Attain A Plague Of Lies Curated By Judith Rock EPub

and a half but I'll round up because I like this author and want to tilt her ratings up instead of downThis is the third book in a series of historical mysteries by Judith Rock I loved her first book found her second one a bit faltering in cohesiveness and think she made a solid entry with her third Charles de Luc a young Jesuit aspirant has to go to Versailles He is less than thrilled about this since he dislikes the militarism and vast amounts of spending that Louis XIV is famous for The plot mechanism for getting him there and involved in intrigue may be a bit clunky but I was enjoying myself too much to let it bother me We get gorgeous descriptions of Versailles the dazzling nobility the peculiarities of life at court I was especially fond of how the author was able to create such a nuanced portrait of Louis XIV with so few direct interactions with him I sympathized with Charles getting drawn into the orbit of the high spirited princess The end may have taken a bit of an easy way out I was fine with that too because I'm interested in the development of Charles as a character than the mechanics of the mysteryCharles is a genuinely devout young man I don't really have faith myself but I'm impressed when an author succeeds in creating a character of faith that is capable of doubt and logical nuanced thinking I find that mostly religious characters turn out to be bad guy hypocrites or idiot plot obstacles Charles however believes in a loving and generous God and wants most of all to be close to Him However Charles is also compassionate and gets drawn into conflicts of obedience because of his attachment to people I think that Judith Rock does a great job of portraying an intelligent mind prior to the Age of Reason I'm looking forward to of her insights in her next book I reviewed the first book in the Charles Du Luc series Rhetoric of Death on Goodreads inAt the time I said that it had awakened in me an interest in French history the Jesuits and classical knowledge I liked it well enough that I know I read her second Elouence of Blood although it doesnt look like I reviewed it in Goodreads or noted it in my book list I do remember that I liked it as well However after reading this book which is the third in the series my interest inth century France and in Charles Du Luc is completely sated One might say that I am feeling overstuffedIt took me a long time to read this months actually I purchased it last year intending to read it before I went to Versailles in October as the actionI use the word action somewhat loosely as this book is very slow pacedtakes place there I didnt however start reading it until after I returned at the beginning of November As it is now mid May you may get an idea of how enthralling I found itReading this book was like ploughing through a History book written by a scholarly historian for a course on Louis XIV Some of it is interesting but some of it not so much Especially if I am not going to have to write aword essay about it I also found the numerous references to Jesuit ballet boring as I have only a vague idea of what these ballets might have been like think of a movie about theth century with people dancing around a richly decorated room and you've probably got it I actually vaguely remember now that Elouence of Blood had a lot of Jesuit ballet in it as well So at this point I really dont care about the ballet give me the mystery please and thank you In fact Rock has written a scholarly treatise on the subject of Jesuit ballet that is almost as long as this novel Its obviously a specialty of hers Sometimes I found the storyline for the book was simply a framework for her to expound on this specialty Still if you like baroue ballet or if you want a taste of the politics of the Court of Versailles and how the Jesuits figured in you might like the book Be warned though that you really dont get much about the Jesuits at Versailles Pere LaChaise in modern times famous for the cemetery that is named after him has a brief role but thats it We learn that they had to bow to the king and take their bonnets off that they slept in small rooms and ate soup most of the time unless they were invited to dine at some noblemans table And unsurprisingly that the King's mistresses didn't like them much Not a lot of mystery there unless its how they didnt all get ptomaine poisoning from eating day old meat broth that had been sitting in an unrefrigerated larderTheres an irony in reading “A Plague of Lies” during our coronavirus pandemic People are falling ill of a mysterious fever inth Century Paris in ever increasing numbers but it too is a minor subplot that never really gets off the ground Instead it provides a possible alternative to the suspicion that a couple of people might have been poisoned at Versailles Also that someone has it in for King Louis XIV The dawning of conspiracy theories Theres also thwarted young love but for me none of these storylines really were tightly written enough that I could hang on to a theme and stay up untilbecause I had to know what was going to happen I kept putting the book down sometimes for weeks at a time Or falling asleep over it I only read to the end because I knew I was going to review it here and I wanted to make sure there wasnt some thrilling occurrence in the lastpages that might change my mind about my review There wasnt By the end I just didnt care about the tragedy that occurred in the lastpages I figured that things were going to go that way because thats what happened inth century French aristocracy Think I will stick with books aboutth century France from now on Loved it I can see how some people might be unhappy with this entry in the series as much of the action takes place not near Louis le Grand but in the palace of King Louis XIV at Versailles Personally I loved observing Charles out of his comfort zone and dealing with the intrigues of court The mystery itself was okay interesting while it was going on but without much resolution at the end uite a few times I wanted to reach through the book and slap some of the pampered students Charles has to deal with But I read this fairly uickly in the limited reading time I had I really like the characters and enjoy the sense of time and place the author has created here An historical mystery set during the reign of Louis XIV full of detailed descriptions of Versailles and what everyone at court wore This is literary than fast paced The end was predictable but I enjoyed the book enough that I have added the next in the series to my TBR list I find myself liking Judith Rock's protagonist Maitre Charles du Luc and as this series progresses Rock has created a character whose growth is apparent from book to book Beginning as a fairly callow young soldier turned Jesuit du Luc is slowly leaving behind his desires to have the Church and the world too In this book the reader finds him confronting his own distaste for court life difficult personalities and even the King himself to move closer to the priest he wants to beMy enjoyment of these books is slightly tempered by Rock's often languid pacing and her propensity for delaying the real action of the book until fairly late Still well worth the read for the well researched look into France in the era of the Sun King its politics religion and common life I'm so pleased to discover that this is the third historical mystery featuring rhetoric teacher and novice Jesuit Charles du Luc I can search out the second one that I missedThe prestigious Louis le Grand Jesuit school has sent a delegation to Versailles to present the gift of a reliuary to King Louis XIVs second wife Madame de Maintenon the former governess of his illegitimate offspring in hopes of placating her in the matter of the kings Jesuit confessors advice to withhold from her the title of ueen But almost immediately they arrive a courtier falls dead in his tracks the entire Jesuit delegation falls dreadfully ill a palace gardener is found murdered In the midst of all this Charles learns that one of his students is in love with the kings rebellious and betrothed daughter and may ruin not only himself but all of themI was slightly disappointed in the latest Charles de Luc mystery Not that it was downright terrible it was not Plague of Lies just seemed to me to be lacking in some crucial piece that makes a mystery great

Through the last couple of pages I kept anticipating a twist or at the very least complete resolution to the who done it There was neitherI also took issue with the uneven and incomplete picture painted of most of the characters I never got a really good impression of who any of them truly wereOverall Plague of Lies seemed of a giant hint at Charles' increasing confusion over his vocation It will be interesting to see where that goes in his next adventure which I will definitely read Madame de Maintenon is King Louis XIVs second wife The daughter of a minor noble of ill repute she has not forgiven the kings Jesuit confessor for encouraging him to withhold the title of ueen from her To placate her the prestigious Louis le Grand Jesuit school has sent a delegation including her distant relation Pere Jouvancy and rhetoric teacher Charles du Lucto Versailles with a gift of reliuaryThe Sun Kings palace is spectacular but the delegations visit grows darker and darker On their first night a courtier dies and court whispers claim poison Then the Jesuits fall direly ill and a palace gardener is found murdered Now fear grips a court where everyone has secrets to hide.