Review: City of Vengeance

City of Vengeance by D.V. Bishop
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wowwww this took me so long to read so by the end I was kind of done with it, but it was still pretty good!

The plot involves a murder in Florence, 1536, which leads to the unravelling of plots that our officer Aldo must solve before more people get hurt.

Spoiler alert: More people get hurt.

I really liked the way the two plots twined together, though I'm still a little unsure why the second was necessary. This is a long story, and the second plot line seemed to serve no purpose other than bringing Also and Strocchi together. I enjoyed it, but it definitely made the story longer than it had to be.

At the same time, it reads as though it's been heavily edited. Some scenes are completely cut in favour of just telling us what happened in a few words, and at times it caused quite a separation from the story. It's hard to get invested when you're not properly experiencing the story.

I did enjoy the setting, and I feel it created a great image of Florence at this time. I believe those interested in historical fiction will have a lot of fun with the rich detail in this story.

An interesting story with a lot going on, and it's not afraid to detail a little blood and carnage. I enjoyed it, though don't know if I'll continue with the series. A little too political for me.

With thanks to Macmillan for a copy

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