I love historical fiction and in my opinion Kate Mosse is one of the OG’s of historical fiction and with this little beuaty she really did not disappoint.
The first book in her newest series of novels, The Burning Chambers is set in France, in the year 1562, when the Wars of Religion were beginning to take hold. Which after googling I found were a sequence of eight civil wars between the Catholic and the Huguenot factions and the loss and destruction was profound, with several million people dead or displaced over the 36 years these wars were wagered for.
This isnt a period of history that i know anything about before reading this novel but that did not hinder my experience at all and if anything this novel made my interest peak for a period of history that was relatively unknown to me before.
The Burning Chambers contains an impressive amount of historical detail woven into a story that is highly attainable and vividly engaging enriched with imagery. I was instantantaneously swept off of my feet into the suspense and richly detailed lives of the characters. It’s a mammoth book with 600 pages, but they whirled by and I really couldn’t put it down. I even lost sleep to carry on reading it and I carried on reading it well into the morning after I had woken up too.
These barbarous wars of religion must have been so terrible to live through and Mosse does an amazing job of bringing this to the forefront of the novel. The corruption threaded through all factions of society were palpable and each individual had to keep their wits about them at all times, with no idea who you could trust. Regardless of this though, communities would join together to protect each other against the forces that willed their destruction. there is a wonderful sense of community and love within the horrors of this novel.
One of the mysteries in play in the novel set agasint this brutal war is that of the protagonist Miou’s heritage and the woman who for reasons uncleae until the conclusion part of the novel is pursuing her and has no limits to what she will do to achieve an end to her means.
The novel is filled to the brim with high drama and captivating suspense. it is crammed with history, gothic undertones, crime, mystery, suspense, romance, murder and so much more. As with all of her wtiring Mosse has accomanpanied section pages with pictures that set up the scene perfectly it was a journey of pure delight and a nice touch that firmly gives the reader a sense of time and place. The Burning Chambers is a novel that will appeal to a wide range of readers and it really is Kate Mosse at her very best.
I gave this novel ***** as again she is in my opinion one of the best historical fiction authors out there and this has become a series i will keep coming back too in the future.
Dont forget to check out my upcoming review for the second installment in this series, The City Of Tears, which i have akmost finished and is just as wonderful – if not more so – than this installment.
fictionvixenreads 