Changeling

Philippa Gregory

Order of Darkness #1

Summary:

The year is 1453 and all signs point to it being the end of the world.

Accused of heresy and expelled from this monastery, handsome seventeen-year-old Luca Vero is recruited by a mysterious stranger to record the end of times across Europe. Commanded by sealed orders, Luca is sent to map the fears of Christendom, and to travel to the very frontier of good and evil.

Seventeen-year-old Isolde, a Lady Abbess, is trapped in a nunnery to prevent her claiming her rich inheritance. As the nuns in her care are driven mad by strange visions, walking in their sleep, and showing bleeding wounds, Luca is sent to investigate and all the evidence points to Isolde’s criminal guilt. Outside in the yard they are building a pyre to burn her for witchcraft.

Forced to face the greatest fears of the medieval world-dark magic, werewolves, madness-Luca and Isolde embark on a search for truth, their own destinies, and even love as they take the unknown ways to the real historical figure that defends the boundaries of Christendom and holds the secrets of the Order of Darkness.

Plot:

This is a very interesting and original story. I like the author’s use of the different era and find the way culture and society worked back then very interesting. There were moments in this book that made me smile and others that were pretty horrifying, all in a pretty good balance making it an engaging and entertaining read. The writing was good and descriptive, but easy to read and understand. Although some parts of the story don’t really make sense I have to assume that all will be explained in the sequels.

Characters:

I like the characters in this book, I feel like they are interesting and unique, but still relatable enough. However, I didn’t love any of them. My favourite is probably Freize, who is Luca’s friend/servant and a very funny character with a kind heart and a way of charming everyone. He feels the most alive to me. I like the romances and the way the characters connect, and the villains are interesting and slightly unusual. The characters were definitely very well handled.

Who should read this:

12+, mainly for the violence, which is not extremely graphic, but quite disturbing. I didn’t notice any language. I don’t think everyone will like this book, some might find its themes strange and might not like the way religion is portrayed in the story. So I definitely recommend caution as far as that goes. However if you want a good YA book that is set in a different era and has plenty of suspense and adventure you might like this one.

My rating:

While I enjoyed this book, I don’t know if I really loved it. There wasn’t anything wrong with it in my opinion as far as writing etc. goes, but it’s just not my favourite type of book, especially since I didn’t really connect with the characters. 3/5

Quote:

Luca realized that she was a thing of horror, a beautiful thing of horror, the worst thing between heaven and hell: a fallen angel