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In 15th century Florence, orphaned Mura learn that her magical heritage makes her a precious prize in this vividly researched historical drama of love, betrayal, and witchcraft Five-year-old Mura is a strange and bewitching child. Daughter of a Nordic mother and Spanish father, she has been tutored in both Arabic and the ancient mythology of the north. But when her widower father is taken by the Inquisition, Mura is sold to a Genoese slaver. In the port of Savona, Mura's androgynous looks and unusual abilities fetch a high price. She is bought as a house slave for the powerful Medici, arriving in Florence as the city prepares for war against the French. When the family are forced to flee, Mura finds herself gifted to the notorious Lioness of Romagna, Countess Caterina Sforza. Beautiful, ruthless, and intelligent, the Countess is fascinated by Mura's arcane knowledge. As the Lioness educates her further in the arts of alchemy, potions, and poisons, Mura becomes a potent weapon in the Machiavellian intrigues of the Renaissance court.… (més)
1 Intersex Protagonist of Muddled Age 1 Maybe? Affinity for Wolves Forbidden Knowledge The Spanish Inquisition
2 Daring Escapes
The Medici Savonarola Selective Mutism 1 Medici Loyalist Bludgeoned by an Angry Mob 1 Ever-Present When Needed Troupe of Acrobats 1 Search for the Philosopher's Stone
Caterina Sforza Cesare Borgia
1 Ill-Conceived Plague Letter 1 Awful Siege Weird Flirt Threatening Negotiation Altogether Too Much Sexual Assault Apparently Curing Syphilis with Wolf Drool
REVENGE!
1 Improbable Surgery 1 Mind-boggling Resurrection 1 Incomprehensible Romance?
The Short Version: Mura is an intersex heroine with a morisco father fascinated by the cornucopia of learning from various cultures in Toledo and a Nordic mother who apparently imparted some magical affinity for wolves. Her father falls foul of the Inquisition and Mura (at age 5) is whisked off to a brothel for safe-keeping (???), eventually sold as a slave to the Medici before being taken as an apprentice to their resident alchemist as an alchemical symbol.
She gets cranky at not being treated as a person so is almost relieved when she is given as a gift to Caterina Sforza - the Tigress of Forli. It's a bad time there, too, because Caterina in her pride makes an enemy of the Borgia pope who sends his famously cruel son Cesare (confusingly called that and Il Valentino throughout) to besiege her hometown.
Mura is a confusing character who doesn't actually feel like a real person - her age is written muddled and she sounds no different at 5 than at the end of the book when she is no more than 14-15 (and we are meant to rejoice in the "love" she has found in marriage). As a modern reader, this was extremely jarring. The decision to make her intersex felt more like a gimmick than a considered choice and I never really got a handle on what Mura *wanted*. Book main characters need some sort of thread if I'm expected to trail around in their head for a few hundred pages, especially through the amount of unpleasantness (sexual assault, plague victims, vicious unformed revenge) the book put me through. There wasn't even soap opera drama - on the whole it was just rather dull.
A book about CATERINA SFORZA and the MEDICI and SAVONAROLA and CESARE BORGIA was DULL. WHY??? ( )
In 15th century Florence, orphaned Mura learn that her magical heritage makes her a precious prize in this vividly researched historical drama of love, betrayal, and witchcraft Five-year-old Mura is a strange and bewitching child. Daughter of a Nordic mother and Spanish father, she has been tutored in both Arabic and the ancient mythology of the north. But when her widower father is taken by the Inquisition, Mura is sold to a Genoese slaver. In the port of Savona, Mura's androgynous looks and unusual abilities fetch a high price. She is bought as a house slave for the powerful Medici, arriving in Florence as the city prepares for war against the French. When the family are forced to flee, Mura finds herself gifted to the notorious Lioness of Romagna, Countess Caterina Sforza. Beautiful, ruthless, and intelligent, the Countess is fascinated by Mura's arcane knowledge. As the Lioness educates her further in the arts of alchemy, potions, and poisons, Mura becomes a potent weapon in the Machiavellian intrigues of the Renaissance court.
Google Books — S'està carregant…
(2)
2
Renaissance Florence/Forli, 1492-1500
1 Intersex Protagonist of Muddled Age
1 Maybe? Affinity for Wolves
Forbidden Knowledge
The Spanish Inquisition
2 Daring Escapes
The Medici
Savonarola
Selective Mutism
1 Medici Loyalist Bludgeoned by an Angry Mob
1 Ever-Present When Needed Troupe of Acrobats
1 Search for the Philosopher's Stone
Caterina Sforza
Cesare Borgia
1 Ill-Conceived Plague Letter
1 Awful Siege
Weird Flirt Threatening Negotiation
Altogether Too Much Sexual Assault
Apparently Curing Syphilis with Wolf Drool
REVENGE!
1 Improbable Surgery
1 Mind-boggling Resurrection
1 Incomprehensible Romance?
The Short Version:
Mura is an intersex heroine with a morisco father fascinated by the cornucopia of learning from various cultures in Toledo and a Nordic mother who apparently imparted some magical affinity for wolves. Her father falls foul of the Inquisition and Mura (at age 5) is whisked off to a brothel for safe-keeping (???), eventually sold as a slave to the Medici before being taken as an apprentice to their resident alchemist as an alchemical symbol.
She gets cranky at not being treated as a person so is almost relieved when she is given as a gift to Caterina Sforza - the Tigress of Forli. It's a bad time there, too, because Caterina in her pride makes an enemy of the Borgia pope who sends his famously cruel son Cesare (confusingly called that and Il Valentino throughout) to besiege her hometown.
Mura is a confusing character who doesn't actually feel like a real person - her age is written muddled and she sounds no different at 5 than at the end of the book when she is no more than 14-15 (and we are meant to rejoice in the "love" she has found in marriage). As a modern reader, this was extremely jarring. The decision to make her intersex felt more like a gimmick than a considered choice and I never really got a handle on what Mura *wanted*. Book main characters need some sort of thread if I'm expected to trail around in their head for a few hundred pages, especially through the amount of unpleasantness (sexual assault, plague victims, vicious unformed revenge) the book put me through. There wasn't even soap opera drama - on the whole it was just rather dull.
A book about CATERINA SFORZA and the MEDICI and SAVONAROLA and CESARE BORGIA was DULL. WHY??? (