hadriel and Belphagor, rival angels, absolutely delicious--they reminded me of Good Omens.Evidently, from other reviews, JMR is satirizing Dan Brown's Angels & Demons in this, but I haven't read that book (and don't plan to) so can't speak to that. I imagine I missed some of Riley's humor due to that lack, but found this book to be lovely and humorously light-hearted in spite of that. I do SO wish she would write more books! I have highly enjoyed all of them and have been glomming them the last two weeks.Cover Art: Very stiff and naively drawn. The pose is nice. BUT If I were the illustrator, I think I'd have chosen to either show photos of the actual artworks mentioned in the chapter divisions, OR painted in period-style with a close-up of Susanna's short pink fingers painting one of her miniatures and showing the exquisite detail, cross-hatching, and glowing colors. Put some of her tools and brushes in the background. Show maybe with a bit of her arm and sleeve to give that period feel. (But overall, for a non-artist reader, there is nothing wrong with this cover art--it does fit the plot.) But for a book about an artist it could have been done so much better! I kept picturing what it should be in my mind.
—MB (What she read)
Well. Another of the read-alouds (with my daughers, 13 & 16). I rather reluctantly enjoyed the previous work of Riley's that we read a couple of years ago - The Oracle Glass. This one has many of the same qualities, both good and bad, but has a leaven of humour that improves it further. A good writer. I particularly liked the fact that, throughout the book, both The Bad Guys and The Good Guys frequently leapt to erroneous conclusions on the basis of what bits of information they had, and set their course accordingly, causing events to fall out in a somewhat clumsy and confused fashion from their viewpoint, though we are admirably kept apprised of matters. We all liked the angels and cherubs, too.
—Diana Sandberg
What a tremendous find. I can't believe I'd never even heard of Judith Merkle Riley until two days ago--her books fit right into my favourite niche, historical drama rich in detail and earthiness but absolutely winging with fantasy and cosmic in narrative scale. I was a little skeptical at first of how she weighted the story between the historical story and the theological drama playing out in the background, mostly because I enjoyed the details of Susanna's artistry and journey so much and wanted to spend all my time with Susanna and I found the whole Holy Grail quest/demonic shenanigans tiresome as a device, but the author used them really cleverly and the way it all came together in the end made me laugh out loud. And I wouldn't sacrifice Hadriel and his cherubs for ANYTHING. Oh, heck, I gave it four stars at first but I've talked myself into giving it five stars. Can't wait to read the rest of her back catalogue.
—Emma
