Title: The King's Agent
Author: Donna Russo Morin
Publisher: Kensington
Publish Date: March 1, 2012
Source: HF Virtual Tours
Why You're Reading This Book:
- You're a historical fiction fan.
- You enjoy a little mystery.
- You enjoy a little romance.
From Goodreads.com: "The King’s Agent is based loosely on the life of Battista della Palla-a patriotic plunderer, a religious rogue-of the 16th century, a lifelong friend to the great Michelangelo.
As the cloistered ward of the Marquess of Mantua, Lady Aurelia is a woman with a profound duty, and a longing for adventure. In search of a relic intended for the King of France, Battista and Aurelia cross the breathtaking landscape of Renaissance Italy. Clues hide in great works of art, political forces collide, secret societies and enemies abound, and danger lurks in every challenge, those that mirror the passages of Dante's Divine Comedy. It is an adventurous quest with undercurrents of the supernatural, powers that could change the balance of supremacy throughout Europe."
My Two Cents:
This book has a great mix of history, mystery, and romance. It's told from the point of view of Battista, who is sent to Italy to look for a mysterious relic by the King of France. I feel like I don't read too many historical fiction books from the gentlemen's point of view (I wonder why that is?) so this book was a nice change of pace from that perspective.
Lady Aurelia is a cool character for a book about this time period. Even though she's a woman, she's independent and she's smart. She doesn't seem like she'd tolerate being pushed around. I know that women back in this time really didn't always have a lot of choices in their life but Lady Aurelia seems to defy convention in that way. I love it!
I loved, loved, loved that the artist Michaelangelo has a starring role in this book. I'm a huge fan of his work and this book is particularly timely with the news story going around that art historians may have found one of Michaelangelo's paintings behind another painting (How cool is that). I didn't know much about Michaelangelo's private life and we the readers kind of get to see some of that from Battista since he's a lifelong friend of Michaelangelo's.
I also love how in order to solve the book's grand mystery, Battista and Lady Aurelia follow clues from Dante's Divine Comedy. I thought it was a really cool touch. Even if you have not read the Divine Comedy, you will have no trouble following along with the mystery. It's been a long time since I've read the Divine Comedy (I think since high school) but the story is familiar to us through cultural references that it works really well. Morin does a good job of weaving the story together.
Bottom line: This book has a little of something for historical fiction lovers of all stripes.
Follow the Rest of the Tour:
Tuesday, February 28th
Review at Unabridged Chick
Wednesday, February 29th
Author Guest Post & Giveaway at Peeking Between the Pages
Thursday, March 1st
Review at One Book Shy of a Full Shelf
Friday, March 2nd
Author Interview & Giveaway at Unabridged Chick
Monday, March 5th
Tuesday, March 6th
Review at The Owl Bookmark Blog
Thursday, March 8th
Author Guest Post & Giveaway at Reflections of a Bookaholic
Friday, March 9th
Review at Luxury Reading
Monday, March 12th
Author Guest Post & Giveaway at The Owl Bookmark Blog
Tuesday, March 13th
Review at Reflections of a Bookaholic
Thursday, March 15th
Friday, March 16th
Review at The Book Garden
Monday, March 19th
Review at Jenny Loves to Read
Tuesday, March 20th
Author Interview & Giveaway at A Bookish Affair
Thursday, March 22nd
Review & Giveaway at The Bookworm
Friday, March 23rd
Author Guest Post at Jenny Loves to Read
Monday, March 26th
Review at To Read or Not to Read
Tuesday, March 27th
Review at A Bookish Affair
Thursday, March 29th
Author Interview & Giveaway at Let Them Read Books
Friday, March 30th
Author Guest Post & Giveaway at To Read or Not to Read
Monday, April 2nd
Review at Let Them Read Books
Tuesday, April 3rd
Author Interview & Giveaway at Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books
Thursday, April 5th
Friday, April 6th
Review at The Eclectic Reader
Monday, April 9th
Review at Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books
Tuesday, April 10th
Review at Medieval Bookworm
Thursday, April 12th
Author Interview at The Eclectic Reader
Friday, April 13th
Author Guest Post at One Book Shy of a Full Shelf
Monday, April 16th
Review at Bippity Boppity Book
Tuesday, April 17th
Review at Books, Belles & Beaux
Thursday, April 19th
Review at Life in the Thumb
Friday, April 20th
Author Guest Post at Books, Belles & Beaux
Monday, April 23rd
Review at CelticLady's Reviews
Tuesday, April 24th
Review at Reading the Past
Thursday, April 26th
Author Interview at The True Book Addict
Friday, April 27th
Author Guest Post at CelticLady's Reviews
Monday, April 30th
Review at The True Book Addict
Tuesday, May 1st
Author Guest Post at Historical Tapestry
Thursday, May 3rd
Review at Historical Tapestry
Friday, May 4th
Review at Just One More Paragraph
This one sounds like a great historical fiction read. I'll have to add this one to my wish list.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a good one!
DeleteThis sounds positively delightful..my first love was historical romance. A male POV sounds cool too!
ReplyDeleteI've only recently gotten into historical fiction (some of my fellow bloggers turned me on to it). Before that, I usually only read straight historical fiction.
Delete