I received a galley of this novel from NetGalley for review. This in no way affected my opinions.
The Oracle Glass was a fabulously told historical fantasy tale that took place around The Affair of the Poisons, a real series of events that happened during the reign of Louis XIV.
After the death of her beloved father, Genevieve Pasquier escapes her abusive family and becomes Madame Morville, a 150 year old fortune teller with the help of La Voisin. La Voison, who really existed, was the ruler of a secret society of witches, and is the prime source in dealing out poison to high-end clients.
Genevieve keeps up this masquerade, and eventually weaves herself an infamous reputation upon the French aristocracy. This is a dangerous game, and Genevieve uses her wits to stay afloat, but her heart might put her at risk. In 1677, Genevieve is in real fear while the authorities were rounding up fortune-tellers and the like who were suspected of selling poisons.
Everything is very tense towards the end, and I loved it. However before that was interesting, as well. I loved all the secrecy, and the fact that there was a community of witches, alchemists, fortune-tellers, magicians, etc. It's just too bad that they weren't all good people. Anyway, the intrigue was great, and it fortunately never let up. Even though it wasn't a fast-paced story, it still held my interest.
Historical fantasy is one of my favorite sub-genres, and it's so hard to find good books that fit, but this one was great! I have some of the author's other books, which all look to be historical fantasy, as well, so I'm definitely going to keep going with this author's work.
2 comments:
I just picked this one up and I can't wait to get to it! Sounds wonderful!
I love this sort of Historical Fiction-- one based around a read figure in the past.
Looking forward to read this one!
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