REVIEW: The Alchemist in the Shadows by Pierre Pevel

The Alchemist in the Shadows by Pierre Pevel
Publishing information: Paperback; 336 pages
Publisher: Gollancz; 12 May 2011
ISBN 10: 0575084421
ISBN 13: 9780575084421
Series: Book 2 in the Cardinal's Blade Trilogy
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: "Welcome to Paris, in 1633, where dragons menace the realm. Cardinal Richelieu, the most powerful and most feared man in France, is on his guard. He knows France is under threat, and that a secret society known as the Black Claw is conspiring against him from the heart of the greatest courts in Europe. They will strike from the shadows, and when they do the blow will be both terrible and deadly. To counter the threat, Richelieu has put his most trusted men into play: the Cardinal's Blades, led by Captain la Fargue. Six men and a woman, all of exceptional abilities and all ready to risk their lives on his command. They have saved France before, and the Cardinal is relying on them to do it again. So when la Fargue hears from a beautiful, infamous, deadly Italian spy claiming to have valuable information, he has to listen ...and when La Donna demands Cardinal Richelieu's protection before she will talk, la Fargue is even prepared to consider it. Because La Donna can name their enemy. It's a man as elusive as he is manipulative, as subtle as Richelieu himself, an exceptionally dangerous adversary: the Alchemist in the shadows ..."

The Alchemist in the Shadows takes off a few days from when we last left the Blades in the first book in the series, The Cardinal's Blades. While the first book was interesting and had enough to keep my interest primed. The Alchemist in the Shadows, in my opinion, does a better job of moving the story along and keeping the intrigue interesting.

All of the Blades are back as well as a few more familiar faces. This time they are after an enemy that has dodged La Fargue at every turn, The Alchemist has managed to stay one step ahead of Cardinal Richelieu, La Fargue, and his band of Blades. This time the chase has dire consequences for France and the country's royalty. While not much is told about the Alchemist he seems to have a shroud of mystery that surrounds him and Pevel does a great job at times of showing his ruthlessness and unfortunately, at other times he fails to prove just how formidable he truly is. The other new face in this story is La Donna a beautiful and ingenious spy. She burns at both ends. Often working for both sides of a conflict. She was quite interesting and her introduction was impressive, but just like The Alchemist, she tends to shine at some parts of the novel and others she wanes. I am not sure whether this is due to the translation from French or this is just a flaw of the author. While this is a concern, it is only a minor flaw. Also, there seems to be some foreshadowing into Cardinal Richelieu, perhaps he is not all that he seems.

The story is much quicker paced when compared to its predecessor. I found The Alchemist in the Shadows to move at a frightful pace and as clues and plots are uncovered it was hard to keep up with it all. Add all of the fencing and combat and there is hardly time to catch your breath. There is a lot to take in from the immediate plot of the book and the hidden plots that will hopefully be resolved in the third book. In the first book we know that La Fargue is in contact with a mysterious white dragon and the dragon briefly appears again in this installment; however, we are no closer to finding out what their relationship is. This little sub-plot drives me insane as I have no idea how it fits into the overall story so I hope to see a resolution to it in book three.

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the cover to the book. The covers in this series are outstanding. I love the dragons that adorn the swords. The first book was purchased in part due to the cover and this book in the series is also a terrific cover.

The Alchemist in the Shadows is a great addition to the series and while there are some minor concerns they do not take away from what makes the story and the series great. If anything book two is much better than the first novel. It moved along much quicker and seemed to have more of the author's voice in it. As if Pevel had finally hit his stride. If you found yourself enjoying the first swashbuckling adventure of The Cardinal's Blades this is just another great adventure in the series. Hard to put down once you open it up.

Plot 8
Characters 7
Style 7

Overall 7/10

REVIEW: The Cardinal's Blades by Pierre Pevel

The Cardinal's Blades by Pierre Pevel
Publishing Information: Paperback; 384 pages
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co; 19 December 2009
ISBN 10: 0575084383
ISBN 13: 9780575084384
Series: The Cardinal's Blades (Book 1)
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: "Paris, 1633. Louis XIII reigns over France ...and Cardinal Richelieu governs the country. One of the most dangerous and most powerful men in Europe, Richelieu keeps a constant, sharp eye on the enemies of the Crown to avoid their assassination attempts, thwart their spies and avert their warmongering. But he's up against people who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, even going so far as to forge alliances with France's oldest and deadliest enemies. Spain, and the Court of Dragons. The nobility keep tiny dragonnets as pets; royal couriers ride tame wyverns, and lethal man-shaped scaled dracs ropam the country. But the power rising from the Court of Dragons is anything but mundane; the Black Claw sect draws on dragons as they once were: ancient, terrible, utterly merciless ...and poised to move against France. Faced with the growing threat from Spain, Richelieu summons Captain la Fargue, an exceptional swordsman, devoted officer and brilliant leader. If he's to turn aside the Black Claw's schemes, La Fargue and his legenday company of swashbucklers and rogues must be persuaded to once again risk their lives, fortunes and reputations for Richelieu, and for France. It's the biggest challenge yet for The Cardinal's Blades - and they'll need to be sharp ..."

I have to admit that the final decision to purchase this book and it's sequel was based on their covers. The covers are gorgeous. Although other reviews have played a part in the decision to buy it. The Cardinal's Blades is the Three Musketeers with dragons. Plenty of political intrigue and swashbuckling adventure.

The characters that make up the novel are interesting and some are more than two dimensional. Although a few of them do fall a little flat and I do not know if this is due to the fact that they were written that way or if is due to the translation from French to English. The Cardinal, Richelieu is as you would expect all-powerful and the right hand of the king. He is a secret wrapped in an enigma. You do not know what his true agenda is but you can always count on him doing whatever he must to keep himself in power and on top. He is in charge of a secret organization of highly skilled soldiers/spies/assassins known as the Cardinal's Blades. A few of the Blades are written quite well and are interesting but, a few of them are nothing but puppets that are necessary to round out the group. La Fargue is the leader of this group and there are a lot of facets to him as he holds a lot of his plans close to the chest. He has a lot of trust issues and is not entirely sure of the motivation for the resurrection of his squad. He also knows that there is more to his return than what is on the surface. He was able to maintain my attention through out the book. The rest of the group has an interesting dynamic, but there were times when their reactions were unimaginative and left me shaking my head. For a feared and legendary group of capable soldiers some of their actions seemed at odds with their mystique. It is a minor point of contention.

The world is just as you imagine it would be in the 1600s, with the exception of dragons. There are wyverns that can be used as mounts and small dragons that are used as household pets and messengers. I was lead to believe that their existence in the world would have a larger impact on history but it is not the case. They are in the background and used as an interesting side note in history. The biggest difference is that some dragons have undergone a transformation. They are human in appearance and aside from their eyes and a few behaviors we would consider odd, they are human. They are a secret society known as the Black Claw and are headquartered in Spain and use the political landscape of the two countries to promote their own agenda. At this time they are attempting to branch out into France and subvert the monarchy. It is not exactly clear as to why they are doing this other than to expand their influence. Since they are a secret society you think this could be done without a giant target on their back but they are not exactly subtle about their arrival. It is the main plot of the story. It is highly disappointing as I was hoping for large dragons found in lore and I came to find their were only slightly different from humans.

The book moves at a fairly decent clip. There are only one or two slow sections in the novel that do not take long to get out of before you are thrust back into action and the various conspiracies. There is not a lot of infodumps as we are just to acknowledge the dragon's existence and the fact that they have changed their appearance. To be fair, Pevel does explain why they have changed shape but it was a little different and seemed kind of odd.

The Cardinal's Blade is a decent read, it just does not live up to the hype. The fact that the novel totes that dragons live alongside humans is a bit of a misconception. Although the book leaves a lot to be solved for later sequels the main plot point is wrapped up nicely. I will give the second book The Alchemist in the Shadows a chance but if that novel does not improve then it is probably a series I will leave.

Plot 7
Characters 7
Style 7

Overall 7/10