Susannah KellsBesprekingen

One afternoon during the 1640's when King Charles I of England's Royalist forces are at war with Parliament's Roundheads a pretty young girl, illicitly swimming naked in a stream, is surprised a passing stranger. Her parents call her Dorcas, but he calls her Campion and she immediately falls in love with him.

So when an unbearable prospective husband is forced upon her, Dorcas flees to seek her lover, taking with her the one gift left to her by her unknown father- a golden seal.

There are four of these jewels, each owned by a stranger. If one person can gather them all then that person will have access to great wealth and power. This is Campion's inheritance.

I am normally a great fan of Bernard Cornwell's books and this one was supposedly written in collaboration with Susannah Kells (which I believe is the pen-name of Cornwell's wife). I rather suspect that it was she who did most of the writing and the publishers cynically exploiting her husband's fame. The historical background was well researched and the plot if rather absurd moved along at a decent pace, but the characterisation was poor and stereotypical, whilst I wasn't ever tempted to throw in the towel the final supposed twist so transparent I found it laughable.

All in all I found this one a dud and I won't be rushing out looking for any more in the series.

I had read this before so I knew were things were going.

Dorcus/Campion annoyed me sometimes at the beginning.

I loved Lady Lazender.

17th c. Puritan England - Dorcas Slythe - "Campion" + Toby - covenant +seals
Enemies all want seal - very good.

In mid seventeenth-century England, the nation was in upheaval. In the Dorset countryside, one sunlit afternoon, a young girl - illicitly bathing in a stream - first fell in love with a passing stranger. Her parents called her Dorcas, but he called her Campion and that's what she longed to be, then and forever. She had one gift left for her by her unknown father - a pendant made of gold, banded by tiny glowing stones and at its base was a seal engraved with an axe and the words: St Matthew. So when she flees before the unbearable, worthy suitor who is forced upon her after her forbidden meeting, she takes this and the delicate lace gloves with her, and hopes to find her father, and her lover. There are four of these intricately wrought seals - each owned by a stranger, each holding a secret within. And when all four seals are united, then the holder will have access to great wealth and power. That is Campion's inheritance. But to claim this and find again her summer love, she must follow the course her father's legacy charts for her.

“The Fallen Angels” has a lot of good things going for it, though I prefer the first book of the Crowning Mercy series. I like how the authors have created a sequel that is set in a different era, with brand new characters, yet manage to link this book back to its predecessor.

Whereas Book 1 had lots of conflict and dramatic situations, this second book starts out in a similar fashion, yet for most of the middle section it strikes me as lacklustre in some way. The last few chapters pick up the pace again, though they neither match the opening scenes, nor come close to the final stages in the first novel.

Both novels feature a heroine named Campion, with the Campion of this tale being the great-great granddaughter of the former. They are similar in appearance and personality, yet the first Campion appealed to me more.

Aspects that make this book lack sparkle is the amount of repetition and the overuse of adjectives. English style often gets overlooked in historical fiction, as most authors in this genre put all their efforts into researching the past. Content and style should complement each other.

Quite often a character is described with two or three adjectives when one would’ve sufficed. There’s a point where the character Gitan is introduced as wearing black. This information is followed up by listing all the characters garments, each of which is preceded by the word “black”, thus we have an overflow of adjectives and needless repetition.

What particularly annoyed me was the overuse of the phrases, “he/she smiled”, “he/she laughed”. One or both of these are used during almost every character interaction. This stands out more and more as the story progresses, slowing the narrative down, when in most cases the reader can imagine whether a character would smile or laugh by the context of the sentence, like with the following two:

>He smiled at her. 'It's going to be all right.'

>Her face was frowning. 'But what if he can't unblock the tunnel?'

As a rule, if a person tells someone that things will be all right, they say it with a smile. The second sentence is Campion expressing concern, thus it’s obvious what her face is doing. These additions to the dialogue, of which there are many, serve no purpose other than providing an unwanted distraction.

I do greatly admire Bernard Cornwell’s authorship, but in every book of his that I’ve read so far his weak point is always dialogue attribution. The dialogue itself is good, but he slows it down, distracting the reader with things like in the sentences above, or telling the reader which character is speaking when it’s obvious who it is.

Anyway, despite these minus points, the good parts really are good, thus it just about deserves four stars.

Set during the 1640s when King Charles I of England was at war with his own people, this story follows the up and downs of a beautiful woman with an ugly name: Dorcas Slythe. Not surprisingly, when she meets her dream man, who adores her but hates her name, she readily agrees to being called Campion after a beautiful flower.

Campion is raised as a Puritan. Her unloving father beats her with his belt whenever she does anything he considers as sinful. Yet he’s hiding something from her; something that holds great riches and a means of escape from her miserable home.

At length Campion discovers her father’s secret and leaves for London. For the rest of the story she experiences a mixture of great happiness and humiliating horrors.

The two authors have done a good job of intermixing themes. Some readers won’t like this whilst others – including me – will appreciate the blend of different tones. In some instances they do this in the same scene.

For example, early on in the book Campion’s enemies are trying to force her to marry an ugly man. During the service, while she’s being manhandled by someone she knows would rape her with pleasure, there’s also a comedy being acted out with the drunk priest. Again, some readers may not like this, but I found it high entertainment and cleverly written.

I did consider some sections as dull but these were few. On the whole I thought this was an excellent tale, well-plotted, blending humour and horror to great effect, featuring a likeable heroine along with several strong characters.

Enjoyable enough as an adventure novel, but the surprise reveal of the villain in the last five pages was unbelievable.

Bit too much like a romance novel. Expected more from something with Cornwell's name on it.

So much like Angels and Demons, I am surprised Brown did not get sued over this.

A good little page turner set in Puritan England during the reign of Oliver Cromwell.

A wonderfully exciting read with a great twist in the tail

Wow. I expected better. Is it Cornwell or his wife that just doesn't get us to that place we have come to expect from Cornwell. Trite might be a description. Forgetable is probably what I am going to be left with on this one.

The period is one of my favorites, it is the dawn of the regency era, when the terror is taking over France. Great we have seen this in before in such works as Dickens, [A Tale of Two Cities], and in the Scarlett Pimpernel.

With those classic examples, Cornwell should know that he has do as well as they, or better. He doesn't. We have a little princess of a heroine whose backbone is forced upon us. We have a transparent villian, and we have a hero who really shines as hero only through the mist colored eyes of a romance novel. So what is a novel from one of the premier historical novelists is rally a romance with a thin veneer of historical laced on it.

Better has been done elsewhere. Can be skipped.

I bought this book because of the French Revolution background, but the story is so much more than that (in fact, Paris during the revolution barely features, but I was hooked anyway!): romance, a strong heroine, characters who earn the reader's trust and don't deserve it (and vice versa). The involvement of an Illuminati sect, the 'Fallen Angels' is well written, and adds to the darkness and danger of 1790s Paris, but seems rather superfluous to the conclusion. It was fun guessing the identity of Lucifer, the shadowy head of the Fallen Angels, and waiting to have my suspicions confirmed: the author neatly reminds the reader of certain character traits,to aid a mental game of 'Snap!' with the many 'dual personalities' in the book. The historical detail was slightly anachronistic, mainly concerning dance and dress (more Victorian than late Georgian or early Regency), but the descriptions of place and the chivalrous behaviour of the characters was certainly evocative of the time. This is my first taste of Bernard Cornwell - or Susannah Kells, in this case - and I shall certainly try and read the other two stories in this sequence!

You can tell this is by a younger Cornwell - the characters are less rounded and interesting than in his later novels and are rather simplistic stereotypes - the innocent young girl, dashing Cavalier hero, strict Puritan father, strict and sadistic Puritan brother.½

The civil war, England, 1643. Dorcas Slythe, a Puritan woman living in the countryside. The chance to escape her father appears when Toby Lazender (rich family) arrives, renaming her campion. They discover a gold seal -- one of four that, when joined, will reveal a great secret and uncover an enormous fortune -- Campion's quest begins.