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Rating: 
Summary: Wacky Historical Fun
Review: 17th-century Paris is the setting for this tale of a 16-year-old girl who becomes the protege of the leading female occultist of the time. In an incredibly Byzantine plot, the girl is transformed and rises to a position of great influence in the wackiness surrounding the court of the Sun King. There's all kind of sensational stuff, poison, black masses, abortionists, and the usual stalwarts love and revenge. At times it gets a little overwrought, but it's fairly good fun nonetheless. If one were to be totally honest, probably more likely to appeal to female readers.
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Summary: Transport yourself to 17th century Paris!
Review: Author Riley does a magnificent job of recreating the life of a young girl in Paris during the reign of Louis XIV. Abandoned in her early years, Genevieve is finally brought home by her kind, scholarly father. Events bring about a change which force her to abandon her family in fear of her life and she is suddenly helped by the mysterious La Voisin. Well known throughout Paris as a fortune teller, La Voisin also has more pratical methods of helping her clients, such as poisons and back room abortions. Blending fictional characters with historical characters, the author really evokes the time period and it is easy to imagine yourself living during this time. I did think the story was slow to start but after about fifty pages, moved much more quickly. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves good historical fiction.
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Summary: Escapism for fantasy fans
Review: Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is a bad book. For one thing, it has a great setting: what could be more fun than 17th century Paris mixed with witchcraft and court intrigue? The main character is believable and even intelligent. And the first half of the book is riveting, with a plot that moves along in curves and twists and keeps you coming back for more. The problems start coming in about halfway through the book. The plot, which had been hurtling along at a brisk pace, grinds to a halt. The characters start to get into a fixed routine that rapidly becomes stale, and all the suspense evaporates. In fact, Genevieve predicts the ending of the book several times throughout the story, so there's no fear of her being killed or even emotionally hurt. Emotional scenes need work--they have all the plausibility of a B-movie performance. I got the impression that the author has an intellectual understanding of such scenes, without a true grasp of the feeling behind them. As a result, romance is a crutch rather than a highlight of this book. The same holds true for some of the characters--they are intellectual constructs of a certain character type rather than psychologically complex people. It's also a pity that the court intrigue, so often hyped in the first half of the book, is really not as complex and vivid as it could have been. Perhaps what really irked me about this book is that with such a great setting, the plot had enormous potential, but instead just peters out. It is worth reading to get a feel for the period, and it's fun in its way. I would recommend it to fantasy fans in need of pure escapism, with Riley as a sort of fantasy counterpart to Danielle Steel. If you come to it expecting to have fun and nothing more, you probably won't be disappointed.
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Summary: so good I bought it thrice
Review: I first found this book in a used book store and bought it on a whim. I found the story to be engaging, the characters compelling and overall hard to put down. Riley's style does not take a story too seriously (which I enjoy), yet gives plenty of meat to satisfy the most fickle reader. There is plenty of intrigue, and magic and the protagonist is a great heroine for the literary and historical buffs. Once done I had many friends clamoring to barrow it, who enjoyed it as much as I did. After giving my first copy to my (then 16) cousin, another avid reader, I had to have a copy to loan to my friends. Later, I came across a hard bound copy that I had to get to keep for myself in case another deserving reader came along.
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Summary: A great winter read
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I liked the heroine very much. The fact that she was not as gorgeous as her beautiful older sister made her seem a little easier to identify with than many heroines. The characters were intriguing, and the details of life in 17th century France were fascinating. This was the first of this author's books I have read. (I listened to one of hers on tape). This book made me want to read all of hers.
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Summary: Yet another wonderful book from Judith Merkle Riley
Review: Judith Merkle Riley is one of the best writerrs of historical fiction working today.
As an historian, I am always impressed by Riley's ability to recreate the feeling of a period. The Oracle Glass does a wonderful job of re-creating the world of seventeenth-century Paris where magic and science were uneasy bedfellows.
The story focuses on Genevieve, a young girl who pretends to be an aged crone (very aged---she admits to being well over a 100!). Genevieve works for the famed witch, Catherine Montvoisin but she is also a follower of the new philosophy (science).
Underneath the persona of an aged wise woman and fortune teller, Genevieve remains a young girl. And like all young girls, she is in love---first with a conceited fop and then, finally (!) with a man who is her intellectual equal and who loves her more than he loves himself.
This is the kind of book which you will love to read late at night (preferably a cold winter's night). There is a touch of the supernatural in the story---but it is Riley's mastry of the romance novel which really makes this book great reading for late at night!
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Summary: A fun read
Review: One of the things I really like about Judith Merkle Riley's books is that she always puts in little details that add humor, make the setting come alive, or just make the characters more human. I'm not really into writing technically analytical reviews, I just mention what I like. I liked The Oracle Glass because the mixture of humor and court intrigue is engrossing. It's a good book to while away an afternoon with. The romance in this book is a little weak to me, partly because you can see how it's going to fall out. Also, you'll have a good idea of how it's going to end halfway through, but it's interesting and likeable enough to finish. It's not rocket science, but it's fun, with some good historical touches, and it made me want to do more research on the historic event that the novel is based on.
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Summary: Wonderful read
Review: This book is wonderful and has a flesh and blood element to it. It's about a girl who has to survive, so she uses her gift of fortune telling to earn a place to sleep and eat. Her skills scare her as they develope, and the evil people around her use her handicap to lure customers. This is all set in France, in the pre-Naploean era, the book gives a insight into a rich history of france and the super naternal going ons of the time.
I couldn't put the book down, I love all of Judith Merkle Rilyes books. The Oracle Glass sort of makes this bound between you and the heroine. In real life not everyone is beatiful, and what I like about this book is that the heroine finds an alternative skill to better her life.
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Summary: my review
Review: This is the first book I have read from this author and I must say I did enjoy it. It brings to life an aspect of the life lived in the mid 1600's that has really never been presented so openly. It is true that under King Louis XIV, the "Sun King", life was very hard for the common people, while at Court, life was extremely frivolous. But in this book it shows the extent people were willing to go to live in, and be accepted by, that Court. Very interesting book full of detail and very lively characters.
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