Book Review: The Malice of Fortune by Michael Ennis

Pros: good mystery, afterward explaining what's true and where he took liberties, lots of detail

Cons: 

Damiata, once lover of Juan, Duke of Gandia, and mother of his illegitimate child, is accused by Pope Alexander VI (the duke's father) of aiding in his murder.  In order to clear her name and reclaim her son she must uncover the true murderers.  She is sent to Imola, where a recent string of murders has uncovered an amulet belonging to Juan and where the Pope's first born son, Cesare Borgia, Duke of Valentinois, is brokering a peace with the condottieri (mercenery fighters) Damiata is certain killed her lover.

Meanwhile, Imola is also home to the Florentine secretary Nicolo Machiavelli, who fears that Cesare's peace with the condottieri will mean the destruction of his beloved Florence.  Joining forces with Damiata and Cesare's engineer general, Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli tries to solve the murders and make his study of human nature, that eventually lead to the writing of The Prince.

Ennis does a fantastic job of blending known history with his murder mystery.  He makes certain assumptions regarding events and characterizations based on primary sources (which he discusses briefly in an afterward to the book so the reader has a better idea of what's true and what he fabricated for the novel).  

The first part of the book is told by Damiata, with the rest by Machiavelli.  As the characters get closer to discovering the identity of the murderer, Ennis manages to maintain a spirit of uncertainty, making it hard to guess who the real culpret is.  This is helped by the number of likely suspects being investigated and the difficulty in performing the investigation.

There is a lot of good detail regarding the characters and the setting, especially with regards to Machiavelli's beliefs on human nature.  There are also a few illustrations in the novel, showing scientific principles important to the plot and diagrams drawn by da Vinci.

I'd recommend this to fans of Umberto Eco (particularly The Name of the Rose) and Karen Maitland's Company of Liars.

Movie Review: Black Death

Director: Christopher Smith, 2010

IMDb listing

Pros: realistic medieval settings/costumes/ideas

Cons: witch finder is both worldly and naive, inauthentic execution methods

The bubonic plague is devastating England when news of an untouched village reaches the pope.  Convinced that the village is practicing black magic, a witch finder, Ulrich (Sean Bean), and several guards are sent to bring back the necromancer.  A young monk (Eddie Redmayne) who has had an indiscretion with a local woman, agrees to lead them to the remote village in hopes of reuniting with her along the way.

Black Death shows the middle ages in all its dirty, superstitious splendor.  The characters are surprisingly complex, given the way medieval historical films typically portray religion and superstition.

Despite having fantastic (and realistic) costumes and sets, the movie was ultimately disappointing.  The witch finder and his guards, quite worldly at the start of the film, are surprisingly naive when they reach the village, eating and drinking food prepared by people they know killed the previous witch finders who were sent.  

And the execution and torture methods used were... not typical for this time or place.  Witches were burned on the continent.  In England they tended to be hung.  Similarly, crucifixion was specifically Roman and, to the best of my knowledge, not used in England (a quick check of wikipedia varifies my belief but explains that crucifixion was used by more than just the Romans).

The ending was similarly disappointing.  I'm ok with films not having a happy ending, but at least give it an ending.  This seemed to peter off into nothing.

If you want a better - and more satisfying - medieval based movie, try The Name of the Rose.  There's an unnecessarily graphic love scene, but beyond that the film's pretty good.  Or, better yet, since the film messes with the ending, read Umberto Eco's book by the same name.

Book Review: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Pros: interesting setting, brilliant assassin school/convent idea, characters all have realistic motivations (including the antagonists)

Cons: I didn't understand why Ismae was chosen for the mission

Ismae is 17 years old and about to be married off to a man who is likely as boorish and abusive as her father, when she's spirited away to a convent.  There she learns that being the daughter of Death is not a curse but a blessing and is trained in the ways of assassins.  

But she skips out on her lessons on courtliness and seduction, lessons that would have helped with her third assignment, at the court of Brittany's besieged twelve year old Duchess.  A Duchess whose hand in marriage was promised to a boorish, brutal man.  This is a marriage alliance that her older half-brother, Duval, the man Ismae is to accompany to court, and whom she must watch for signs of treason, intends to prevent.  

As she tries to see through the various plots at court, Ismae discovers she has feelings for Duval.  But Death's Handmaidens are not trained for love.

Late Medieval Brittany is a fantastic setting, with all the political intrigue at the Duchess's court as well as the threat of attack from the French.  There's even the threat of attack from her suitor should she break the betrothal agreement her father made with him.  The countryside is suitably rustic and court extravagant.  

The convent to the old God of Death, Mortain, now called a Saint after the Christianization of the land, and its training of assassins who work for His cause, was brilliant.  It feels more like a boarding school setting, with the girls learning the different arts they will need.  The only off note here was the inclusion of Eastern style martial arts, which would have been unknown in those parts at that time.  But as it's historical fantasy, one cannot fault the author for wanting to include throwing stars (or rondelles as they're called in the book) and the like in the arsenals of the girls.

The motivations for each characters actions is realistic, even those of the bad guys.  Indeed, the book shows court life in all its complexity, with few being trustworthy and everyone working towards their own aims - even when those aims are in direct opposition to those of their sovereign.  It also shows the power and lack thereof of women.  Though Duchess, due to her age and sex Anne's  voice isn't held in high esteem.  And her council members try to make the best decisions for Brittany, even though they may not be the best decisions for Anne herself.

My only real complaint with the book was that Ismae shouldn't have been sent on this mission.  She didn't have the understanding of court life required nor was she sufficiently adept at hiding her identity or mission.  I was surprised that no back story was created to explain her meeting Duval, and she was constantly jumping to conclusions, or assuming that events could only point to one answer, while I often saw other options that she missed or only considered in passing.  This pushed me out of the story on many occasions, when I wondered why the convent would send her, as a novice, when they must have had more experienced women they could have sent who would have done a much better job.  She was also accepted at court more readily than I believed possible (given her peasant upbringing and her lack of comfort with court/city life) and allowed to wander everywhere, something I doubt a real court would have allowed of a high ranking officer's mistress (which was her cover story, and an odd cover story for a woman who is trying to hobnob with ladies-in-waiting).  Ismae was surprisingly bad at talking to servants, which given that she was looking for gossip, seemed a serious failing.  She also tuned out the gossip of the Duchess's ladies on those few occasions when she met with them.  I was surprised that their gossip was always passed off as being frivolous, when in reality there would have been some political undertones to their conversation.  

The book ended well - indeed Ismae came into her own for the last hundred pages and I liked her a lot more for it.  

If you can overlook Ismae's unsuitableness for the mission, it's an interesting read.