In real life, Catherine was rumored to be a witch, and Carroll certainly explores the darker side of the queen’s character in Ariane and Renard’s adventures. Throughout the story, Catherine de Medici essentially rules France through her feeble-minded son. The romance of Ariane and Renard is set against the complex historical tapestry that was 16th Century France. It is hardly an auspicious beginning to a relationship, but these two characters have a lot of growing and changing to do throughout this rather complex story. The two agree that if she uses her ring to call to him three times, then she will wed him. He gives her one of a set of enchanted rings and gets her promise to keep it. Renard is captivated by Ariane and determined to wed her. The nearby Comte de Renard is determined to marry her, but she has refused him and, while at first Renard attempts to coerce her into the marriage, she teaches him the error of his ways. Though she does not hold a title, she is related to nobility. Fortunately, there are still some good and interesting historicals out there if you look hard enough, and The Dark Queen is one of those great long sagas so many of us have been missing.Īriane de Cheney is a healer and wise woman, known by her village as The Lady of Faire Isle. As a reader, I certainly have found myself buying fewer books overall as the meaty historicals I loved started to be replaced by and large with homogenized wallpaper comedies. Readers in recent years have complained that the rich, interesting historicals of the past are vanishing.
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