Book Review: The Borgia Series by Sara Poole

In keeping with my New Year's goals, this will be the first of many book reviews that I post. I'm not really sure how to write these, because I don't want to give away the plot, but I will do my best to give my reaction to the book as well as including the parts that I liked best. This week I read the Borgia Series by Sara Poole. I had read the first two books awhile ago, and requested the third one at the library. I reread the first two and ended with the third one yesterday.

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I loved the first one when I originally read it, and still liked it the second time around. It was a new spin on the usual historical fiction genre. The story of the Borgia rise to power is told from the viewpoint of his poisoner, which lent a dark and interesting twist to the story. The character interactions show depth, and the darkness of Francesca's mind gives an intriguing look to such a turmoil filled time in history.

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The second book continues the storyline of the first by bringing back the antagonist and introducing the new challenges for Francesca as the poisoner to the pope. I would say spoilers, but since it's historical fiction, that part isn't really spoiled. The story goes further into depth on Rome and the pope, which was a great touch and introduced the Lux as a side storyline. I enjoyed this book as well, and didn't find it too predictable.

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The third book was my least favorite, and was kind of a disappointment, The story took the Borgias out of Rome and the storyline just became too expected, A problem that comes with too having read too many books is that it can be very hard to surprise me an I often guess the surprise twist before it happens. That was the case with this book, as I had anticipated who the assassin was and the mother's death way before they were announced. If you've seen the TV show, Dexter, then the mother's death and the impact that it had on Francesca are completely expected. I did really like the development in Cesar and Francesca's relationship, which was a healthy way for the book to move along. It's not necessarily a bad book, but it was definitely not one that I would rave about to anyone.

On a side tangent or rant, I'm really tired of all of the new books coming out that are a part of the series. Nothing is more irritating to me than reading a great book, getting to the end, and realizing that I'm going to have to way until May to get the next part.  My best example of this is the Bloody Jack series by L.A. Meyer. I started collecting those when I was in high school, and loved them. 10 books later, I've outgrown the series and really just wish it would end. It's frustrating to see more and more books coming out and being tied to the series that I don't even really connect with anymore. But I still want to know how it ends! The same goes for more famous authors, who have series with 17 or 18 books in them. There's absolutely no way I'm starting those series. I don't have time to catch up on them, and I don't want to have to commit to reading more. What happened to just writing one really great book? It's annoying to me, and I'm irritated by it.
This series is one of those that needs to end. The first book was great, but I can just tell that the more it gets dragged out, the worse the books are going to be. In the second book, in the questions with the author section, she said she could easily see Francesca starring in twelve books. I'm pretty sure I groaned out loud.

Ok. Deep breath.


Rant over.

Overall, I would still recommend the series. I still love the first book, and even enjoyed the second one. The third book, while predictable, was a nice change away from the first two by taking the characters out of Rome and seeing how the interact in a different environment. The characters are appealing and charismatic, and the stories keep your interest. They were a fairly quick read, as I finished each of them in a night, which makes them great for a fast escape to a historical world.