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The Spymaster's Lady, by Joanna Bourne
Mar. 20th, 2008 05:11 pmThe Spymaster's Lady
by Joanna Bourne
373 pages (paperback)
Genre: Fiction/Romance/Historical
This historical romance was highly praised by several people on my flist, and the espionage angle piqued me. I'm a little late to the party, but I hope this review is still of some use. Annique Villiers, a French spy known as the Fox Cub, is about to be tortured by her own Head of Section. In the same cell is Robert Grey, an English spy of certain repute. The two manage to escape, of course, at which point Grey promptly kidnaps Annique and begins the long process of carrying her off to England (not to mention seducing her in the process). The portrayal of spying is highly realistic, which surprised me--I expect romance novels to be pulpy, and this certainly was not. Annique has a wonderful, authentically French voice that lends color to the narration. The plot includes several unexpected twists, beginning with a spoilerific secret about Annique, then progressing all the way to a tense and satisfying conclusion. While I was spoiled for some of the twists and shocked by others, I found all of the plot development utterly plausible. Characters have convincing motivations and make sensible decisions.
( Spoilers )
There are also a few drawbacks to this necessarily imperfect work: I find Annique's innocence (she has never murdered anyone despite being raised in the spy world, and she's still a virgin) a little disbelievable. Leblanc is too 2-D of a villian--he never displays any positive traits. I wished for more development of some of the minor characters, particularly on the antagonist side (e.g. Henri).
Overall though, my summary of The Spymaster's Lady comes to: Annique + Grey = ♥. Strongly enough that I'm looking forward to Bourne's forthcoming novel My Lord and Spymaster, which seems to be an indirect sequel set in the same world. This is a classic historical romance with crossover appeal, exactly the type of light-but-breathless comfort reading that I need sometimes.
by Joanna Bourne
373 pages (paperback)
Genre: Fiction/Romance/Historical
This historical romance was highly praised by several people on my flist, and the espionage angle piqued me. I'm a little late to the party, but I hope this review is still of some use. Annique Villiers, a French spy known as the Fox Cub, is about to be tortured by her own Head of Section. In the same cell is Robert Grey, an English spy of certain repute. The two manage to escape, of course, at which point Grey promptly kidnaps Annique and begins the long process of carrying her off to England (not to mention seducing her in the process). The portrayal of spying is highly realistic, which surprised me--I expect romance novels to be pulpy, and this certainly was not. Annique has a wonderful, authentically French voice that lends color to the narration. The plot includes several unexpected twists, beginning with a spoilerific secret about Annique, then progressing all the way to a tense and satisfying conclusion. While I was spoiled for some of the twists and shocked by others, I found all of the plot development utterly plausible. Characters have convincing motivations and make sensible decisions.
( Spoilers )
There are also a few drawbacks to this necessarily imperfect work: I find Annique's innocence (she has never murdered anyone despite being raised in the spy world, and she's still a virgin) a little disbelievable. Leblanc is too 2-D of a villian--he never displays any positive traits. I wished for more development of some of the minor characters, particularly on the antagonist side (e.g. Henri).
Overall though, my summary of The Spymaster's Lady comes to: Annique + Grey = ♥. Strongly enough that I'm looking forward to Bourne's forthcoming novel My Lord and Spymaster, which seems to be an indirect sequel set in the same world. This is a classic historical romance with crossover appeal, exactly the type of light-but-breathless comfort reading that I need sometimes.
