It was well paced, and the shifts in scenery were well done. I also liked the careful use of Italian (with French translation provided) to set the scene among the Lombard bankers: maybe three sentences total. This includes historical notes, which are endnotes in the novel itself, and some biographical information about the key players. I learned a LOT of new French words from this book, but not really ones that can be used in general conversation…Īs far as historical fiction goes, this is a densely packed but efficient specimen, clocking in at about 250 pages in my edition. The violence, in the form of torturing and executing the princesses’ lovers, seemed more historically accurate than the sex, which I’m not sure we can know in quite that detail. This latter incident is ripe for some rather lurid imagery on Druon’s part with regard to both sex and violence. Specifically, we see the destruction of the last Knights Templar and the fallout from the Tour de Nesle Affair, in which two of the king’s daughters-in-law were accused of adultery. The first of seven volumes in the Accursed Kings series, this book focuses on the last year or so of the reign of Philippe IV le Bel (Philip the Fair), father of Isabelle, queen of England whose husband was Edward II. If you appreciate the history it's teaching you, you won't mind those shortcomings. It hasn't nearly the breadth of that saga, despite the huge number of names who appear, and only a small measure of the atmosphere.
It's a far cry from fantasy fiction like Game of Thrones, an often cited comparison, but the influence of this 1950s work on George Martin is clear in large and small ways: nobility caught up in earthly pleasures, people in high positions experiencing grim and dramatic falls, the recitation of enemies' names. There are some fantastic end notes well worth reading, that I wish more fiction authors playing with the past would trouble themselves to include. Occasionally his narrator's voice offers comment, speaking from a perspective 700 years in the future, but for the most part he stands back and merely portrays. Druon explores the thoughts and feelings of real people who experienced these events, embellishing only where it serves to fill in the blanks. This is written in the style of my favourite historical fiction, steering close to the actual record. It offers some closure but leaves several balls in the air for the rest of the series to untangle.
The story quickly progresses to illicit affairs among the princesses in line for the throne, and the subsequent fallout. Given the preponderance of Templars in fiction, I was happy that they don't long hold the stage. Philip IV of France is putting an end to the Templars, in a bid to grasp their fortune for the crown, and he gets his lineage cursed in the process.
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