Having toured with The Grip Of God and then Solomon's Bride, books one and two in The Tiger And The Dove series, today I'm pleased to be back on the road again with .....
SOURCE: Received for review from the author as part of a Book Tour. My thanks to Rebecca who very kindly sent me a paper copy of the book and to Michelle over at The True Book Addict (and other sites) for all her help.
THE BOOK (According to the back cover}: In the finale of Sofia's story, both dramatic and poignant, her dreams of home are shattered when her on family betrays her. Raising her child on her own, mourning the loss of her beloved knight, and building a trading empire, she seeks safe haven for her child and herself. Her quest takes her from Antioch to Constantinople to Venice. A surprise reunion to Venice leads her to France where she runs afoul of the newly established Holy Inquisition, possibly the greatest challenge she has yet faced. Can a woman so marked by oppression, betrayal, and danger ever find her safe haven, much less genuine happiness?
- Contains spoilers, hi-light text to read. TT
FIRST SENTENCE {Summer to Winter Anno Domini 1249}: A sea of lies indeed - of lies and deceit.
MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 172}: I no longer even knew why I thought anyone was innocent. Prhaps we were all so corrupt that we should every one of us be wiped from the face of the earth! Then I would look at Anna or Cecilia or Gilles or little Sofia, or I would think of any of the children I knew or had helped, and my heart rebelled at such hard thoughts.
MY THOUGHTS: Putting aside the fact that Rebecca Hazel has an wonderful way of penning individuals who touch your very heart what I most admire is the diversity. That whether mayor or secondary characters, family, friend or foe, a warrior or a eunuch they are all so well and, I feel, lovingly created.
Then of course there are the places, the cultures, the belief systems. All authoritatively written, combined with such memorable characters they make for a truly imaginative read.
The third book in the The Tiger And The Dove trilogy. Despite the letter writing which forms part of the story - no matter how well done and, there is no getting away from it, the author does the letters well, correspondence between characters just isn't a favourite way of storytelling for me - Consolamentum does not disappoint as we follow the further adventures of Sofia as she faces yet more challenges.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rebecca Hazell is a an award winning artist, author and educator. She has written, illustrated and published four non-fiction children’s books, created best selling educational filmstrips, designed educational craft kits for children and even created award winning needlepoint canvases. She is a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage, and she holds an honours BA from the University of California at Santa Cruz in Russian and Chinese history.
Rebecca lived for many years in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1988 she and her family moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in 2006 she and her husband moved to Vancouver Island. They live near their two adult children in the beautiful Cowichan Valley.
VISIT REBECCA:
For my reviews of The Grip Of God (part one in the series) click here, for Solomon's Bride (part two) here and, for a guest post with Rebecca Hazel, here.
Available both in paperback and Kindle versions and through your local bookstore by special order.
Visit other blogs on the tour for reviews, guest posts, excerpts and giveaways!
15 comments:
I skipped past the spoilers to see what you thought of this one, because I already know I want to read the whole trilogy. It sounds right up my alley!
Now that the trilogy is complete, I don't mind beginning the first book soon.
Several sites are holding giveaways to win the whole series on a Kindle. Michelle's can be found at ....
http://www.truebookaddict.com/2014/10/rebecca-hazells-consolamentum-rounds.html
Great review, Tracy. I'm glad you liked it. I'm excited about the letter writing. Epistolary novels are a favorite format of mine. :)
Thanks again for being on the tour!
P.S. I love your new blog design. Very catchy!
Hi Tracy,
Another great post to promote the finale of this series to its best advantage. I really found the words you chose as your memorable moment, to be very powerful and thought provoking.
I checked back over your reviews of the previous books and the fantastic guest post with Rebecca, she is certainly one very talented lady!
Given that I have only recently decided to include historical fiction amongst my favourite genres, I do think that this might be just too much of an epic saga for me to cut my teeth on, so I have decided to pass on this series, at least for the forseeable future.
Have a fantastic weekend and thanks for such a lovely post to end the week on.
Yvonne
That's great you really liked this one! I love well-done characters.
Tracy, it's evident that you enjoyed this book (and this trilogy) very much. Thanks for another top-notch review!
I have to admit that I probably would have skipped this one but your review makes me take a second look. Oh thanks for bringing it to my attention.
I love that the characters are so well-developed. Great review!
Lovely new blog look Tracy.
Consolamentum sounds like a nice addition to this trilogy.
Hi Tracy, having to highlight the text to read it is a great idea – I did - because I can never resist spoilers!
You obviously enjoyed this book and the trilogy, but I can’t make up my mind. I might not start on it yet as I have so many other things to read at the moment.
An excellent review as yours always are. x
Though I have read a limited number of books that consisted of letters or other correspondence between characters, I have tended to like this writing style. I find that digesting stories in relatively small bits to be pleasant but that the style can still be informative.
The era that this takes place in is also interestuing.
Right there is the book synopsis is one of my pet peeves; "mourning the loss of her beloved knight".
I suppose had I read the first two and then read this is the synopsis I would read anyway, but having see that first, I feel this is not a series for me.
What a wonderful review. I look forward to beginning this series. It sounds just great and the writing and character development sound awesome. Thanks for sharing!
This sounds like such a good book and series. I am glad you continue to enjoy it!
I finished the trilogy last night and had to come back and read your reviews in their entirety, now that I didn't have to worry about spoilers. I'm so glad I followed your recommendation and read this series. They are wonderful! I will be thinking about Sofia and her world for some time to come.
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