Customer Reviews

The Duke's Handmaid

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What if Prince Charming married the Wicked Stepmother before he ever met Cinderella? Keedrina is a young peasant who lives near a thriving seaport town. After marauders kill her family and burn her farmhouse, she meets Duke Vahn, who champions her cause, apprehends the outlaws, and dispenses justice. The duke offers Keedrina food and shelter in return for service. Can the simple farmgirl find a family among the refined servants in the duke's house? Not if the prejudiced and conniving duchess has her way!

Book one of a fantasy trilogy, The Duke's Handmaid is a "coming of age" story with the flavor of a classic fairy tale. Having elements of mystery, adventure, and romance, as well as new-world discovery, prophesy, and magic, The Duke's Handmaid is strongly character-driven and defies sub-categorization.

It's so difficult these days to find a good fantasy book that isn't PG-13 rated. This one delicately and maturely deals with some more adult themes and is enjoying to read. It compares itself to The Chronicles of Narnia which made me think it was an allegory but really it's more of a parable, the whole story designed to depict one teaching. Check out the author's homepage at the end of the book. I found some interesting things there... All in all, a pleasant experience.

Excellent read. I did not want to put it down after I started. Very rich characters and well written dialogue, the story flows from start to finish. The Duke's Handmaid is an intreging combination of a classic fairy tale, romance, historical romance and a tad of science fiction and fantasy.

You meet Keedrina, the poor peasant whose family has been murdered to create unrest in the Dukedom of Latoph. Enter the Duke, who chases down the villians and ............no way am I giving away the rest of the story.

There is much human drama and hurdles throughout the book including betrayal, cunning, and of course, love.

Highly recommended read!

The Duke's Handmaid has something for everyone! If you like adventure and intrigue and danger, this is the book for you. Fantasy? yup, the descriptions and features of the enchanted kingdom of Latoph, set in the world of Byntar--the land of twin suns, moons and continents--will more than sate your thirst. How about romance . . . yes, we have that too.

Hokstad's main characters are three-dimensional. timna, the duke's optimess and slave interested me from her first appearance. Just discovering her motivation for wholeheartedly accepting her servitude to Vahn, her duke, kept me eager to read on! I wanted to learn more and more about this society. I wanted to know why our heroine's--Keedrina--only goal was to become a slave! What sort of a place was this?

The plot pulls the reader along from chapter to chapter beginning with the horrifying tragedy that befalls Keedrina and provides the impetus for leaving her simple life to search for more. The noble household that she enters is already fraught with intrigue and murder and Keedrina finds herself in the midst of danger. The action sequences are compelling and encourage the reader to discover more. Yes, there is violence--this is a medieval-type of society--and your average Christian romance reader might be put off. But The Duke's Handmaid isn't your average Christian romance and I found the scenes to be realistic to the setting and tastefully written.

The setting of The Duke's Handmaid is the jewel of the book! The rich and detailed description of Latoph--its society: customs, dress, speech; its geography and its place in time and space--is reminiscent of the world Tolkien wrote about. Ms Hokstad must be commended for the detailed and rich world she has created here. Although one doesn't need to view the information on the Latoph website (www.latoph.com) to appreciate the setting, I certainly found that it enhanced the vivid picture I formed in my mind while reading the book.

What a wonderful adventure! The Duke's Handmaid is a fantastic journey to another land; a place of escape that will pull you in from the very first page. Good versus Evil. Betrayal versus Loyalty. Love versus Selfishness. And through the intriguing descriptions, action and compelling plot, the themes of the story become strong "parables" of ethics and morality. This is a great book to read & a great book to give as a gift. I highly recommend it!

I am easily swept away to other worlds, but this particular journey was memorable for a number of reasons. I found the main characters compelling and the story moved itself forward nicely. Congratulations to the author on giving me an enjoyable read, excitement and even a few tears.

I loved this book! The characters and the world itself are so well-drawn that I felt like I came to know them over the course of reading the book. The plot has all the good stuff of fantasy: adventure, action, romance, weird creatures, treachery and surprises.

What I liked best about the book was the unpredictability of the plot. There always seemed to be a new development when I least expected it. But the twists grew out of the plot in such a way that the story didn't venture from "Wow, I wasn't expecting that!" territory into "Where the hell did that come from?" land. I wouldn't want to give away the ending for anyone who hasn't read it yet, but it wraps up satisfactorily while leaving enough unanswered questions and loose ends to set up for a sequel (which I'm looking forward to).

I'll definitely be recommending this book to -- well, anybody I can find to recommend it to.

Caprice Hokstad, brought me into her world rich of fantasy and kept me both worried and routing for her heroine through the entire book. She takes us to a strange new place and brings it alive with ways so unlike ours that I looked forward to escaping into the pages before bed each night. The characters and setting are vivid and at times unsettling . A great read! I can't wait for the next one.
Kat Downing NH

THE DUKE'S HANDMAID, by Caprice Hokstad is a brilliant work that isn't quite the Disney tale one would expect. In fact it comes up to, then pulls away from many different genres so one is left wondering exactly what pigeon hole to stick it in...but maybe that's part of the charm...it refuses to conform to anyone's previously described genres. It is fantasy, but is devoid of the magic, magical creatures (especially dragons) you'd expect to see in fantasy. Yet, the author doesn't force these things on the story. If she had it would have ruined it. It's kind of a romance, but it's on a fictitious planet with twin suns and twin moons. Even the social structure is duplicated, but it's not simple either. So romance, while it plays a huge role in the book, doesn't quite describe it either, nor does historical fiction or even science fiction as another author suggested. It is, as others have said, a parable, built upon a fantasy world. The lengths Caprice Hokstad has gone to create and define the social structure is fabulous. It is a Christian book that doesn't mention Christ, a fantasy that doesn't have magic, a romance that is more loyalty and true love than the erotic (really dumb) romances of other writers, historical, but whose history? It is, simply put, an amazing story that you have to experience to completely respect the greatness that is here. Several reviewers have compared her work to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, and even then we couldn't make a direct comparison. If you chose to read this book (and the rest of the trilogy) you will be thoroughly delighted. If you chose not to read this book, well, all I can say is you're the one losing out, not her.

David Brollier
THE 3RD COVENANT
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I would not go as far as to say that the story differs from the conventional Christian reads, because it does not. The themes are all the same, I would agree with an earlier reviewer who said its a parable.

I found it odd at some points differentiating the good guys (Christians) from the bad guys (non-believers). For example, the duke sitting in his chair surrounded by all of his lovely slaves who want to rub their hands all over him and faces all across his shoes reminded me of Satan sitting on his throne being adored by his feminine minions. There were sooooo many instances where I felt like this.

I found myself being creeped out and a little annoyed by the duke quite often. One particular instance just struck me as odd...from the beginning, the duke knew the pros and cons of his esteemed position and was always suspicious of attacks against his life. So why would he then rid his household of ALL his trusted servants? Where did that suspicion go? I also found the development of the relationship between the duke and his slave unbelievable, there was not enough development there and the way she made it happened seemed too easy. It was affected and didn't come across well.

I couldn't really identify with the heroine, even on the Christian level and found her quite pathetic.

All in all, its not a bad read and the author is a solid writer but its definitely not my cup of tea.