FOOLS' GOLD.

FOOLS' GOLD (ORDER OF DARKNESS #3) by PHILIPPA GREGORY.

SOURCE: A present from Mr T.

Luca Vero and his friends must uncover the truth about a mysterious flood of English noble coins arriving on the market in Venice. Speculators are feverishly buying up stocks of the money in a dizzying boom that seems to have no end.

Travelling with Luca, the Lady Isolade and her companion Ishraq are never far from danger, with her brother's deadly messangers closely following their trail. With its own laws and rules, Venice will prove no safe haven. Their mission from the Pope is no protection here.

But as they face the truly unknown dangers of magic and alchemy, the crimes and politics of the city may become the least of their worries. The powers they confront are not of this world ......
.... Inner front cover

FIRST SENTENCE {Ravenna, Spring 1454}: The four horse riders halted before the mighty closed gates of the city of Ravenna, the snow swirling around their hunched shoulders, while the man servent Freize, rode up to the wooden doors and using his cudgel, hammered loudly and shouted "Open up!"

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 22}: "You have to give that one to me because she is a runaway slave and the Lord is her master. And the Lady has to be given to me because she is the Lord of Lucretili's sister and as much a part of his property as his chair or his horse."

MY THOUGHTS: Though a big fan of Ms Gregory I have to admit that I was rather dubious (why I don't quite know) to learn that she had written a series of books aimed at the Young Adult market.

Not overly impressed with CHANGELING (book one in the series) and its mix of the historical and 'supernatural' (a feature of all the books so far) I did consider not buying book two, STORMBRINGERS, but was glad I did as unlike Fools' Gold I found it a reasonably enjoyable read worthy of what I consider to be one of the best authors of historical fiction .

By far the least enjoyable story in what I believe is to be a series of four books. Whilst not without things to recommend it (As always I loved the character Ishraq, really enjoyed the descriptions of fifteenth century Venice and would have liked to have read more of the behaviour expected of women of a certain class) on the whole I was bitterly disappointed with Fools' Gold.

Whilst not against the supernatural/paranormal aspect of the books per se, indeed I thought it made an interesting aside in Stormbringers, sadly I felt it just didn't work in this particular book and, if I was to be totally cynical, was only included as a sure-fire way of capturing the imagination of a YA market renowned for its love of all things 'otherworldy'.

But this isn't my main concern with the book. Aimed at the YA market which according to some websites encompasses those aged 12 to 34 (yes, I was surprised by this as well) I think the author tries too hard to appeal to this widely different demographic rather than mainly concentrating on lets say the 'tween' market (typically those aged 13 to 19) or the 'college-aged consumer' (18 to 23) and as such the novel doesn't really work on any level. 

A series probably best read from the beginning and in order as whilst each novel deals with a different 'case' the characters stories develop book by book.

Will I be buying the next book in the series? Given that is reputed to be the last book in the series, probably.

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