[E0R]⇒ Read The King Falcon Roundheads Cavaliers Book 3 edition by Stella Riley Literature Fiction eBooks

The King Falcon Roundheads Cavaliers Book 3 edition by Stella Riley Literature Fiction eBooks

Download As PDF : The King Falcon Roundheads Cavaliers Book 3 edition by Stella Riley Literature Fiction eBooks

The King Falcon Roundheads Cavaliers Book 3 edition by Stella Riley Literature Fiction eBooks

I love Stella Riley's historical series set during the English Civil War. In each book, the love story between strong and honorable if sometimes flawed characters intertwines with the historical reality: political intrigue, military campaigns and sieges, friends and families split by the political and religious conflicts. This book is set after King Charles I’s execution, as King Charles II tries to regain his kingdom but so far, he fails and lives in exile. The hero, Ashley Peverell, is a soldier involved in secret intelligence work who was introduced in Book 2 (The Garland of Straw). The heroine is Athenais de Galzain, a young actress in Paris. The secondary couple in the series is Francis Langley (also known to readers from the beginning of the series) and Pauline Fleury, another actress and Athenais’s mentor. Ashley gets involved in more and more secret intelligence work for the King,, Athenais is threatened by an evil Marquis who doesn’t take no for an answer, Francis, disturbed by his war experiences and by his family’s shattering (his extremely selfish sister Celia causes much pain before she gets her comeuppance) finds a new vocation in the theatre and tries to woo Pauline. Int he end, they all become embroiled in foiling an attempt on King Charles’s life. During these adventures, two shining and strong love relationships are formed which triumph int he end, after much suffering.
I especially enjoyed seeing beloved and honorable characters on both sides of the conflict (Ashley, Francis and their friend Nicholas among the Cavailers and Eden Maxwell on the Parliamentary side). The appearance of Cyrano de bergerac was a welcome addition, and I enjoyed the description of the theatre life in the era.
However, I had trouble with the extreme dark violence in the story. I knew to expect it to some degree as the previous boks also contained some dark themes (revenge, betrayal, loss of pregnancy due to the actions of a villain, torture, unnecessary and cruel killing of the defeated by the victors etc.)
However, I have to warn sensitive readers: be prepared for the description of successful rape the book, or stay away if you can’t bear to read about it.. More details under spoiler alert (scroll down). This is the reason of my 4-star rating, otherwise it deserves 5 stars in every aspect.

*****************************************SPOILER ALERT**************************************
There is an instance of a woman being raped in captivity as she is suspected with witchcraft – this isn’t described, the scene fades into darkenss and she is a secondary character later saved and reaches some measure of happiness. However, later on, the heroine gets raped by the villain and this is described in some detail – not graphic but explicit enough to know what’s happening, and his cruel emotional taunts are also shown. This is integral to the story and the aftermath is also described realistically, but the scene is still avery painful one.


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The King Falcon Roundheads Cavaliers Book 3 edition by Stella Riley Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews

Half epic historical, half romance, this sprawling story takes place at the end of the English Civil War, and follows the fortunes of two Royalist soldiers, left unemployed – and penniless - by the defeat of their cause. After a final defeat at Worcester, Ashley Peverell and Francis Langley make their way to Paris, where they continue to serve their exiled King. They both wind up becoming involved with a leading Parisian theater – as well as two women employed there.

There is a great deal of historical detail here, from the behind-the-scenes political strategy to the blow-by-blow battle descriptions, and the book gives a fairly good introduction to the history of the times. It dovetails nicely with the romance, showing how the events of the day impacted the lives of the people surviving them. However, the overall effect can be somewhat jarring, moving quickly from the macro viewpoint, to the more close up of individual lives.

The story focuses mostly on Ashley Peverell, who has served not only as a soldier, but as a spy for Charles II. His relationship with the theater’s leading actress, Athenais de Galzain, develops nicely, but the conflict that keeps them from achieving happily-ever-after seems contrived. He worries that she could do better than a penniless soldier, although she is only recently managed to barely pull herself out of poverty. The story worked better for me when they worked together to face an outside evil.

This is the third book in a series, and having read the previous two, I would imagine that although this book could be read independently, it makes for a richer experience to read them in order. I’m only hoping that it’s not a trilogy, I’m still anxiously awaiting Eden’s story!
(Caveat If you are a reader of historical romance, which is usually light on history and heavy on romance, you may find the reading of Riley's Roundheads and Cavaliers heavier on history than you are used to. Just a heads-up.)

How beautifully Stella Riley makes history come alive. Even when I think she's giving me too much information and detail and feel overload coming on, she manages to give a reprieve by getting more into the personal lives of her fictional characters to spare my brain for a while.

I have to confess that at the beginning of this third book of the series I was somewhat intimidated and a bit disappointed in the story. Too much background and history and then the Battle of Worcester, although exciting, seemed to go on somewhat overlong. But once the Cavaliers and the Scottish army are defeated at Worcester and Charles II has to sneak back to the Continent and our two main characters have to flee to France, all becomes just the way I like a Stella Riley novel to be. And the romance lover should be happy to know that this is a twofer, as far as romance goes.

Ashley Peverell and Francis Langley, Cavalier soldiers readers may know from previous books, are in exile in Paris, with no money and no way to make a living at the moment. Meanwhile, we have a parallel story running about people working at the Marais Theatre. Most importantly there's Pauline Fleury, formerly the theatre's leading lady but now working as dresser since an accident left her with a limp and a scarred face, and there's up-and-coming talented and beautiful Athenais de Galzain, Pauline's protegee and friend.

Naturally the two parallel stories will end up meeting and there will be lots of great action, adventure and romance. There will be intrigue and spying on behalf of Charles II (Ashley is, after all, the King's Falcon, right-hand man), and a more personal issue with poor Athenais being pursued by a jaded, amoral Frenchman who's set on having her and wanting nothing or no-one in his way.

Great story. Don't let yourself be discouraged by the slow start to it. It does pick up and then it's off and running. 650 pages that will have you so absorbed that you'll be at the last one before you know it and wishing the next story were ready to pick up and start reading.

BTW, there's a turn of events for Eden Maxwell in this that will have his fans feeling a little better for him. Unfortunately, Eden's story, which is to be the next, will not be finished any time soon, according to Riley's blog, but she says, "I'll try to keep the wait down to less than 20 years".
I love Stella Riley's historical series set during the English Civil War. In each book, the love story between strong and honorable if sometimes flawed characters intertwines with the historical reality political intrigue, military campaigns and sieges, friends and families split by the political and religious conflicts. This book is set after King Charles I’s execution, as King Charles II tries to regain his kingdom but so far, he fails and lives in exile. The hero, Ashley Peverell, is a soldier involved in secret intelligence work who was introduced in Book 2 (The Garland of Straw). The heroine is Athenais de Galzain, a young actress in Paris. The secondary couple in the series is Francis Langley (also known to readers from the beginning of the series) and Pauline Fleury, another actress and Athenais’s mentor. Ashley gets involved in more and more secret intelligence work for the King,, Athenais is threatened by an evil Marquis who doesn’t take no for an answer, Francis, disturbed by his war experiences and by his family’s shattering (his extremely selfish sister Celia causes much pain before she gets her comeuppance) finds a new vocation in the theatre and tries to woo Pauline. Int he end, they all become embroiled in foiling an attempt on King Charles’s life. During these adventures, two shining and strong love relationships are formed which triumph int he end, after much suffering.
I especially enjoyed seeing beloved and honorable characters on both sides of the conflict (Ashley, Francis and their friend Nicholas among the Cavailers and Eden Maxwell on the Parliamentary side). The appearance of Cyrano de bergerac was a welcome addition, and I enjoyed the description of the theatre life in the era.
However, I had trouble with the extreme dark violence in the story. I knew to expect it to some degree as the previous boks also contained some dark themes (revenge, betrayal, loss of pregnancy due to the actions of a villain, torture, unnecessary and cruel killing of the defeated by the victors etc.)
However, I have to warn sensitive readers be prepared for the description of successful rape the book, or stay away if you can’t bear to read about it.. More details under spoiler alert (scroll down). This is the reason of my 4-star rating, otherwise it deserves 5 stars in every aspect.

*****************************************SPOILER ALERT**************************************
There is an instance of a woman being raped in captivity as she is suspected with witchcraft – this isn’t described, the scene fades into darkenss and she is a secondary character later saved and reaches some measure of happiness. However, later on, the heroine gets raped by the villain and this is described in some detail – not graphic but explicit enough to know what’s happening, and his cruel emotional taunts are also shown. This is integral to the story and the aftermath is also described realistically, but the scene is still avery painful one.