From Publishers Weekly
In Australian author Douglass's engrossing second volume in her historical fantasy trilogy (after 2004's The Nameless Day), simmering conflict between the lower classes and the gentry bursts into open revolt and sweeps across 14th-century Europe. At the center of the clash is Thomas Neville, former Dominican priest and chosen favorite of the Archangel Michael, who has ordered Thomas to locate Wynkyn de Worde's casket and use the contents to help defeat the hordes from hell that have invaded the world. Thomas has set aside his calling to the Holy Church to better search for the casket, becoming companion to Prince Henry of Bolingbroke and enemy of Richard II of England, both big players in the unfolding drama. Douglass seamlessly fuses the period's class struggle for freedom against tyranny with a disturbingly vivid look at the ambiguous battle between good and evil. Those who know their medieval history may carp that she takes too many liberties with such figures as John of Gaunt and Joan of Arc, but all will applaud the way she avoids the dull middle-book syndrome that commonly afflicts such series.
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From
The second book of the Crucible trilogy picks up where The Nameless Day [BKL Jl 04] left off. In fourteenth-century Europe, the first wave of devastation from the Great Plague is just ending. Soldier-turned-monk Thomas Neville has received his latest marching orders from the Archangel Michael, who has given Neville the divine mission of tracking down an army of demons posing as ordinary human beings and plotting a war on humanity and heaven. Now Neville sheds his cassock to join the ranks of English estate owners and infiltrate the society of power brokers, in which the demons remain cloaked. It is becoming less and less clear whom he can trust, or even whether he is on the right side of good and evil. Douglass puts her Ph.D. in history to good use in skillful attention to period detail and credible medieval action, so that her saga should please fantasy enthusiasts, history buffs, and even fans of the Left Behind series. Carl Hays
Copyright ยฉ American Library Association. All rights reserved