City of Glory - Beverly Swerling

Genre: historische roman

In't kort: New York, 1812, tijdens de Britse blokkade. Joyful Patrick Turner, chirurg maar door een oorlogswond genoodzaakt zijn professionele bezigheden te verplaatsen naar een ander domein, waagt zich op de handelsmarkt, en krijgt stevige concurrentie van Gornt Blakeman. Onder hun tweetjes strijden ze om de macht in deze lucratieve branche, maar daarnaast ook om de hand van de beeldschone Manon Vionne. En om de grootste diamant van de wereld. En om de soevereiniteit van de USA...

Mijn oordeel: op amazon.com las ik volgende recensie, en ik kan het eerlijk gezegd niet beter uidrukken, ik ben het volmondig eens met onderstaande:

"Beverly Swerling's third novel continues the story of the Devrey and Turner family feud into the early 19th century, against the backdrop of the British Blockade of American ports and the attack on Washington DC toward the end of the war of 1812. This book is chock full of action - it is a wonder that Joyful Patrick Turner , the hero of her latest installment, was able to accomplish so much in these ten days during which he seemingly had so little sleep!

The pluses: this book has all the ingredients for the making of a wonderful historic novel: pirates, political schemes, war, treason, brothels, slave trading, the largest diamond ever, true love, Irish gangs, the wealthiest man in America, and plenty of characters with missing limbs and digits.

Despite these perks, the substories in this novel are a bit blurry, rushed and littered with extra characters who play insignificant roles. For instance, why the Chinese Opium side line ? It adds little other than to provide opportunities for Joyful to keep his Cantonese in use ! Politics, business, love, intrigue, war and lust are just thrown into the pot and brought to an immediate boil rather than added one by one and simmering until the perfect flavor is attained. This seems such a shame, since Swerlings first two books are magnificently written historical epics - perhaps their brilliance casts a bit of a shadow on this one.

However, please do not let these flaws dissuade you from reading 'City of Glory'! It is a fun, fast-pacedbook full of well researched (and little known) history told through archetypal characters, and quite enjoyable!"

Eindoordeel: ****