⋙ Libro Gloriana Torch Patricia Finney 9780753818046 Books

Gloriana Torch Patricia Finney 9780753818046 Books

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Gloriana Torch Patricia Finney 9780753818046 Books

I call this the "Gloriana Trilogy." Starting with "Firedrake's Eye," continuing through "Unicorn's Blood," and ending with a bang and a bump in "Gloriana's Torch," they kept me going for hours and days.
Frankly, I didn't see how Unicorn's Blood could trumph Firedrake's Eye for sheer insouciant game playing in the Elizabethan sandbox. Characters were written, action was acted, tension spiraled and resolution left one eager to know more about the era. But Unicorn's Blood did, indeed trumph Firedrake's Eye, and HOW! So I wondered just how Patricia Finney was going to write yet another and make it better.
I shouldn't have doubted. Characters that were in the first book (such as Rebecca!) are found in the last book. The tormented blade master Becket and his side kick, the Jewish pursuivant Simon are all present. And other characters shine forth, Thomasina, a dwarf acrobat, and Merula... of whom less said the better for you, of reader, who needs to be amazed all over by her job.
What I found most compelling in this book was the Alternate History visions of Becket of the invasion of England. Had the tercios landed, he envisions the consequences most thoroughly and with fear and horror. The weaving of his dreams and visions with the reality of fighting to stop the Armada is skillfully woven and provides both entertainment and knowledge... not to mention, whetting the appetite for MORE.


Tags : Gloriana's Torch [Patricia Finney] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.,Patricia Finney,Gloriana's Torch,Orion Pub Co,0753818043,Genre Fiction,Historical fiction,Fiction

Gloriana Torch Patricia Finney 9780753818046 Books Reviews

This is a wonderful book. Set just before as well as during the attack of the Spanish Armada on England in 1588, it's fiction that is as factual as a history book. Characterization, dialogue, plot, setting--all are excellent. The African woman who asks to be taken into slavery to save her son is a particularly interesting character.
Highly recommended.
This book brings history to life. You are immersed in the sights, smells and feel of life at the time of the Spanish Armada. The depiction of the life of a galley slave was wrenching. Treachery abounds and viscous, horrendous damage done in the name of God. Breathtaking!
The Spanish Armada is ready to strike at the Queen of England, King Phillip of Spain seeking to conquer by force what he could not accomplish in marriage. Elizabeth's spies have done their best, enduring great dangers in foreign ports to bring critical information to defeat the Spanish forces. One critical clue remains unknown, the key to success or failure, the secret of the "Miracle of Beauty", the most carefully guarded element of the Spanish plan. Calling on those who have come to her aid in another dangerous adventure that threatened the crown, Elizabeth gathers her confidants Tomasina, the Queen's Fool; David Beckett, once tortured by the Inquisition and mistakenly by the Queen's own men; Simon Anriques, a Jewish merchant-spy loyal to the Queen; Rebecca, Simons' wife who will go to any length to save her husband's life; and Merula, an African slave of extraordinary talents, her heart as large as her powerful body.

The enemy drawing nearer by the day, a bold plan is put in place to gain knowledge of the Miracle of Beauty and an effort to recover Simon, who has been taken by the Inquisition while in port, and Merula's son, sold into slavery before his mother could save him. At the crux of the enterprise are the guns and ordnance to turn the firearms into killing machines. All these threads are woven into an intricate plot that brings the threat of war to the very shores of England. Finney tackles her story from every perspective, her characters fulfilling their varied destinies, the Queen, David Beckett, broken in the past but dreaming of a more noble future, Merula, acquiescing to the demands of the "white ghosts" while searching for her son, Edward Dormer, a seminarian turned assassin, Joseph Pasquale, an Inquisitor with spiritual pretensions and demons of his own and Simon Anriques, who endures the Inquisitor's torture and the hardships of imprisonment as a galley slave in hopes of reuniting with his wife. Even Suleiman, the Padron of the galley salves, is humanized as he whips his crew into shape in the filthy, death-laden holds of the galleons where slaves are worked to death.

The author goes beyond the simple retelling of an historical event, her characters defined by personal ambitions and a rigid society, the carefully layered classes from noble to slave that turn the great wheel of the kingdoms, from heroes to cowards, aristocrat to peasant, a fascinating cross-section of history at a pivotal time on the world stage. Finney puts some fine satirical points on individual characters, particularly the righteous Spanish priests who defend their purity with rabid zeal to disguise the concupiscence that torments them, clutching denial as desperately as their hair shirts and prayer books. Balancing the converging events and individuals, Finney tosses a great salad of 16th century religious conflict, intrigues, traitors, scoundrels and fanatics, all headed toward a climactic ending that will either bring Elizabeth's destruction or her triumph. There is always a contemporary message in history and Gloriana's Torch is no exception, Finney's tale inspired and beautifully crafted. Luan Gaines/ 2006.
Although Sir Robert Carey appears (in a crowd scene), this is very different from the mysteries the author writes as P. F. Chisholm. The scope of the action is broader, and the background of characters more varied. In that, it is more like an older historical blockbuster than I am used to. But it contains the same attention to detail and emphasis on the difference of the past -- as though Sir Walter Scott had teamed up with Clifford Geertz. Historical purists should take note that it does contain alternative history, but no anachronism. And the alterations to events are not there to make a point about the present, so it remains a historical novel. Not every character that I became attached to survived, which is the only thing that keeps me from calling it "thoroughly enjoyable." But I'm still thinking about it, more than a month after finishing it.
In a style different from her other books, Finney has written this riveting and complex tale of Spain's massive attempt to conquer England from several different viewpoints. She has created several fascinating, complicated characters who see different parts of the Enterprise of England from within.
Her description of the Jew Simon's experience as a galley slave rowing a Spanish galleas is painfully vivid, and she has clearly researched the ships in detail.
But I think her most unusual and intriguing character may be Merula, a west African princess and shaman who travels to Europe searching for her son, who had been sold into slavery. Her unusual internal perception of people and events, from her point of view as an "upside down" person, is fresh and fascinating.
A complexly interwoven tale of a complex historical event. A great read!
I call this the "Gloriana Trilogy." Starting with "Firedrake's Eye," continuing through "Unicorn's Blood," and ending with a bang and a bump in "Gloriana's Torch," they kept me going for hours and days.
Frankly, I didn't see how Unicorn's Blood could trumph Firedrake's Eye for sheer insouciant game playing in the Elizabethan sandbox. Characters were written, action was acted, tension spiraled and resolution left one eager to know more about the era. But Unicorn's Blood did, indeed trumph Firedrake's Eye, and HOW! So I wondered just how Patricia Finney was going to write yet another and make it better.
I shouldn't have doubted. Characters that were in the first book (such as Rebecca!) are found in the last book. The tormented blade master Becket and his side kick, the Jewish pursuivant Simon are all present. And other characters shine forth, Thomasina, a dwarf acrobat, and Merula... of whom less said the better for you, of reader, who needs to be amazed all over by her job.
What I found most compelling in this book was the Alternate History visions of Becket of the invasion of England. Had the tercios landed, he envisions the consequences most thoroughly and with fear and horror. The weaving of his dreams and visions with the reality of fighting to stop the Armada is skillfully woven and provides both entertainment and knowledge... not to mention, whetting the appetite for MORE.