Through A Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen

[gilda_elise]

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.

The book builds rather slowly at the beginning, to the point that I wasn’t sure if I would be able to finish it (it’s a whopping 743 pages.) But after a bit, things really began to move, and then, boy, did they take off.

I came to love Barbara, though she drove me crazy at times ,until I reminded myself of her youth. Roger was a more complex character, and harder to care about, but eventually he, too, won my heart. The same can be said of many of the minor characters who inhabit this book. There are no cardboard cutouts here.

What there is is a young woman’s coming of age, what she does to win who and what she wants, and the price she pays for it.

Though the ending is bittersweet, I’m looking forward to reading the sequel, Now Face to Face. The prequel, Dark Angel, too, come to that.



Mount TBR 2016 Book Links

Links are to more information regarding each book, not to the review.

1. Alexander's Lovers
2. The Border
3. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
4. Green Darkness
5. The Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone
6. Rise to Rebellion
7. Return to Sodom and Gomorrah
8. Through a Glass Darkly

Comments

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

Oooooh! I remember loving that book.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I can well understand that. It's a truly lovely story that I'm sure I'll read again. I was rather point out with myself with taking so long to read it in the first place, since I'd had the book for years!