Review: The Black Opera by Mary Gentle

My review of Mary Gentle's The Black Opera appears today in Strange Horizons.  I've liked pretty much everything else I've read by Gentle, particularly 1610: A Sundial in a Grave, which The Black Opera resembles in several ways, so it was a particular disappointment to discover that her latest effort is a baggy, unconvincing exercise.  Better luck next time.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm trying very hard to get back into this one, but I was attracted to it primarily for the opera aspect (in which I am an expert), and early on the intellectual history is such a mish-mash that I can't figure out if it's deliberate or just casual errors. It would have to be a very different Europe in some small but profound ways to present what sounds like a grand opera on the French Revolution in 1820 in *Naples*.
August 02, 2012 10:56 PM

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