If we remove the Hundred Years’ War and the French Revolution, this is a typical, clichéd witch-and-demon romance book, riddled with all the genre’s tropes, and worsened by its attitude towards women.

Which makes you wonder what the point was of making this a historical novel if a) it was going to distort true history to this extent, and b) the Fantasy elements are so dominant that the history is just noticeable. This could easily have been (and should’ve been) pure Fantasy; it would’ve worked much better.

I don’t mind real history being mixed with fantasy; Historical Fantasy is one of my favourite genres, so my objection isn’t to “mixing” them but to “how” they’re mixed. A very important point to consider for what I’m about to say. And be warned: this review contains major spoilers.

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