Voice Of The Falconer StarCross'd David Blixt Books
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Italy, 1325. Eight years after the tumultuous events of THE MASTER OF VERONA, Pietro Alaghieri is living in exile in Ravenna, enduring the loss of his famous father while secretly raising Cesco, bastard heir to Verona's prince, Cangrande della Scala. But when word of Cangrande's death reaches him, Pietro must race back to Verona to prevent Cesco's rivals from usurping his rightful place. But young Cesco is determined not to be anyone's pawn. Willful and brilliant, he defies even the stars. And far behind the scenes is a mastermind pulling the strings, one who stands to lose - or gain - the most.
Born from Shakespeare's Italian plays, this novel explores the danger, deceit, and deviltry of early Renaissance Italy, and the terrible choices one must make just to stay alive.
Voice Of The Falconer StarCross'd David Blixt Books
In “The Master of Verona,” the infant Cesco was little more than a pawn. In “Voice of the Falconer,” which begins nine years after “MoV” ends, Cesco emerges as a hero worthy of Dorothy Dunnett – brilliant, highly educated, a master of languages, codes, and ciphers, charming, athletic, and quick-witted. And all at age ten!As a long-time fan of Dunnett, I love how David Blixt similarly integrates his fictional characters with real-life historical figures, like Dante and his three children (Pietro, Dante's second son, continues as protagonist). Blixt goes Dunnett one better, and integrates fiction and fact with characters from Shakespeare – Petruchio and his Kate (vastly improved from her “Shrew” vilification!), Benedick and his Beatrice, Shylock, and more, including a toddling Romeo and a newborn Juliet. And I also love how now and then in this novel, set in the early years of the 14th century, Blixt will explain something I've always wondered about, like why the main course of one's dinner is called an entrée.
However, I agree with another reviewer's advice: do NOT look up the real-life characters on the Internet. Trust me, Blixt did a massive amount of research, and his history is reliable. (I wish I hadn't looked up Cangrande, for example, who was not nearly as attractive in “The Real World” as he is in these novels.)
I also agree with Christopher M. Walsh, whose review advises you to read the Star-Cross'd series in order. **Read this series in order.** While I imagine each novel could stand alone if it had to to, do not deprive yourself of the fun of watching the characters mature and evolve.
A minor gripe: the books of the Star-Cross'd series that I've read so far could have used a copy editor, or at the very least a professional proofreader. And as a playwright, Blixt focuses on entrancing dialogue while giving less shrift to action. I would advise Blixt to read Dorothy L. Sayers's “Busman's Honeymoon,” which is a novelization of her only play to focus on Lord Peter, and compare it with Sayers's earlier Lord Peter novels. “BH” adds “stage direction” to dialogue, improving both.
Another minor gripe: there are lots of scenes with charming wordplay that works well in English – but I question whether the same puns would work in Italian, Latin, or Arabic, the three languages spoken by VoF's characters.
Nevertheless, this is a rip-snorting good read. I am in love with Tharwat, full of sympathy for Pietro and his sister Antonia, and on the edge of my seat with suspense and excitement much of the time, while rolling in the aisles at the high comedy that appears when the suspense needs relief. In point of fact, as I am writing these words I am halfway through “Fortune's Fool,” the third novel of the series, and eager to find out what happens next. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be sad and frustrated, at the end of the fourth novel, knowing I'm going to have to wait for Blixt to write the fifth novel to find out What Happens Next.
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Voice Of The Falconer StarCross'd David Blixt Books Reviews
I'm nearly finished with book four of this series and I think David Blixt has done something truly unique in this series. Full disclosure, I know David in real life as we are both active in theater in Chicago and David has (I think) approached these books not just as an author and historian, but also as an actor that knows these characters in a much more intimate way that most writers. Within the larger framework of the major story - it's plots, intrigues, and the ever present looming of the Greyhound prophecy - are stories of such delicate and lovingly rendered scenes of some of Shakespeare's most difficult and notorious characters Kate, Petruchio, Benedick and Beatrice (later in book three), and all of the sundry supporting cast of those plays - fill out an ever expanding cast of people that I came love in this and the later books. Cessco, the heir apparent of the grand Congrande - Peitro's sister Antonia and his brother Poco - are all still at the fore as they do battle with the stars and their destined roles in a very complex scheme for power. All this is filtered through an actors sensibility and it is here where the books shine bright. He makes us care, or at least he made me care very deeply for these people. (I'm using this review for both Falconer and Fortunes Fool, as they are acts 2 and 3 of the full arc, which leads me to wonder if there is an Act 5 lurking after book 4....)
At the beginning of this second volume in Blixt's Star-Cross'd series, Dante's son Pietro Alaghieri is living in Ravenna and raising the young prodigy Cesco, heir to Verona's ruler Cangrande della Scala. After he hears a report of Cangrande's death, which soon proves to be false, he returns to Verona to assert Cesco's rights as heir against his enemies. Once again, he is caught up in the intrigues of the court of Verona and the feud between his two friends, Mariotto Montecchio and Antonio Capulletto. You will meet Romeo as a toddler and Juliet as an infant. Once again, Blixt combines history with Shakespeare in this wonderful series. The Voice of the Falconer, like the other volumes in the series, stands on its own, but I highly recommend starting with the first volume, the Master of Verona.
I found this book to be much more entertaining than the first in the series. In the first, I constantly had to check the list of who's who and I had the hardest time with everyone having multiple names (Cangrande, Scaligieri, della Scalla, etc). I would be reading and think four people were having a conversation until I figured out it was only two people with multiple names.
But not in this book. Now, I know who everyone is (mostly), there are way more recognizable characters from Shakespeare, and the main character isn't a child anymore (Pietro) and the main child character (Cesco) is a far more interesting child than the three Alaghieri kids were last book. All in all, a good sequel and plenty to keep me reading the series.
In “The Master of Verona,” the infant Cesco was little more than a pawn. In “Voice of the Falconer,” which begins nine years after “MoV” ends, Cesco emerges as a hero worthy of Dorothy Dunnett – brilliant, highly educated, a master of languages, codes, and ciphers, charming, athletic, and quick-witted. And all at age ten!
As a long-time fan of Dunnett, I love how David Blixt similarly integrates his fictional characters with real-life historical figures, like Dante and his three children (Pietro, Dante's second son, continues as protagonist). Blixt goes Dunnett one better, and integrates fiction and fact with characters from Shakespeare – Petruchio and his Kate (vastly improved from her “Shrew” vilification!), Benedick and his Beatrice, Shylock, and more, including a toddling Romeo and a newborn Juliet. And I also love how now and then in this novel, set in the early years of the 14th century, Blixt will explain something I've always wondered about, like why the main course of one's dinner is called an entrée.
However, I agree with another reviewer's advice do NOT look up the real-life characters on the Internet. Trust me, Blixt did a massive amount of research, and his history is reliable. (I wish I hadn't looked up Cangrande, for example, who was not nearly as attractive in “The Real World” as he is in these novels.)
I also agree with Christopher M. Walsh, whose review advises you to read the Star-Cross'd series in order. **Read this series in order.** While I imagine each novel could stand alone if it had to to, do not deprive yourself of the fun of watching the characters mature and evolve.
A minor gripe the books of the Star-Cross'd series that I've read so far could have used a copy editor, or at the very least a professional proofreader. And as a playwright, Blixt focuses on entrancing dialogue while giving less shrift to action. I would advise Blixt to read Dorothy L. Sayers's “Busman's Honeymoon,” which is a novelization of her only play to focus on Lord Peter, and compare it with Sayers's earlier Lord Peter novels. “BH” adds “stage direction” to dialogue, improving both.
Another minor gripe there are lots of scenes with charming wordplay that works well in English – but I question whether the same puns would work in Italian, Latin, or Arabic, the three languages spoken by VoF's characters.
Nevertheless, this is a rip-snorting good read. I am in love with Tharwat, full of sympathy for Pietro and his sister Antonia, and on the edge of my seat with suspense and excitement much of the time, while rolling in the aisles at the high comedy that appears when the suspense needs relief. In point of fact, as I am writing these words I am halfway through “Fortune's Fool,” the third novel of the series, and eager to find out what happens next. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be sad and frustrated, at the end of the fourth novel, knowing I'm going to have to wait for Blixt to write the fifth novel to find out What Happens Next.
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