The Devil's Concubine - Ángeles Goyanes.

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DarkLady Juliet
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The Devil's Concubine - Ángeles Goyanes.

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Title: The Devil's Concubine (orig. in Sp.: La concubina del diablo)
Author: Ángeles Goyanes - Translated by: Kasia Johnson
http://angelesgoyanes.com/libros/
Paperback, 462 pages
Published December 5th 2011 by Createspace (first published December 4th 2011)
ISBN 1467991554 (ISBN13: 9781467991551) Edition language: English

A few hours before her execution a woman narrates to her priest the story of her passionate love for a fallen angel. A story that plunges us into a world of terror from its beginning in 1212, during the French crusades, until its present-day ending.

Through sensual and mysterious characters and settings, the protagonist reveals the amazing events that shape her supernatural existence. Loved by a fallen angel and tormented by others, Juliette lives through horrible, but also sublime experiences she confesses to only one mortal.
This unforgettable story puts us in the presence of seductive, powerful, and passionate beings that move naturally between kindness and cruelty. It is also a poetic voyage into the heart of a fallen angel whose intriguing story is impossible to forget.

The novel begins in France, during the Cathar conflicts. After the young protagonist's family is brutally murdered by crusaders, she and a friend run away to Marseille, where they take a boat to the Holy Land to participate in the Children's Crusade.

This is only the beginning of Juliette's astonishing journey, that develops across diverse geographic settings and time-periods masterfully described, mainly the crusades in France, Egypt, medieval Paris, the renaissance in Florence, and the pre-Columbian Americas.

(Goodreads synopsis)
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DarkLady Juliet
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Re: The Devil's Concubine - Ángeles Goyanes.

Mensaje por DarkLady Juliet »

Though it may seem that I choose the books by the name of the main character ( 8) ), I must admit that it wasn't my intention this time.

After some incursions in contemporary narrative, I was looking for something that would take me back to my origins: history, mysteries of the past influencing the present, a mystery to be solved, secrets to be discovered, the eternal fight between good and evil, ...

This book seems to fit into the cathegory. The first pages have attracted my attention so far. I'll keep you informed. :lista:
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Elisel
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Re: The Devil's Concubine - Ángeles Goyanes.

Mensaje por Elisel »

The book is excellent, but just for curiosity: why are you reading in English a book originally written in Spanish? The translation is not going to improve it in any way.
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DarkLady Juliet
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Re: The Devil's Concubine - Ángeles Goyanes.

Mensaje por DarkLady Juliet »

Yes, I know it sounds funny, but it was a present :60:
Actually I had thought about reading it in Spanish, this version came along and... that's it.
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Elisel
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Re: The Devil's Concubine - Ángeles Goyanes.

Mensaje por Elisel »

Ah, well, if it was a present... Don't look a gift horse in the mouth :mrgreen: I hope you enjoy the reading as much as I did :D
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DarkLady Juliet
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Re: The Devil's Concubine - Ángeles Goyanes.

Mensaje por DarkLady Juliet »

I'm half way through. Not having much time to read lately.

During the first chapters a lot of questions came to my mind:
What do they live on? Is Eonar Shallem's brother? Has Shallem dissapeared forever and won't be able to protect her from Eonar?... Is Juliette going to give birth to a "little" demon, if so... will he act accordingly?
As pages go by, all these questions find an acceptable answer.

Chapter VII
Now that
Cannat
has come into the scene, everythig is getting more interesting. The relationship that
Juliette has with him, specially now that he has to take care of her
is so scary and distressing .
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DarkLady Juliet
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Re: The Devil's Concubine - Ángeles Goyanes.

Mensaje por DarkLady Juliet »

Chapter VIII

Disgusting.
:?
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DarkLady Juliet
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Re: The Devil's Concubine - Ángeles Goyanes.

Mensaje por DarkLady Juliet »

I finished it yesterday.

It was interesting, I found the idea of
how angels interact with human beings, how they use people and why
quite original.

The fact that Juliette ends up
with a rotten soul, trying to behave like an angel, and although she desperatedly loves Shallem, but mostly follows Cannat's directions, reinforces the separation between mortals and inmortals.
My comments are based on the translated version, I don’t know if the Spanish writing is more agile and the translator tries to over explain some difficult concept, but:

In some moments it was kind of repetitive, trying to justify again and again
angel’s actions by the need of Fatherly love,
or Juliette’s remorses because of her not knowing if
she wants to die or live, excusing this discourse in her love for Shallem,
and once again
regretting her thoughts or acts, and dwelling in the questions of do I love him as much as he loves me or Cannat’s love is stronger than mine... or can angels truly love a human, or does the Father love humans as much as angels,
again, and again, and again.

I particularly liked Juliette's character development. I didn't like
that they are supposed to travel back and forth in time but can't travel into future, not very credible.


About the end, well... I was waiting
to know how would she die.
But it’s a good option.
For a moment I thought everything was going to be an invention of Juliette, but, of course, it is not.
Good point. Poor priest.
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Elisel
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Re: The Devil's Concubine - Ángeles Goyanes.

Mensaje por Elisel »

DarkLady Juliet escribió:My comments are based on the translated version, I don’t know if the Spanish writing is more agile and the translator tries to over explain some difficult concept, but:
I don't think so :roll: However, I don't remember the book to be so repetitive :meditando: It must have been I was so glad with the story that, simply, I didn't realize :mrgreen:
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