Retrato do autor

Luke Devenish

Autor(a) de Den of Wolves

5 Works 46 Membros 2 Críticas

Séries

Obras por Luke Devenish

Den of Wolves (2008) 17 exemplares
Secret Heiress (2016) 15 exemplares
The Heart of the Ritz (2019) 3 exemplares
La emperatriz de Roma (2010) 1 exemplar

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Sexo
male
Nacionalidade
Australia

Membros

Críticas

Australian author? Check
Gothic setting? Check
Twins? Check
Manor house? Check
Servants? Check
Inheritance? Check

The six elements mentioned above make for a very enjoyable read and those who love seeing these topics penned in any Kate Morton novel, will enjoy this offering by fellow Australian author Luke Devenish.

The Secret Heiress is a deeply layered mystery set in central Victoria in two time frames with two main characters, Ida in 1880s and Biddy in the 1900s.

The mystery kept me guessing and the complex layers of lies and deceit were difficult to unravel, making for a satisfying read in a 'whodunnit/whydunnit' kind of way. I highly enjoyed the upstairs/downstairs environment, and I think this is the first gothic historical fiction novel I've read set entirely in Victoria.

My only complaint would be the lack of chapter breaks. There were very clear breaks between time periods, however these sections were quite long with no chapters to break up the pages. (There were a few sentence breaks but I always like to stop reading at the end of a chapter and I wasn't able to do that here).

Luke Devenish is an accomplished writer and this was an impressive and refreshing read in a genre generally dominated by female authors. Recommended for historical fiction fans far and wide; particularly those who haven't read a gothic Australian novel before.

* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster *
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1 vote
Assinalado
Carpe_Librum | Mar 30, 2016 |
NEST OF VIPERS is the second book in the Empress of Rome series. Author Luke Devenish has a resume that seems to hint at an ability to build a fantasy world. A novelist, screenwriter, playwright and Lecturer, Devenish was a Script Producer with Neighbours and a writer on Home and Away. Ancient Rome in Devenish's hands is a complicated, gory, deadly, lustful, obsessive place full of elaborate and complicated characters (maybe that's where the Neighbours and Home and Away comparisons have to stop...although I'd expect that comment's going to get me more hate mail).

NEST OF VIPERS comes with a media release opening line of "Sex, Murder and Intrigue in Ancient Rome", and that's about the right order if you look at it as a list of ingredients.

Devenish has built an incredibly detailed, rich version of Ancient Rome, an astounding place, populated by an equally astounding number of quite unpleasant characters. The three main characters in this book - locked in a lethal rivalry are not above using anybody or anything to advance their own causes. But it is not just Agrippina, Apicata and Livilla who are manoeuvring, there are equally elaborate machinations going on amongst the slave populations of Rome and within the male leadership group.

Not having read the first book of this series definitely seemed to leave me at somewhat of a loss as I struggled to work out who was who, what sides everyone was on and where the relationships and power-bases fitted together.

Aside from that slight confusion it has to be said - there are elements of the sex and violence in this book that aren't for the faint hearted. This is a no holds barred use of sex, violence, manipulation, cruelty and intrigue that people more used to a slightly less confrontational version of Ancient Rome might find a little unpalatable. Having said that, there's quite a feeling of reality, albeit a very unpalatable reality, about the society in which NEST OF VIPERS takes place.

I will confess to not being much of a fan of Ancient Rome epics, and there were some aspects of NEST OF VIPERS that gave me a few problems - it seemed that the sex and sexual violence was dwelt upon, almost revelled in a little too much, and to be frank, I got hopelessly lost in the names of people for a while until I finally managed to get it all straight in my own aging brain. The Empress of Rome series would definitely, however, be a set of books for any reader who loves this period of time, and is comfortable with some overt sexual violence, manipulation and confrontation in their historical worlds.
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Assinalado
austcrimefiction | Aug 12, 2010 |

Estatísticas

Obras
5
Membros
46
Popularidade
#335,831
Avaliação
3.2
Críticas
2
ISBN
23
Línguas
2