Fiona Paul

Venom was definitely a book that surprised me. I heard of lot's of positive things about Fiona Paul and her books, so I was excited to start Venom. To be honest before I read the summary I thought it was going to be some sort of paranormal book, but boy was I wrong.
Cassandra Caravallo goes to visit her friends crypt but finds a murdered body there instead. This leads to a whole mess of events involving a mysterious artist/grave-robber, late night rendezvous, and deadly secrets.
I highly look forward to reading the rest of the series!… (mehr)

Ok, I like the main character well enough but everybody else around her deserve a sound slapping.

I guess that is my way of saying, the strengths of this book lie in its authentic recreation of renaissance Venice. In the end, I think the best thing this book has to offer is that it is a sound exercise in examining the societal prejudices of the time. (...Then again, you could probably say that for just about anything in historical fiction...). And as a feminist I really appreciated that I was able to look at it through the lens of a sixteen year old girl - that was a perspective I could relate to and could sympathize with given the state of affairs for young girls in renaissance Europe.

Still, historical setting aside, the story line and characters themselves were mediocre. It starts interesting, and then drags. Mostly it consists of Falco and Cassandra moonlighting around Venice. At some point, Falco obliviously leaves her to fend for herself in the middle of the night in a brothel. Charming. (But then, if you were to describe Falco in one word for the entire book it would be "oblivious".) The questions and ideas concerning bodies and bodily functions were...interesting but not compelling. The return of Luca just dragged the plot out even more than necessary and forced the incredibly tired love-triangle trope too soon.

Overall, nothing about this book moved me. I was interested, but not wholly engaged or invested, in what happened to the characters. And I would have to say, this is true for both Venom and its sequel, Belladonna.… (mehr)