SUPERB, DECADENT, SIMPLY ONE OF THE BEST NOVELS YET..
|
I've just finished this trilogy and it's one of the best set of books I've read in a long time. The characters and settings have such depth! REally really enjoyed it and always looked forward to reading it after a long stressful day on the bus home!!
Fantastic, if you haven't read it, you should!!
I've ordered it for keeps as I definitely plan to read all three again!!!
WONDERFUL!
|
|
|
Celia - a role model?
|
|
The final book in a brilliant trilogy. PV, without tedious repetion, reminded us of the previous 2 books in this trilogy. One becomes caught in the intrigue of this family and particularly in Celia's secrets and secret life. Despite her double standards she is quite charmimg and easily respected and no other character matches her vibrancy, her ability to love and her wicked ambition - not simply for herself but for her grandchildren. Her diplomacy is second to none and confidences entrusted to her are sacrosant. The manner in which PV has developed the character of Celia makes this trilogy. Celia is the trilogy. Just read them!!! You cannot be disappointed.
|
|
|
A wonderful read
|
|
I have to say I have loved this trilogy and I think that Into Temptation lives up to the other two books in the trilogy. I am really sad to be leaving the Lytton, Miller and Brooks families and hope that I will soon be able to find another set of books that will engross and entertain me as much as this wonderful trilogy has.
|
|
Good, but not as good as the first two..
|
The final book in the Spoils of Time trilogy is good, wrapping up loose ends and introducing some new characters, including the complicated, greedy Charlie Patterson and the highly annoying Keir Brown. In my opinion though, there is too much of the Barty/Charlie storyline and not enough concentration on the London Lyttons; which is fair enough I suppose as Ms Vincenzi obviously wants to focus on the next generation. But the whole Charlie story is long-winded, with an unecessarily complicated background, and there are also some other annoying aspects; including Kit's childish attitude to Celia's marriage and Adele's frankly tiresome continuing depression over the events in Book 2. One other (final) thing that slightly annoyed me was the heavy hinting that went on; a lot of her books are like this and it always works very well; however it would have been interesting to know, for example, whether Celia and Sebastian were continuing their affair in this book, and when exactly they stopped.
However, these characters--even the annoying ones--are still compelling, and since we've been with them since the beginning it is still interesting finding out what happens.
The best bit of the book is the discovery of Celia's personal diaries, kept since the early 1900s and full of intruiging nuggets of information. Unfortunately, little of the diary entries are revealed and those that are are quite cryptic (one particularly interesting refernce to a highly personal, intimate entrance that mortified Giles comes to mind).
The ending is left open too, which is actually a good idea and works well. I did enjoy the book and of course, if you've read the other two (which are excellent) you'll read this anyway.
|
|
|
Into Temptation
|
|
Over all I enjoyed all three books in the trilogy. I was rather disappointed with the ending of Into Temptation, feeling that rather than having a strong ending, it fizzled out. I found myself getting very angry at Jenna's attitude towards Charlie and against her trustees. Although I suppose she was only being her father's daughter. I found the deaths of both Barty and Celia very upsetting as I had expected them both to be present to the end of the book.
|
|
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada