I live Hildegard and the complexity of her character, but at points I struggled to follow this story. I'm sure that's due to my lack of understanding of the intricacies of the politics of the time, but it was frustrating. ( )

I loved Cassandra Clark's novel "The Red Velvet Turnshoe" last year so I was excited to discover last week that she has published another novel "A Parliament of Spies." I took it out of the library immediately. However, I was not impressed with it. The plot seemed to get bogged down with the 40 some characters and I got bored quickly. The last 3 pages explained everything and then I understood what the writer was trying to accomplish. It is advertised as a historical mystery but I feel that it should be categorized as historical fiction. I began to view the novel this way about a third of the way through the book and I appreciated it better. I am glad that I kept reading because those last 3 pages are worth it. Regarding the Parliament, which the title suggests that the book is about, it does not convene until approximately page 300. Since the novel is 372 pages, this is not a positive feeling for the reader. Should you read it? Flip a coin. Heads means you read it. ( )