Shadowheart

Rating:
Summary: Her Best Yet
Review: A Great Book! Laura Kinsale never fails to please, and Elena di Monteverdi is a wonderful heroine, while Allegretto should be handled with a fireproof glove, he's so hot. Nicely done, captures the intrigues and politics of Renaissance Italy's city states while developing two great characters. The personalities are believable and the intimate scenes beautifully drawn. You genuinely like and are curious about these people. Buy this book!!!

Rating:
Summary: Smart fiction, dumb readers
Review: A lot of the negative reviews for this book were written in the spirit of postmodern political correctness, and that's really a shame. Fiction should challenge our beliefs about what's right and wrong, what's high and low. Think of Nabokov's "Lolita" or Ayn Rand's "Fountainhead" (which also focuses on a quasi sado-masochistic love that begins with a rape). Kinsale's "Shadowheart" should be seen in the same light.

I, too, couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw the rough-stuff in the love scenes, but I knew that Kinsale is too good a writer to do this gratuitously. After thinking a bit, I understood why she had made Allegretto a masochist: what better way to show us a thoroughly corrupt man who despises himself and all the world? His outer beauty masks a wasteland of inner ugliness. How to reclaim such a miserable creature? Kinsale's solution is inspired. Elena's sadism offers Allegretto an avenue toward repentence. Her sexual humblings purge him - just as medieval monks and priests would purge their sins through self-flagellation. Allegretto is not a masochist in the sense that he enjoys all pain - only the just punishment that pure and innocent Elena administers. After Allegretto describes a childhood terrorized by a father who tortured him without ever so much as scratching his perfect hide, it's only fitting that his righteous child-bride should mar his flawless skin with her kittenish claws. Her scratches and bites are not meant to be brutal or vicious. Allegretto voluntarly submits. By the end, he becomes martyrlike in his desire to spare Elena pain, disillusionment and eternal damnation. Only when he has passed through an inferno of self-denial, loss and loneliness does he deserve the happy ending that Kinsale ultimately rewards him with. This book is leagues ahead of the usual romance fare so it's not surprising that many readers "don't get it." Readers familiar with better fiction will understand.

Rating:
Summary: One of Laura Kinsale's best
Review: A worthy sequel to For My Lady's Heart, though Allegreto, the hero, is not her most sympathetic male character, at first. One of the reasons I enjoy her books so much is that they are largely written from the male point of view, and I missed that trait in Shadow Heart. Only one chapter seemed to be written from Allegreto's POV. But the psychological aspects of his character drew me in just as much as any of her other heroes. And I appreciated the "deviation" from the usual sex scenes, instead exploring the darker side of sexual and emotional needs. I'm always weeping by the end of one of Kinsale's tales, and now I am sad that I'll have to wait so long for the next one...

Rating:
Summary: Ooooohhhh Allegreto....
Review: Allegreto Navona is a dangerous assassin who will stop at nothing to regain his rightful place...And suddenly, the perfect tool has been dropped into his lap in the form of Elena - The long-lost Monteverde princess.

Seeing the usefulness of an alliance between himself and the Lady, Allegreto schemes to bind her to him...Only he never expected that Elena would come to him willingly and that he would grow to love her in return.

Shadow Heart was SO GOOD. Yes, it had its flaws. I had a few problems with the plot and things that I felt were a bit unbelieveable..things that I wont go into here...Basically, I was so taken with this story and its characters and their relationship, that the flaws were ones that I happily overlooked.

I just adored Allegreto. I adored him. He did bad things and was not always the most likeable character, but he was so unsure and vulnerable when it came to his Elena... I just couldnt help myself..I have to say that he has become one of my favorites.

I liked Elena as well, but mostly, I liked Elena and Allegreto together. There is one scene where Allegreto and Elena play this game of Morra together that was just so unbelievably endearing, I read passages of that chapter over and over. In fact, this book was full of small sweet moments that I found myself rereading as I went.

What can I say? Once again, Kinsale didnt disappoint..this is a book that has made its way firmly onto my keepers shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Kinsale swims in deep waters; other writers wade in shallow
Review: Allegreto was a disturbing character in For My Lady's Heart. Despite Kinsale's explanation for his behavior--he was an assassin created by monstrously manipulative father--I found him unsympathetic. I looked forward to reading this book because Kinsale is such a good writer of historical romance; I could not imagine how she could make this boy grow into a hero I would want to read about.

She did it. Without changing his basic character. He's a murderer: he accepts that he is damned but at the same time bitterly despairs that he will never find grace. When he falls in love with Elana, he finds someone he can devote his life, and soul, to.

The romance is wickedly erotic. What can you expect when part of the hero's attraction is that he is ruthless? The mild sadism was a surprise, but it fit the characters. Elayna is drawn to his power and discovers she has that same lust in herself--she later assumes governance of a country. She tames Allegreto and makes him her subject.

Kinsale's writing is darkly beautiful as she follows a twisted character's journey to redemption. She takes chances, thank God. Kinsale swims in deep waters, while other writers of romance wade in shallow.

Rating:
Summary: Ugly. Hero rapes heroine on page 131.
Review: And not a fantasy that begins in protests and ends in orgasms -- rape, with force and pain and hate. Since this is supposed to be a romance, by the end of the story the heroine is in love with her rapist and has saved him. Whether men like this are worth saving is debatable. Presumably that's the subject of the book, but I couldn't get through it to find out; I jumped from p. 132 to the ending, then tossed it.

This book also betrays the reader's trust; there's nothing on the jacket to warn what you're getting into. Kinsale has written some of the best romances I've ever read and she's been gone a long time. This was not worth the wait. Read "Flowers from the Storm" and skip this.

Rating:
Summary: If you are looking for sweet, this isn't it...
Review: But it is an excellent story. Kinsale really makes hurdles for herself to leap, and manages to somehow do it.

This is a dark novel, with violence and death and destruction. It has to be, because Elena (who has been subtly trained by her godmother Melanthe of FMLH) must rise above it and rebuild. If Kinsale had left it like that, had let Allegretto's fear on the anniversary of Elena's return come true, she'd have a movie contract coming her way for a serious historical.

Instead, Kinsale stays true to her romance roots, and manages to snatch a happy ending from the claws of defeat. It was a pleasure to watch, but you know what? I was so convinced of the turth of the characters and the story, it would have been ok for them not to work out.

The love scenes are explicit and violent--- but they are not S&M-- they are bondage and submission. A. is constantly in control of everything in his life, and his escape to Elena's power is predictable and realistic (much like the Duke in Flowers from the Storm was realisticly damaged from a stroke and Samuel was a classic example of a sexually abused child grown into a man)--- Kinsale does not create average men--- average men would break in her forge. Thus, as uncomfortable as it may be (and I didn't find it bad--- normally I skip the sex scenes because they are so bland, this I read), they fit the characters.

In addition, when Elena turns to Philip and tells him to arrest them both, I cheered. I don't remember the last time I cheered a book.

I can't agree with other issues--- Elena had some memories of her travels with A.--- that's one way he bewitches her. She doesn't become a 'bitchy queen' she becomes a powerful and just elected official. Kinsale made sure we knew at the start that Melanthe had been training her for the role of Princess, even as she hoped to hide her...

I do have some issues with the plot, but none of them have been mentioned here--- and she leaves it with the possibility of an unhappy ending... I disliked the arrival of everyone at the end, and the suddeness of finding A. at the church. And I regretted R. I didn't feel it was justifiable.

But the main characters and the most three dimensional I have seen in most books in a long time--- each having to choose between very bad choices, and forced to do so. The fact that Elena could see herself falling for Franco is a wonderful testament to that!

next book--- Matteo and Elena's daughter? or is that going to be too sweet? But that would cement Monteverde's future... Riata and Navona...

Rating:
Summary: Dark Love
Review: Dark and sensuous, Shadow Heart is a powerful romance that does not follow the typical romantic formula. The characters in this story are flawed and pained, and those characteristics come out brilliantly in Laura's writing. Allegreto Navano a dark man, a 'fallen angel', an exotic, his sensuality not displayed in his prowess but more so because of his lack of it, is exiled on a small island, excommunicated from the Catholic church, and a man on a mission, to reclaim Monteverde in the name of the House of Navano. That mission is made a bit easier, or so he seems to think, when the long lost Monteverde princess, Elena, falls into his hands. He tricks her into wedding him and thus begins a journey into dark passions and pain and deception.
Kinsale writes so poignantly of the dichotomy of the human spirit. Allegreto and Elena are not one dimensional characters. Allegreto is an assasin, an excommunicate, he hurts and he fears. He fears hell as though he were a saint. And he loves Elena as all women wish to be loved. And Elena, the gently bred heroine in Shadow Heart, appears soft and timid, afraid of the destiny that is hers, exhibits a strength and darkness that was as shocking as it was breathtaking. Fear and weakness are of the same caliber as courage and strength, indeed, Allegreto and Elena's interactions with one another prove that they are both one in the same.
You will love these characters, sympathize and cheer for them. This is one story that you will want to go on forever and ever.

Rating:
Summary: Sadly, a big disappointment
Review: First, I absolutely LOVED Kinsale's "FOR MY LADY'S HEART" - It's one of my favorite books of all time, and is loaded with great writing and wonderful characters - especially the Princess Melanthe who is beautiful, brilliant, strong, cruel, and deeply flawed. A truly fascinating and unusual heroine.

Unfortunately, SHADOW HEART does not remotely live up to it. The most critical flaw of "Shadow Heart" is that the author clearly doesn't know or understand her main character, Allegretto. She even admits to this in the summary on the back cover. Undoubtedly, it's the reason it took 11 long years to write it. And unfortunately, it's the reason it fails.

It's sad because Allegretto was such a rich character in FOR MY LADY"S HEART. Kinsale seemed to understand him then and succeeded in creating a complex 16 year old assassin who displayed a multitude of emotions: anger, frustration, corruption, love, and fear. He had an extremely rich personality and best of all we get to see & understand why he is what he is. By contrast, in this book, he doesn't have much personality at all. In fact, he's quite flat, and fails to come alive on the page.

The beginning of the book showed promise especially with the returning presence of Princess Melanthe and the set up of an interesting plot. But all too soon Princess Melanthe disappears (after all it's not about her) as we follow Elena on her journey. And the mysterious power and intrigue of Melanthe's presence is lost.

I too was turned off by the mild S&M bent to the sex scenes - they didn't shock me or anything, they just weren't very sexy, and they quickly became tiresome. It seemed an odd choice especially for Elena's part. I was also turned off by Allegretto's total lack of personality (I don't get why Elena is attracted), and Allegretto's embarassingly ridiculous expression of endearment for Elena ("hell-cat") made me cringe every time I read it. And finally, the story is just plain slow and there's a general lack of compelling interaction or witty dialog between Elena and Allegretto. Granted, I am only 1/2 way through the book, and I'm trying to slog through to the end, but my interest is fading fast and I've already set it aside for more interesting reading.

Rating:
Summary: Overcoming One's Upbringing
Review: Generally, I enjoy books that, by accident or design, are not for everyone. This book might not have mass appeal, as it is not written to the lowest common denominator. That doesn't make it less of a tour de force, or less worth reading, however. Allegreto is a complex character that the reader must invest intellectual capital to comprehend; his motivations and contradictions are not all spelled out. I really don't think this is a case of the author not understanding her creation, but of some readers not putting much effort into the reading process. For example, as a boy, Allegreto has known love, readers here seem to have missed his oft-referenced love for his father- but this primal love was conditioned, and is now Pavlovianly associated with fear, torture and punishment. I think that some readers have not connected with Allegreto's somewhat asexual personality; it's so anti-genre that we habitués of romance conventions have to map this new type of hero out for ourselves. When I say he is asexual, I mean that while clearly capable of fostering and responding to emotional connections, both to others such as Cara and Elayne, and from others, such as Matteo and the children, it is not entirely clear whether he has ever expressed these emotions physically. The (very mild) S&M-flavored sex appeared, to this reader, to be the natural outgrowth of his having grown up above a dungeon, and represent progress in this character's journey toward self-forgiveness, trust and becoming a full, sexual adult.
Allegreto is not a cerebral character; he's full of superstitions and phobias that (may) have helped him survive among the de Medici and Borgia-like families of this book (and may even have been normal for his times), but let's just say... he's no Galileo. His belief in hell, and his conviction that his sins are unforgivable, are only compounded by what he has experienced of human nature. Whether one believes that man created God in his own image, or the other way around, either way, the savagery of the Created paints a pretty dismal picture of the Creator; and the prognosis for love and justice and happily-ever-after must seem pretty grim if you're buying into the cosmology of the day. So the fact that Kinsale delivers a satisfying, uplifting, and life-affirming ending is truly a remarkable achievement. It's just an achievement that is not going to be remarked on by everyone.