Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV by Karleen Koen
”A grand yet intimate look at the Sun King, a tale rich with detail and action."--Library Journal (Starred Review, one of the best historical novels of the year)
Before Versailles transports you to a world of secret passions and plots, a world of duplicity and malice...a world that created one of the best-known monarchs to grace the French throne.
At the most decisive time in the young king's life, Louis XIV can taste the danger. His court teems with greed and corruption, the wrong woman draws him into a wrenching love affair, and a mysterious boy in an iron mask haunts the woods. The untried ruler is coming into his own in 1661, and Louis XIV must face what he is willing to sacrifice for honor and for love.
Meticulously researched and gorgeously brought to life by New York Times bestselling author Karleen Koen, Before Versailles offers up a sumptuous, authentic exploration of a time that forged a man into a king.
I picked up this book because I loved the Tamworth Trilogy, by this same author. Unfortunately, I have to admit to being disappointed.
I don’t know a lot about French history, though I did know a bit about Louis XIV, who would come to be known as the Sun King. This book certainly changed that, though not always in the way I would have liked. Historical figures were fleshed out, but not often deeply enough that the reader came to know their motivation. We learn which side of things a person is on, but not why. I think I’m more used to the novels which cover English history. Or maybe it’s simply because I know more about it.
At the same time, you’re talking about a book that covers only four months of time, yet comes in at almost 400 pages. Often there was too much information that really didn’t tell me anything. There were some interesting parts, enough to pique my interest regarding Louis XIV, but there were a lot of extraneous scenes that caused the book to drag. And then the story ends, rather abruptly I thought.
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