Review of The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick

I really enjoyed this novel by Helen Hollick but I had some big reservations about it, too. I suppose you might say I have a bit of a difficult relationship with The Forever Queen.

The title character of this is Emma, Queen of England, daughter of Richard I, Duke of Normandy. At 13, Emma was shipped off to England to marry the inept Æthelred the Unready of England. England was being heavily raided by the Vikings and life was a lot less than easy or safe. Add to that her smarmy husband, her inability to speak the language and her youth and you can see why she had quite a struggle. It was very easy to come to sympathise with the young girl as she struggled to cope with a difficult life.

However, when her unpleasant husband Æthelred, dies, she marries King Cnut the Great of Denmark, now also King of England. In my opinion, King Cnut is not nearly written about enough. He was without doubt the best king to ever rule England and a fascinating man. After a life of struggle and relative unhappiness, Queen Emma finally finds love, although not always an easy life, with her new husband.

The Forever Queen is full of family life, jealousy, Vikings raids, battles, and treacherous noblemen. All that keeps it an interesting read. However, there is a down side to the novel. It is also full of an overwhelming amount of detail, much of which is not needed for the story development. I understand what a balancing act it is to give enough detail to help a reader picture an unfamiliar time and not bog down a story, but I am sorry to say, I don't think Helen Hollick achieved that balance. A good trimming of unnecessary detail would have served this novel well. Oddly enough, with all the historical detail, I didn't feel that the characters were fleshed out as well as they could have been. Although I came to really feel for Emma (and disliked the direction the author went with her character at the end), many of the other characters seemed to be rather thin and some came and went rather without any explanation.

At the end, I do recommend this novel. There is not nearly enough written about the 11th century and King Cnut is more than worth being written about. However, don't expect either a happy ever after ending or an easy read. I can't say this is a perfect novel by any means, but it is very much worth reading. It should be on any historical fiction lovers list of novels to pick up.

You will find The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick on Amazon.

Review of Accomplished in Murder - Historical Mystery Novella by Dara England

Accomplished in Murder is a charming and well-written historical mystery set in Victorian England. It begins with the recently wed Celeste writing to her friend Druscilla Winterbourne to say that only if Druscilla joins her in Cornwall will Celeste feel safe. However, when Druscilla arrives, her dear friend has died under mysterious circumstances. Druscilla is determined, of course, to unravel the mystery.

I was very taken with Ms. England's writing. It had the right period feel without frills and flourishes so many authors use to try to achieve that.

The author also does very well with giving a period feel without extensive descriptions. You never have that uncomfortable feeling of having to hew your way through the period descriptions with a scythe. Instead, it is well combined with the action and dialogue. Clearly, you are in Victorian England but the author doesn't try to smother the landscape with her research, which I have no doubt at all that she did. I am as picky as you can get on historical accuracy, and this novel passes the historical accuracy test.

The mystery itself is exactly what one would want in a cozy mystery, although I must admit that is not one of my favorite sub-genres. However, for anyone who enjoys the sub-genre, this supplies the mysterious death of a friend, the oddly-behaving characters, and determined non-detective requisite for a cozy. However, that doesn't mean that her plotting is predictable. She had several plot twists I didn't see coming. As a short mystery, it is very satisfying.

However, I must admit there was one important area I did not think was as well done. I am afraid that the characterizations, even of Druscilla, the main character, seemed thin. I admit that in a novella, which this is, might give less scope for extensive characterization, but since it is only 17,000 words, the author could have included substantially more characterization without exceeding novella length. There are a number of other characters who would have been very enjoyable to see more extensively developed. Don't get me wrong. The characters were diverse and interesting, but I never felt I got to know them with any depth.

Now some people don't mind slight character development in cozy mysteries. Christie's strength, for example, was never her character development, so this may or may not be a problem for many of Ms. England's readers. However, for me, it is a pretty large fault. I still enjoyed this novella and would recommend it for a short, light summer read, but not as enthusiastically as I would otherwise.

For me, on the Librarything scale, this is Four stars.

You can buy Accomplished in Murder on Amazon.