Phillippe is a ship-building apprentice in France. His closest friends are the daughter and son of his master, Sophie, and Maurice. They are Huguenots. Phillipe himself has a dislike for the Huguenots, he prefers the majestic buildings and sweet Latin singing of the Roman Catholic cathedrals. Things are heating up in France. News of Huguenots being massacred come from different cities, and soon war breaks out between the Huguenots and the Roman Catholic king. Phillippe must choose a side, will he fight for his friends or the king?
Negative
Nothing, literally nothing.
Positive
Phillippe's friends are strong Christians, even if Phillippe questions his own beliefs. Sacrifices are made by many for their cause.
Conclusion
Hammer of the Huguenots has been praised by many, but I don't know why. There was something wrong with this book, I didn't find myself rooting for Phillippe like I do for most of Douglas Bond's other books. The description on the back cover shows that the story is about Phillippe having to decide which side to fight on, but Phillippe himself acts almost like a robot, he seems to suffer no guilt or even regret when he does things wrong, makes almost no decisions for himself, and follows his friend Maurice like a sheep. There is certainly no "Hammer of the Huguenots" in him. Yet, there were dozens of ways Douglas Bond could have done to fix this without changing the actual history, and he did none of them. The book reads almost more like a history report being narrated by several characters. Therefore, I wouldn't recommend this particular book. If you want to read a Douglas Bond book read The Resistance.
No comments:
Post a Comment