Very, very pleasant listening. I love the mix of historical events and the authors imagination. The characters personalities came through with the narration. All-in all, it was satisfying and captivating..

The weaving of recorded historical events with a fictional storyline is expertly accomplished. Some of the characters are little fanciful, but all are well rounded and remain believable within the realm of the story. The narration was engaging too.

It started off strong with promises of political intrigue and covert operations, but quickly descended into dull minutiae of the after effects of the attempted uprising. In the second half of the book I kept waiting for something to happen and when it never did I turned up the speed of the audiobook so it would finish faster.I wanted to like it, but one other main criticism besides the slogging plot is that the characters felt either absolutely good or bad even when they were clearly meant to have a redemption arc. Most of the book is spent explaining to the reader why a repugnant character should be redeemed without giving a reason beyond "he is sick so he isn't himself."I would skip this one unless you really enjoy anachronistic political tedium set in historical England.

Francine Rivers and Minette Walter’s books got me through a tough 2025. This year I almost lost my husband and best friend and Jesus made a miracle happen and I ended up being blessed to be his kidney donor. Thank you for portraying human beings in reality that made me laugh, cry, get angry and have hope for tomorrow while we healed!

Well performed and so interesting. If you have purchased this book, bonus material concerning actual persons and events is available on the web version of your account.

An incredible look at Englands horrible history through well written prose and fantastic characters. And the voices this narrator uses to read the book are simply brilliant. This is a must read if you love history and enjoy marveling at how the monarchy is even a legitimate institution.