Customer Reviews

The flesh and the devil

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

 

 

Set in Spain not long after the time of the Spanish Inquisition, a young noblewoman, Juana de Arrelanos, arrives at the Castillo Benaventes to marry Eugenio de Castaneda's nephew, the Duque de Valenzuela. Disappointed by her love and angry with her father's plans for this marriage, Juana becomes even more reluctant when she discovers that the Duque is seriously flawed both physically and mentally. The Duque's keeper is the foreigner, Felipe Tristan, who carries out both Castaneda's and his own plans for Juana.

While it moves a little slower than Teresa Denys' other book, 'Silver Devil', the story is similar in style. The heroine is a stranger in a strange place full of court intrigue and plotting enemies. There is a feeling that no one can be trusted and those who appeared to be allies are often revealed to have ulterior motives. Felipe is ruthless in his pursuit of Juana and the better part of their relationship is one of bitter enmity. Juana spends most of the book alternating between desperation, anger, and despair. If you are looking for humor or gentle persuasion look elsewhere; there are none to be found in this story.

Therein, however, lies the attraction. This type of storytelling seems very rare these days. Teresa Denys is able to bring the time period alive in all it's dark, gothic glory unlike many stories where obviously 21st century thinking and speaking characters seem to have simply been stuck in costumes. Like 'Silver Devil', I didn't particularly 'like' the hero (flawed, charismatic antihero) yet it is part of what made the story so compelling which is why I rated this book so highly.

Dark: Tortured hero torturing his heroine, who *somehow* comes to love him (go figure!).

Rated R for: Sex and Violence. Frankly sexual and matter of factly violent, 'TF&TD' is hardly a light work of fiction. That said, however, Teresa Denys is one of the best writers that I have ever read: amazing use of the English language in both dialogue and descriptions. She solidly establishes period & atmosphere and creates characters that haunt you for years to come.

I see echoes of Georgette Heyer's historical 'Beauvallet' crashed together with her gothic 'Cousin Kate' in this book. Many of the same plotlines and characters (though emphatically NOT the heroes!! -- watch instead the prospective mothers-in-law.) can be found in the comparison, as though Denys read Heyer's stories and then took them someplace else in her imagination. Only it's 'Beauvallet' as though reflected in a dark, smoky mirror: an opposite (perverted?) image of Heyer's storyline of the dangerous love between an English-noble-man and a Spanish-wealthy-young-woman in Spain during the time of Inquisition. Given the macabre twists, the familiarity can be very unsettling.

Warning! This is an adult read, and not an easy one: as also in 'The Silver Devil', Denys' hero resorts to rape to compel the heroine to accept him. *Then* the really bad things start to pile up!

It should be a downer, and I suppose it is, but impossibly, it comes out right at the end. It's a very disturbing, emotional and traumatic read.

Nevertheless, I hope that BOTH of Denys' 2 books are reprinted, because these works are timeless and unforgetable and should remain in print!

My heartfelt thanks to Teresa Denys for exquisite works of literary art.

Wow, what a weird and beautiful book. My expectations were pretty high because it's so rare (as is Denys' only other novel, The Silver Devil), and they were met for the most part. The premise is pretty simple. Girl is sold off into marriage to a faceless duke and danger and passion occur in the most unexpected ways with love and hatred being equal motives.

What I loved most was Denys' economy of language. She manages to convey the dilapidated and rotting Spanish nobility and all its various parasites with vivid characters that are described with sharp brushstrokes. Sometimes it can verge on the repetitious (the hero/anti-hero, Felipe Tristán, is described as speaking tonelessly or unemotionally a lot), but more often it was used to great effect to describe a cast of characters from a nightmarish Goya family portrait. There are in-bred royal by-blows, indebted countesses-turned-procurers, greedy uncles, lustful and conniving aunts, and peasants who will do anything to survive in a kingdom overtaxed and ruled by a social class unworthy of the responsibility.

In the middle of this is Juana de Arrelanos, a merchant's daughter who is ripped away from her sweetheart to marry the Duque de Valenzuela. While not of the nobility, she is imperious with the standing that her family's money gives her and is determined that this marriage nonsense will not go through. Unfortunately, there are parties that are equally determined that the marriage will (or will not, in the case of His Majesty, Philip IV) happen and they don't much care what happens to the bride in the process of their machinations.

It's got a very gothic feel to it, as Juana is trapped under the spell of insanity and secrecy that hangs in the air of the Castillo de Beneventes. Providing much of the tension and threat, especially to Juana's sense of who she really is under the stiff exterior of a proper Spanish lady, is the Duque's "handler", Felipe Tristán. He's a giant of a man with flame-copper hair, a scarred face and an attitude that just dares a person to mess with him and walk away. Is he a tool to break Juana's will, or does he have a mission of his own?

I have to admit that I really loved this character, even though he was an emotionless and mentally abusive bastard throughout most of the story (with a few exceptions). One of those things a reader can't explain - I like what I like! He and Juana have a fierce attraction to each other and neither is willing to admit it, and it takes the two of them through murders and other dangers and complications (sometimes self-inflicted, since this is nominally a romance).

My gripes are few, since this was a beautifully engrossing book. There are coincidences and conveniences throughout, although Felipe Tristán's backstory comes into the plot and is revealed quite tidily towards the end (a bit too HEA for my tastes), Juana stupidly charges right into danger often (though always manages to escape, sometimes without aid, so bully for her), and he and Juana's distrust of each other continues right until almost the very last page. It was a bit annoying to still have them at loggerheads so close to the end, but eh, whatever. There's a lot that makes up for it.

The sex isn't graphic - no weeping members or dewy lady petals - and I thought it was made more intense and smokin' for it, especially the first encounter between Felipe and Juana (Caveat lector: it's borderline rape/forced seduction). Three words and a verb had me fanning myself. Although there were some bodice-ripper elements, Denys' style was unlike what is typical of pure historical romance and so it really is in a category of its own.

If you like overwhelming and dominating "heroes", plenty of intrigue and tension, with an intriguing portrait of glorious Spain in decline, then it's worth scrounging up a copy.

I just finished reading this book, right after "The Silver Devil". I absolutely loved both books and this book especially is unforgettable. The characters, time period, the conflicts, everything about this book is fabulous. I wish authors like Teresa Denys write more books.