The protagonists are Antoine and Charlotte - respectively as we know them, Marie Antoinette and Maria Carolina.
When Antoine and Charlotte are girls, they find a book of spells - The Embroidered Book - and discover that they can use magic.
As the girls grow up, and into their destinies as the Queens of France and Naples, magic shapes who they are, and their destinies.
This is a bit of a strange one for me. I enjoyed the book, and the writing is very good. I learned about Maria Carolina (Charlotte) - someone I had never heard of but was a formidable woman in her own right. In The Embroidered Book Charlotte uses magic to further her own standing as Queen of Naples while Marie Antoinette struggles to find acceptance and love at the overblown court of Versailles.
We all know how Marie Antoinette's story ends - there's no spoiler there. Charlotte ends up fleeing Naples in the 1790s as revolution overtakes large parts of Europe.
I think I wanted ... more? Which is an odd thing to say about a 600-plus page book. But the magic almost felt like an afterthought at times, and it's a shame, because Kate Heartfield has actually created an interesting magic system. Each spell requires something of the one casting it - something physical such as hair or blood, but also sacrifices of memory - both Charlotte and Antoine sacrifice love at different times, which I can only imagine is a difficult choice to make.
It tilts more towards history than fantasy, and there's nothing wrong with that given the upheavals Europe as whole was going through in the 18th century. I just wish the magic could have taken more of a central role.
Hmm... interesting. Sacrifices of memory is a steep cost. I think sometimes it's tough to achieve that balance when you mix magic and historical fiction- like where do you draw the line? I can see where that would definitely be an issue as a reader.
ReplyDeleteAnd I would think you'd have to weigh up if the sacrifice is worth the magic. It's a good book but the balance did feel off for me.
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