Inceptio - Alison Morton - Guest Book Review

Published by SilverWood Books

Guest review by Wendy Rowley

Alternative history novels are quite commonplace now but they mostly "turn" on fairly recent events such as a different outcome to WW2 or how things might have been different if Kennedy had survived. In Inceptio the premise starts further back, what if the Roman Empire hadn't completely fallen, and what if that empire was run by women.

So with this as the basis we have a female narrator in her early 20s, living in the Eastern United States who discovers she is the heir to a powerful dynasty in Roma Nova. There's a threat to her life and she has to flee to Roma Nova to survive. This all sounds like the basis of a good story. However I found the narrator to be annoyingly conceited - every time she gets into a scrape she has to come out on top and brag to the reader about it. I also found it very sexist against men. Obviously with the women of the empire having all the power this is likely to happen but it made me think of the James Bond books in reverse, which of course didn't do women any favours but were set in the 1960s and true to society of the time. 

Inceptio is set in the 2010s and I would expect a less sexist attitude. With this in mind it's hard to see who the target audience is meant to be. In some ways it is a lot like The Hunger Games books but I am not sure it would appeal to teens in the same way. Overall it was entertaining but predictable. I would mark it 7/10.

Many thanks to Wendy for reading and reviewing Inceptio for The Little Reader Library!

His Dark Lady - Victoria Lamb

'Lucy had come to realize in her time at court what a fragile thing reputation was, and how easily it could be lost...'

This novel is the second to feature the lead character Lucy Morgan, the first being The Queen's Secret (click the title to read my full review of that novel). 

This is another very enjoyable historical tale weaving fiction with real characters and detail from history, most notably Queen Elizabeth I, and a certain young playwright going by the name of Will Shakespeare. The story is set in the 1580s. Lucy is the dark lady of the title, one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, liked for her singing voice, she met the young Shakespeare briefly in the first novel, and here she becomes his muse. Several other characters from the first book make a welcome reappearance here, including Lucy's guardian Goodluck, once more involved in danger and intrigue. We learn that Lucy witnessed the secret marriage of Robert Dudley, beloved favourite of the Queen, to her cousin Lettice Knollys, and concealing her presence there from the Queen weighs heavily on Lucy's mind. 

I enjoyed catching up with these characters again, they had stayed in my mind after the first novel in the series, in particular Lucy and Goodluck, and I was curious and excited to revisit their world and discover what adventures they would be involved in next. I was also gripped and intrigued by how the author portrayed Elizabeth during these turbulent times in her reign; her hopes and her health as she gets older, her ongoing feelings for Leicester, whose 'marriage was still a wound in her side', the threats on her life from those intent on removing her and installing Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne and the resulting doubts as to who in her circle she can really trust. It's always interesting to see how an author depicts people from history when creating fiction, and I was intrigued by Victoria Lamb's take on Shakespeare, although how he behaves here might not leave you quite so fond of him! 

I liked how the narrative moved between the different threads of the tale, focusing on the main characters Lucy, Goodluck, Shakespeare and the Queen; this added tension and kept me turning the pages to find out how each strand developed. 

It's an imaginative, entertaining and dramatic tale read on its own. Having said that, I'd recommend reading The Queen's Secret first ideally, so that you can follow through the stories of each character more fully. I liked the author's notes at the end separating the fact from the fiction. 

The third part in the trilogy is due to be published early in 2014 and is entitled Her Last Assassin (click the title to see the cover reveal on Victoria Lamb's website).

Source - publisher review copy

Published by Bantam Press

Visit the author's website here and follow the author on twitter @VictoriaLamb1.