Publisher: 25th May 2020 by Sapere Books
Pages: 500 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: historical fiction, mystery
My Rating: 3.5 cups
Synopsis:
The final instalment in the timeshift conspiracy series that you don’t want to miss! Perfect for fans of Dan Brown, Philippa Gregory, Kate Mosse and Tom Harper.
Get ready to challenge everything you thought you knew about British royal history…
Derbyshire, England, 1603
Elizabeth I is dead and the Tudor reign is over. As the men in power decide to pass the throne to the Scottish King James, one woman debates changing the course of history.
Two Tudor heirs have been covered up for decades and with a foreign king threatening the stability of England it could be time to bring the truth to the fore.
But there are reasons the Tudor children were put into hiding and exposing them would put not only their lives in danger, but the lives of many others as well…
Marquess House, Pembrokeshire, 2019
Dr Perdita Rivers and her sister Piper have returned to their ancestral home. But the ancient walls still contain riddles which the twins need to solve.
Perdita and Piper have already discovered earth-shattering secrets which will change the course of English history forever. But they are missing one vital piece of the puzzle.
Two Tudor rings have led them to cover-ups at the Tudor court, but now they must track down a missing silver locket to slot the final parts of the mystery together.
And just when it seems they could be ready to expose the centuries-old conspiracy, old enemies resurface to put their very lives at risk…
THE ARBELLA STUART CONSPIRACY is the final book in the Marquess House trilogy, a dual timeline conspiracy thriller with an ingenious twist on a well-known period of Tudor and Stuart history.
THE MARQUESS HOUSE TRILOGY SERIES
BOOK ONE: The Catherine Howard Conspiracy
BOOK TWO: The Elizabeth Tudor Conspiracy
BOOK THREE: The Arbella Stuart Conspiracy
My Thoughts
I read and thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in this series. If you love English history, particularly the Tudor/Stuart era, then this is most definitely the series for you. It is essential that you read all the books and in sequence for both the historical events and present day character development to make sense. Both narratives - past and present - in all three books are good.
As with Alexandra’s previous two books, this instalment 'The Arbella Stuart Conspiracy' is a massively researched undertaking that is structured and planned to perfection. The historical premise of an alternate narrative to this Tudor period is so well written that it appears entirely plausible. This is linked wonderfully well with the present day and the theory that there are movements to suppress these undiscovered truths. As in dual time narratives it requires a solid link between the two stories to work and I believe Alexandra weaves the two well together once more. If you love a good conspiracy theory then this series has them by the dozen.
Unfortunately, I was not as enraptured with this final instalment as the previous two. Burnout? Maybe. They are long reads and the amount of information in this one became overwhelming at times. It definitely needed a glossary/chart/family tree (or three!) as the number of names and family connections just got lost in the vast amounts of information (if you are not diligent enough to go and research the connections). Whilst I loved reading about Catherine Howard (book 1) and Elizabeth Tudor (book 2) I really did not warm to Arbella Stuart. She was always angry and ‘snapping’ at people! The current day's tale still held a good mystery, but the information dumps by the lead characters were too much.
Overall, I really enjoyed this series. It proved fascinating reading but be warned it is an intriguing yet complex read. I feel that it slid downhill from book one but still maintained a high level of attraction particularly for those who love a good conspiracy theory related to the Tudors.
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.
No comments:
Post a Comment