For the love of a king and the Affair of the Poisons Inspired by events straight from the annals of strange crimes comes Charlatan a fictionalized version of the 17th-century murder scandal that involved the elite and powerful seeking an unnatural advantage in disposing of rivals of the court and the marriage bed. Not exactly a feel-good book as you could imagine with the pulverized toads, twisted black mass priests and stomach cramping powders found in clothing and wine goblets, so take warning this tale has some graphic details to share that may disturb some however for others, they may not be able to turn the pages fast enough. Entertaining overall, this story commands attention and paints some vivid scenes but for me, some of the finer things were just off. The presented characterization would have to be my main disappointment, various infamous personalities (mainly Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise of Montespan) were either subdued to point of being dull or outlandish caricatures; I would have also really preferred more chapters featuring the Madame de Montespan with the Sun King and less about the predictable forced romance that appeared in the other chapters. The jarring modern-sounding dialogue was another negative and sadly the richness of the setting didn't quite saturate into the rest of the story. Is Charlatan, Druon territory of historical fiction? Most certainly not but it served as a decent rainy day read and may nudge someone out there in the direction of available shelves to learn more about L'affaire des poisons. -read and purchased on kindle EGP/September 2018 Comments are closed.
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