Tuesday, September 18

Book Review: Through a Glass Darkly


Author: Karleen Koen
Title: Through a Glass Darkly 
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Drama
Pages: 674
First Published: May 1st, 2003
Where I Got It: Borrowed from library


"Karleen Koen's sweeping saga contains unforgettable characters consumed with passion: the extraordinarily beautiful fifteen-year-old noblewoman, Barbara Alderley; the man she adores, the wickedly handsome Roger MontGeoffry; her grandmother, the duchess, who rules the family with cunning and wit; and her mother, the ineffably cruel, self-centered and licentious Diana. Like no other work, Through a Glass Darkly is infused with intrigue, sweetened by romance and awash in the black ink of betrayal."




This is the second book I've read by Karleen Koen and it technically the second book in her saga. However, this could stand alone pretty well. 


Well, I'm going to divide this review into thirds just to shake things up a bit. ^.^:


The Good



  • Karleen Koen is a good author
  • Great details. I really could envision everything as if I was there
  • Great historical notes. It felt like real events
  • I loved Barbara's POV.
  • Great characters. Even the ones I didn't like. Karleen Koen did such an amazing job bringing these characters to life
  • At times it was a pretty dark, but I highly enjoyed it. 
  • The balance of intrigue, romance, and etc was very balanced. 
  • The ending ended well and I am curious to see what happens next

The Bad and the Ugly
  • Hated Roger and his POV. I'll admit I skimmed his bits quite a bit and even skipped a little bit *hides*
  • The story seemed to drag on and on and on and on
  • At parts I found myself rather bored. :/
  • For a while there I really lost any respect for Barbara. At first she was a strong woman, but for a while she reminded me of her mother.
  • The POV would randomly shift and that highly bothered me. 
  • There weren't many characters I could stand, so it made it a little hard to read at times.
The Conclusion

All-in-all this wasn't as good as Dark Angels, which was Alice Verney's story. I still like Karleen Koen, I really think she is a good writer, however I feel like this wasn't the highlight of writing. I'm excited to read the next one though! Karleen Koen certainly did leave the story with a pretty interesting cliff-hanger and I'm curious to see what is in store for Barbra. Well, out of five stars I grant this one 2 stars.

Favorite Character(s): Barbra, Duchess Tamworth (wish she was my Grandmama haha), and Tony (I really wish Barbra would get with him)
Not-so Favorite Character(s): Diana (bitch....don't mind my French), Roger (mmmmmmm), Abigail, Harry (no backbone, but I did feel bad for him), and Phillip.

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<3CaroleRae

2 comments:

Blodeuedd said...

I actually got this one to review and then realized I have read it! Oops, I will have to read it again

Carole Rae said...

Hahaha, shit happens. =D Hurry and read it so I can see what you think! I hope you like better than I.