Customer Reviews

Prophecy

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a really well written and entertaining story. The principal characters (both historical and fictional) are well rounded and believable. Although, from the little I know of the real Bruno, I suspect he was not quite as nice a chap as S J Parris would have us believe - he seemed to manage to annoy everyone he came into contact with eventually. But that's being picky - this fictional Bruno is a likeable, intelligent spy/detective.

The cast of historical characters is pretty much a who's who of Tudor politics and alchemical proto-science: Walsingham, Burghley, Sidney, Mary Stuart, Howard, Dee, Kelly all make an appearance. The details are spot on and historically accurate - or plausible guesses where the truth isn't known (there is no evidence that Bruno met Dee for example but it seems highly unlikely that he didn't and it makes the story work so what the heck).

Historical fiction is quite difficult to pull off, in my view. How much were people in Tudor England quite like us in their day to day lives and relationships, and how much were they entirely alien in their world view? Parris's characters seem to be a little more modern than I suspect the real people were - but I think she generally gets the balance right and mostly steers clear of overtly anachronistic dialogue and motives.

I will be going back and reading the first in this series and will be hoping for many further volumes - maybe even a TV series with someone like Joseph Fiennes as Bruno, or would that be too much to ask?

This is a follow-up to Heresy. Once again Italian ex-monk Giordano Bruno becomes involved in unravelling a mystery. This time two of Queen Elizabeth's maids are found murdered and there seems to be a plot to kill the queen and install Mary Stuart on the throne.

Prophecy is quite a lively read. The atmosphere of late 16th century London is well drawn and the scenes at court are particularly vivid. The diplomatic rivalries, religious in-fighting and scheming are well drawn. I feel that the plot became over-complex with the introduction of occult symbols carved into the flesh of victims and the search for the esoteric book of Hermetic wisdom. Bruno is not a very attractive character, nor unfortunately were any of the other protagonists (though I liked Castelnau, the French ambassador). Although the plot moves at a good pace there are some rather "clunky" moments. At one point Bruno is trapped in a room and a villain informs him of his role in the plot and that Bruno will presently be killed. Then the bad guy leaves Bruno alone in the room. Big mistake! And right at the end just as Bruno is once again facing certain death a new character appears from nowhere! Very unsatisfactory.

A good summer read.....but my loyalties remain with Shardlake!

Having read and enjoyed Giordano Bruno's first outing in Heresy, I was looking forward to reading about the disgraced monk's next case. 'Heresy', a run-of-the-mill historical crime novel, was set apart from other books in this burgeoning genre by good quality writing, and a thoughtful analysis of religious intolerance. In 'Prophecy', both are present again, but the book is badly let down by lacklustre crime solving.

'Prophecy' centres on the brutal murder of one of Elizabeth I's ladies-in-waiting. The political atmosphere is once again tense, and Catholic agitators are decrying the 'Bastard Queen'. With murder plots being hatched in every corner, Bruno and his boss Lord Walsingham, have to pinpoint the true nature of the threat. The murder even has an occult dimension, with aspects of the death corresponding to a prophecy that predicts the demise of the monarch. Increasingly isolated within the French Embassy, Bruno must work out which, if any, of the embassy staff are involved in a plot to replace Elizabeth with the Catholic Mary Stuart.

Though slow at first, the plot of Prophecy is solid. Based in some interesting history, the novel feels authentic and well-researched. Once again, Parris has been able to use history to mirror current affairs. In this case the torture of 'terrorists'. Walsingham believes that torture of the occasional innocent victim, is a price worth paying to keep his nation safe. Bruno disagrees entirely. The portrayal of religious intolerance and antagonism is once again very well done.

The problem for me is that Bruno, likeable though he is, is almost entirely useless. Instead of solving any of the crimes, he blunders about, jumping to the wrong conclusions. He only gets the bottom of things, because when the criminals capture him, instead of killing him immediately, they take the trouble to explain their plot to him. Like James Bond, Bruno then proceeds to escape in an implausible manner, and bring the perpetrators to justice.

This would be bad enough if it happened once, but twice is unforgivable. To compound matters, A third party, who is otherwise barely in the novel, turns up unprompted, just to give Bruno the answer he needs. Similarly, Bruno's life is saved a number of times, by a shadowy figure; again a third party, that plays almost no part in the rest of the novel. My final moan is that whenever Bruno is out and about on the streets of London, he keeps 'feeling a pair of eyes' on him, or 'catching a shadow in the corner of his eye.' This quickly becomes tiresome, doing little to maintain tension.

With its slow pace at the beginning, and weak plotting, 'Prophecy' fails to build on the excellent foundations laid with 'Heresy'. An opportunity missed.

If you have read Heresy already, you will be eager to find out how Giordano Bruno is enjoying his life in England. His first adventure here involved investigating the catholic plots against Queen Elizabeth I in Oxford for Lord Walsingham.

Bruno returns to England, having spent some time with King Louis, attached to the French embassy in London. Pretty soon he has been persuaded by Walsingham to spy on the gathering plots by Guise, the French, the Spanish, Henry Howard and others to take the English thrown by force and put Mary in the throne.

Without giving too much away, the plotting and counter-plotting between the various contingents becomes extremely complex. Meanwhile, one of Elizabeth's attendants in murdered in Richmond (London) and mysterious signs left on her body. Are these portending the end of Elizabeth's reign?

The second book is slower paced than the first, but is a good read. I would rate it as maybe 4.5* as it only started to grip me after 100 or so pages. However, despite that, I would recommend it.

If you like historical murder mysteries then you'll enjoy this, but I don't think you'll love it. It's slightly better than Heresy, the first in this series set in Tudor England in which an Italian ex-monk tries to solve murders while spying for Walsingham and hunting down a dangerous lost book.
I can't decide whether or not it helps the author to be writing her books at the same time as CJ Sansom. He got there first and he's much better at it, so she'll always be an also-ran. But then she picks up sales from readers like me who can't wait for the next Shardlake.
Once again, she's obviously done her homework and the Tudor setting is convincing. We learn more about Bruno in this one, and some of the secondary characters are more memorable, like Dr Dee and the French ambassador. The plot is less muddled, but it's hardly edge of the seat stuff - most readers will spot the villains a mile off (unlike Bruno who misses most of the clues while getting people killed). The continuing hunt for the mysterious book is a distraction, a complication the plot doesn't need. And I'm still not warming to Bruno, I don't feel I know him like I do Shardlake.
There are so many historical murder/spy books around at the moment, and authors setting their stories in Tudor times will just have to put up with comparisons to the brilliant CJ Sansom. This isn't bad, it's just that Bruno is still Lewis, while Shardlake is the Tudor Inspector Morse.

To my mind this is the weakest of the three bruno mysteries to date. The others set in Oxford and Canterbury had stronger plots and the crime was more central to the action. In this the crime seems a simple adjunct to material about Catholic plotting and the effect is more diffuse. Few of trhe characters come really alive except perhaps some of the people at the French Embassy where Bruno resides. There are one or two technical errors such as having Henry Howard say he had to be a lodger at his nephew's house when in fact he had a substantial Suffolk property. But the greatest flaw to me is that the book is written in the first person present tense, which I dislike. I don't know why, as the other Bruno books are written in the past tense. But others may not mind.

This is the second book by S J Parris about Tudor London. The first book being 'Heresy'. The main character is a de-frocked Italian monk called Giordano Bruno who has been sent to England under the patronage of Henri 111 of France. Whilst in England he is called on by Francis Walsingham to solve a sinister occult murder. In doing so he risks the chance of his own sinister past becoming revealed. This book is well written and has a good plot but, in my opinion, does not compare with C J Samson's similar books set again in Tudor times - albeit in Henry V111's reign and not Elizabeth 1. However, I look forward to reading the third book in this series which I am sure will be forthcoming.

Having been very disappointed by C.J.Sansom's last effort,I thought I'd give another set of initials a go and pulled this down from the shelf.I'm afraid my search for a 16th century thriller writer will have to continue if this is the best that I can expect from S.J.Parris.

Although I found the writing style and continuity of plot here more congenial than I did in Sansom's "Heartstone",I must admit that some passages seemed to drag on very tediously.The evening of Queen Elizabeth's concert seemed to take as long as the real thing might have and to much less purpose,as did the section involving a dinner.The same cannot be said for the book's action sequences which usually involve various preposterous escapades performed at break neck speed by a seemingly inexhaustible Bruno.

Characters are rather shadowy.Bruno himself hardly grabs your attention given that his most distinguishing features seem to be a penchant for black clothes, a tendency to keep a hand on his dagger and indecision as to whether to keep his hand on his 'a'penny as they used to say in the old song.The rest of the cast are fairly run of the mill - the villains aren't really scary and the goodies are pretty bland.

The historically based plotline would seem to be rife with fictional possibilities,a few of which are developed with varying success and there are various stabs at period detail,especially in relationship to the geography of London and its transport systems in the late 16th century.Parris ignores any attempt to reproduce the speech of the period,which is the safe choice but obviously one that denies her the chance to add authenticity to the piece.

In the end,its ok - better than "Heartstone" but only on a par with the rest of Sansom's stuff at best.I'll not find it hard to wait for the next one from SJP appearing in the charity shops but I'll probably buy it if I see it for a couple of quid.

This is the second historical crime thriller from SJ Parris, in what is becoming a very competitive genre.

After an ok debut story, the action this time has moved to London, with Bruno out to thwart a possible threat to the Elizabethan throne.

There are plenty of shady characters to suspect and the plot moves along at a reasonable pace. However, Parris loves to include substantial chunks of theory in her novels which adds little to the story. In fact, I got bogged down in these long chapters, feeling such detail took much away from the story which was unfolding before me.

Parris has a long long way to go to reach the standards on Sansom and Clements, but this is a step in the right direction.

A good book, but please lay of the theories in future!

Bruno Giordano, the hero of Prophecy, is a real life historical figure who was eventually burned at the stake in 1600 for heresy - the Vatican were not at all keen on his scientific ideas, most of which subsequently proved to be correct. Parris blends the true life background of Giordano into her fiction even to the extent that Giordano was really in England from 1583-5 when Prophecy is set. Although unproven he is reputed to have been spying on Catholic conspirators for Walsingham which is a central tenet of Parris' plot. The author has gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that as far as possible her account is historically accurate and the blend of fiction and history is cleverly put together and does not feel contrived.

The book involves Giordano investigating an apparent plot against Queen Elizabeth with a serial killer sub plot concerning the murders of maids of honour. The story is competently put together and keeps the interest alive throughout. The scenes are set very well and the reader gets a real sense of the period surroundings. I would imagine that most readers, even if historical novels are outside of their normal reading material, will enjoy Prophecy and I found it to be quite a page turner.

Having read this story out of sequence, the first in the series, Heresy will be next on my reading list and I look forward to further instalments which will surely follow.