Customer Reviews

The Sixth Surrender: A Novel

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Sixth Surrender is a book that, on many occasions, prompted me to read far, far later into the night than was advisable for the mother of two young children. If this sounds like a ringing endorsement of the book, well, there is a catch to it. For as much as this book could sometimes grab me and pull me in, it also confused me to the point where, when I finished it, my first thought was, "Huh?" I somehow doubt this is what the author was aiming for when she wrote the book.

The biggest minus to this work, for me, was the character of Guérin, and what I found to be his very implausible romance with Juliana. Guérin's past is as convoluted and full of tragedy as any good soap opera character, but I felt like this was done to make his present behavior excusable; however, in my opinion, his behavior was anything but excusable. It's a fine line to walk to create a "bad boy" type who is ultimately redeemable, and I think Norton's toe strayed to the far side of the line here. I didn't find much redeemable about Guérin, which was a shame because I really, really wanted to like him and root for him. As for the romance, aside from the fact that there was absolutely no discernable chemistry between Guérin and Juliana, his reprehensible treatment of her alone would be enough to destroy any modicum of romance. I have a problem stomaching any sort of "romance" that involves a character falling madly in love with the one who heaps abuse upon them.

Another aspect of the novel that annoyed me was the way every character tried their best to keep Juliana as in the dark as possible. It was ultimately difficult for me to work out whether they were doing this for her protection or for their own but, regardless, her being kept in ignorance led to all manner of faux pas on her part. I kept wondering why the other characters simply didn't clue her in, rather than allowing her to continue to act in ways that were completely inept, all due to her ignorance.

What really sealed the book's fate, though, was that it is a rather large mess. Despite the intrigue that hooked me and demanded that I keep reading, and despite some really good writing, the book is undone by its own tangled--and sometimes unintelligible--plotting. There are so many plot threads, so many characters (some of them with multiple names or nicknames, many of them also titled) that I was utterly confused for nearly the entire book. There were also some really unnatural transitions that created a confusing lack of explanation as to why the character was where she or he was and how they had arrived there.

This book has been saved from a one-star rating by my belief that this author does have some potential and that, with some good editing, her writing could mature. Had this story been tighter, had some of the confusing plot threads been cleaned up, this would have been a much, much better and more satisfying novel.

"The Sixth Surrender" was a very exciting read to me. Set during the last years of Alienor of Aquitaine, the novel starts with an unconventional marital match set by the duchess between two people who couldn't be any more different. Juliana was a novice that wanted to regain her ancestral home of Tillieres and the only way she could do that is if she got married so her husband can hold the property. Guerin de Lasalle , a mercenary of renown who fought alongside Richard the Lion Heart, was put upon to marry her and the obvious reason he agreed was because of the same property. But for reasons known only to him, he refused to consummate the marriage and was pushing to annul it.

The plot is quite complex but written very well that I couldn't put it down. The story keeps making me ask why? There were clues and foreshadowing but until I was almost at the end, I had to keep guessing. Excellent narrative and delicious details. The characters were so alive for me and they stayed true, all of them. Ms. Norton is very talented and I look forward to her upcoming novels.

Oh, man. This is another one of those "I really wanted to like this book, but..." kinds of books. Set between the years of 1200 and 1204, when King John disputed with Arthur of Brittany over the crown. Although the struggle is the backdrop of the story, it's not the focus; instead the story centers around one Juliana de Charnais, a wealthy young woman who starts out as a novice but must marry in order to keep her inheritance. In comes Guerin de Lasalle, who's just as eager as she is to end the marriage.

At first it seems as though the plot of the novel is going to be one of those battle of the sexes things, where the hero and heroine eventually will end up with a happily ever after. I'll give the author credit for taking the plot of the novel in a direction I never expected it to go in. however, the way in which she did it wasn't particularly skilled. It kind of reminds me of that Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show, where everyone but the main character knows that his life is a reality TV show but him. Here, everyone but Juliana seems to know all the secrets of the book... except her. There are so many plot twists to this book that I could keep them all straight after a while. It's almost as though the author said," what's the most shocking thing I can make happen here?" and then wrote it in. Some of the plot twists were so incredible that I found myself rolling my eyes in many places, even laughing out loud at some of them (there's a scene in a tunnel which is particularly funny, but confusing because it's never completely explained how Juliana got out of the tunnel in the first place).

Character development, something I actively look for in a good novel, is missing here. Guerin is pretty much your stereotypical bad guy, willing to remove anyone or anything that gets in his path. Juliana wasn't particularly bright (for all her book learning), and the real people in the story (Eleanor of Aquitaine, John, etc) aren't well developed. The villains of the piece are also rather cardboard-ish. I didn't even really buy the romance between Juliana and Guerin, which seems forced (he keeps saying, starting around the middle of the book, that he loves her, but there's really no chemistry between them). The only really interesting character here is Anne!

I guess what I really mean to say is that I was disappointed in this novel. I expected a straight historical, and got a mixed up combination of historical romance and adventure. Like other readers, I guess I've been spoiled by reading Sharon Kay Penman and Elizabeth, authors whose novels are much more sophisticated than this one.

I hate to give a bad review, and I especially hate to give a bad review when there are good points and I can tell that the intent of the story was good. So there are some good things and some bad things about this book, as there are with every book

The good. I don't know much about the time period, but I never felt like I was reading a book with wall paper history. The author managed to create a vivid and intricate setting.

The plot was complex and original. There was a lot of intrigue and unexpected developments, and one thing the reader came to realize is that you can't take anything that someone says as gossple because everyone lies. I think this imginative writting is sorely lacking in the current publishing industry and had there been tighter editing the issues I had with the book could have been worked out.

I wasn't to invested in the main characters. Julianna was very young through out the begining of the book and she grated on my nerves. Guiren meanwhile had potential to be intresting, but all his good actions through out the book and all his true motivations were kept completly secret making it VERY difficult to like him. Had the reader been told who he was then I think the book would have been all sorts of better, but instead I was left with an unlikable hero and a boring heroine.

Finally I don't know much about the time period and rather then taking the time explain who the heck many of these people are we are introced to them and then given a couple different names for them, so that as we read we're always trying to remember who is also someone else.

I hope that this author writes another book, I think she has a lot of story to tell, however I would like to see it more polished and tight.

The Sixth Surrender is a romance dressed up as an historical novel, with a beautiful but fainthearted heroine and a devastatingly handsome, bad boy of a hero whose behavior is simply cruel. The plot centers on the dynastic wars between the French and English during the reign of King John (of Magna Carta fame, early 13th century), but there's just too much inane sexual sparring, which constantly interrupts the action. Even without that problem, the plot is choppy and confusing, even for readers familiar with that time period. Unsatisfying, except for those who enjoy the romance genre. For a worthwhile, fictional presentation of the life of Eleanore of Aquitaine and the reign of King John, I can recommend "The Book of Eleanor: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine", by Pamela Kaufman.

I love historical fiction, particularly the history of the English and the French. This story is about a young woman, Juliana de Charnais, who was put into a convent, but would like to claim her family land and title. Alienor of Aquitaine sets a marriage between Juliana and Guerin de LaSalle. LaSalle is an important figure, fighter and leader in the push to have Alienor's son John Plantagenet on the throne. By agreeing to the marriage, Juliana gets to be the viscountess of her family home and LaSalle is the viscount. From the beginning, both Juliana and LaSalle are displeased with the marriage and want a way out. Juliana is stuck though, because without a viscount she cannot keep her title of viscountess.

I would normally read a book like this in a few days, but it took me several weeks to finish this one. About 300 pages into the book, certain plot twists come to light and the whole thing makes sense. It is also becomes very interesting at this point. The first 300 pages though are so filled with side plots of wards, mistresses, and murders, that I got lost and uninterested. When it all comes together, these side plots make sense. If there had been more allusions to the ultimate outcome of the story in the first part of the book, I think I'd have found it more engaging early on. When finished with the book, I'd say I enjoyed it, but while reading it, it seemed a bit laborious.

This is not so much a book of romance as it is a story of Historical Fiction. Not a bad story but this one is on the much darker side of what might have gone on during the reign of King John and his mother Alienor of Aquitaine.

The storyline is set pretty close to the end of Alienor's life and portrays her as a schemer in all aspects of the lives of those whom her son rules and those that she loves. Granted I doubt that living during those times would have been easy on anyone but not all could be as bleak and brutal as what is portrayed here.

Queen Alienor decrees that Lady Juliana de Charnais marry, bed and give Guerin de Lasalle an heir so that the viscounty of Tillieres is safely in English hands. What Lady Juliana doesn't realize is that Lasalle is a landless mercenary with a soul that has been blackened beyond possible repair. Or has it? Lasalle is known for his whoring and even keeps his best whore in the same house as his wife. Nothing like a slap in the face for Juliana.

The story does go on to show us the back and forth skirmishes between King John and King Phillip of France. It shows us how backstabbing and loyalty comes with a huge price and no one is safe from the almighty clutches of Greed.

I think the author may have had too many irons in the fire when she was working on this novel. It's a romance novel. It's a heavily detailed historical drama. It's a mystery. It's a crazy mess of confusion.

A lot of characters are introduced in this book, and many of them have multiple names, so it gets really difficult to keep track of everyone. For instance, our main character is referred to as Sister Eustance, Sister Scholastica, Juliana, and Mouse. She is surrounded by servants, nobles, mercenaries, commoners, nuns and children, all of them clamoring for the reader's attention. A name might be mentioned and then not appear again for one hundred pages...toss in the complicated family relations of the de Lusignans, and it's just impossible to track. I tried, I really did.

The plot for the first half of the book was easy enough to follow. Juliana doesn't want to be a nun, Alienor marries her off to someone who wants her land, they don't get along, conflict ensues. But the intrigues and alliances of the nobility are ever-shifting, and plots pile one atop another. Juliana is confronted by mystery after mystery regarding her husband and her friends' alliances and motives. The final quarter of the book reveals the answers to most of these questions, releasing them in such rapid-fire succession that it seems almost as if the author was tracking a check list. "Well, I've got to include the nature of Guérin's special relationship with Jean Armand de Lusignan, check. I need a scene explaining why Guérin wasn't such a jerk for spending all that time with his special 'friend' Gwenllian, check. I need Juliana to finally realize she loves Guérin, check, etc. etc."

The romance between Juliana and Guérin is virtually non-existent. Guérin treats Juliana badly from their first day of marriage, and even after he professes to love her the treatment doesn't change, so it seems hardly realistic. Granted, Juliana is an obtuse pain in Guérin's rear most of the time, constantly defying him and refusing to cooperate with him on any level, but still. Show some love, man! There's no chemistry between the two characters, so many of their intimate scenes feel very, very forced.

On the plus side, Norton's novel has some wonderful descriptions and detail of life in medieval England and France. I wish that she had made this a stronger historical mystery, or tried her hand at a more pure historical fiction, without the romance. I think her writing style, and its focus on details and intrigues, would have suited such a story better than trying to add a troubled romance as well.

After much struggle, I made it to the halfway point (page 257 of 468) and just cannot go on. There seems to be too much going on and I'm still uncertain what the main plot is. Political intrigue? Possibly a romance between Juliana and Guérin? Although how that would ever happen is beyond me, seeing as their animosity towards each other isn't the hate-to-love you see in other books. This is real hatred. The book has moments where the passages are well-written and engaging, though they're few and far between, so I think the author does have potential. However, something about the book just isn't holding my attention or interest, and it doesn't help that Juliana is an irritating little mouse (Guérin calls her "mouse" repeatedly) who's rather stupid. Guérin isn't much better, he's a donkey, but at least he's interesting and not half as annoying. Perhaps if I knew where in the world the plot was actually going, I might have been able to carry on, but there are way too many plots that seem to be going in all sorts of directions and it's just a mess. I'm unsure who the target audience is for this: readers who know next to nothing of the history of this time or those who do, I'm not certain either would end up happy.

So will I pick this up and try again in the future? I doubt it.

This was the very first romance novel I have ever read. I was wowed by the author's knowledge of the time and place that she so ably described. Her detail was quite impressive. Had I known that romance novels could be so sophisticated, well-researched, and well-written, I would have probably ventured into this genre earlier.

I believe that readers who enjoyed Pillars of the Earth would be especially delighted with the intrigue and plot complexity offered in this piece. The characters are more fully developed, the plotline is fascinating and intricate, and the story keeps one engaged.

I applaud this author's careful attention to detail, her historical expertise, and the pleasure she brings to the reader. I can't wait for the sequel!