Rating: 
Summary: A bewitching story that kept me turning pages...
Review: This book was riveting! Through the eyes of Sybille we live the life of a peasant girl in 14th century Toulouse, France. We smell the odors(good and bad), hear the sounds, experience the cruelty. Sybille's life is a paradox. Born Catholic, but educated by her grandmother in midwifery and the ways of pagan magic, she comes of age as the Black Death grips Europe. The church burns thousands of suspected witches at the stake and fear rules the hearts and minds of the people. After watching her grandmother burn at the stake, she is forced to take shelter with Franciscan nuns in Carcassonne. She lives a double life in search of her destiny as the embodiment of the Goddess and leader of the race. As her life comes full circle, we have the privelege of making the spellbinding voyage with her. Jeanne Kalogridis is a brilliant and passionate storyteller who spares no detail and keeps us turning pages until the very end. I can't wait to go wherever she takes us next!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor treatment of fascinating subject
Review: This is a shallow and stereotyped story. The characters are poorly developed. From the first chapter you know what the "surprise" at the end will be. It is a teeny-bopper witch tale. For good treatments of Wicca I would prefer to read anything by Starhawk. For a real historical treatment of the subject of the witch trials, Highroad to the Stake by M Kunze is definitely far superior. This particular book was a waste of my time, an insult to my intelligence...and boring!
Rating:
Summary: A Compelling, Intelligent Novel
Review: This type of book needs to have a very specific style and precision of details is crucial. After writing the amazing series, The Diaries Of the Family Dracul, Kalogridis presents to us (after a very, very long absence) with this wonderful tale of witchcraft set in 14th Century France.It is the period of the Inquisition, when cardinals would burn so-called witches at the stake (hence, the title of the book). In the first few pages, a witch named Sybill is arrested by the Cardinal's army under the charges of witchcraft. She is brought to prison and then will be tortured until a young priest, who will eventually take her confession, comes and puts a stop to the torture. The priest is Michel, a young man who is only undergoing his second Inquisition. But this time, the stakes are higher. The Cardinal wants this woman to be found guilty, and Michel's honor is in peril since he believes that this woman might actually be a saint, not a witch. Most of the book is written under the form of a confession, reminiscent of Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire and The Witching Hour. The form serves the story well; Michel and Sybill are intertwined through a very powerful, very touching narrative that never ceased to amaze me. The Burning Times is a very intelligent novel, coming from a very gifted author. I hope that Kalogridis's next book will come quicker, because this book only made me yearn for more. This is a great fictionous tale of 14th Century France, but one that rings true nonetheless. This book reads like Anne Rice at her best, maybe even better. The Burning Times is one of the year's most compelling reads. Don't miss out on it!
Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps my expectations were too high
Review: Well, I read the trilogy she wrote about the family Dracul, and those were interesting books, twining fact with fiction, fleshed out characters, well written if somewhat below my reading level. I was expecting the same from this book. I was expecting Kalogridis to go as in deapth as she did with the others I had read by her. Unfortunatly this is not the case. Perhaps she was aiming for a younger reading group and trying to cater to them by making the book a very easy read, the characters cut and dry "good guys" or cut and dry "bad guys" The subject interested me because I am a Wiccan, and anything having to do with my religion (be it fact or fiction) always catches my attention. Since she was taking a benevolent approach, I thought "well why not" and bought it. I was very disappointed. I know that the market expects "witchy" stuff when encountering books on witchcraft. But people come on.. There is already enough skepticism surrounding Wicca as it is. I would have been more impressed if she had left out the impossible, and stuck to the subject. Wrongful persecution and execution of harmless midwives and wise-women, the inquisition and inquisitors, something of a more historical nature rather than being quite so romantically fanciful. I guess to sum it up, I was hoping for a more realistic portrayal of the era, people, and their way of life. Although it wasn't a bad book, neither was it exceptional. If youwant a fanciful, airy fairy, romantic type approach to such a dark time in history, by all means, go for it and enjoy. If you want a book that sticks more to what really happened, twined with fictional characters and their lives, this is not the one.
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