What Angels Fear: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery, Book 1
by C.S. Harris
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Book Summary Information
Author: C.S. HarrisEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-10-03
ISBN: 0451219716
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Signet
Book Reviews of What Angels Fear: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery, Book 1
Book Review: strong beginning, ruined by preachy pc politics stuck into regency times
Summary: 2 Stars
This book started very strong, with a very romantic hero, and the fun element of a street urchin pickpocket as his sidekick.
There were several real weaknesses for me, however. I disliked the author sticking in liberal, anti-war, pro-appeasement speeches into the characters mouths, and this got worse as the book went along. For one thing, I'm reading a light romantic regency mystery like this for escape, not to have the author's politics stuck down my throat. Secondly, it doesn't fit the era of England during the Napoleonic wars. My father-in-law was British and my husband has loads of English cousins. The British are absolute hero-worshippers to this day of Wellington and Nelson (neither of whom are mentioned as background). Of all the bad history in this book ( the author's degree is on the french revolution, and her one history book on feminism in the french revolution), her showing England in 1811 without one patriotic character is absurd.
Next, her politically correct politics led to a portrayal of virtually every member of the British upper class as horrible - they were stupid, weak, venal, murderous, cold hearted, idiots or machiavellian monsters. the only good one was a radical daughter who worked with the poor and was a feminist. Oh, one more - a wife who is the victim of spousal abuse and cast out by her horrible father for marrying against his wishes. More preachiness disguised as characterizations. This detracted from my pleasure in the book. I like more variety and realism in characters, not political polemics thinly disguised.
Lastly, although our hero was wonderfully romantic, there was no good female love interest. the female character he's in love with was - no surprise - a poltical radical who hated Engand and the aristocracy and was betrayiing them to France. She is not a worthy heroine to me, because she hid evidence and lied to the hero about the murder even tho' doing so was threatening his life - she was putting her poltics above his very life. If this isn't betrayal and lack of love, I don't know what is. He wasn't even a threat to her side - she betrayed him just in case he might find out poltical stuff she didn't want him to know. To the author, this apparently was okay because being a radical is positive in itself. Yet the author wants us to ignore the personal betrayal and pretend that this character really loves the hero with true love. Some true love. Icky politics again, and a lack of feeling for real people.
The fun of the period setting and the plot moving along carried me along to some extent, but the last half of the book was truly unsatisfying. I'd give it a three stars except that the non-stop political messages determining every character started to really get on my nerves.
Summary of What Angels Fear: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery, Book 1
It's 1811, and the threat of revolution haunts the upper classes of King George III's England. Then a beautiful young woman is found savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient church near Westminster Abbey. A dueling pistol found at the scene and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man-Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars.
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