Here's another one I listened to as an audiobook and had been meaning to blog about for a while - Venom by Fiona Paul, the first in the Secrets of the Eternal Rose trilogy. I had spent some time eying the book-cover in various bookstores before downloading it to my iPod. I mean, who could resist this design? It's YA with a new twist in that in combines historical period writing with murder/mystery and romance. In other words, it's got a bit of everything. The problem for me was that maybe it was trying to do too much all at once. Paul was wonderful at creating the setting of Renaissance Venice. I'm betting this period is a passion of hers. Her details and awareness of the social structure and art world in particular were amazing. But I wondered if she spent too much time on these aspects of writing to the detriment of the characters and pacing. The lead character (Cassandra) does come off as a little hopeless and whiny for much of the book and the two potential romantic leads are somewhat difficult to get a handle on, although they're both supposed to be mysterious - in different ways. Maybe they were a little too mysterious at times. The plot was intriguing - murder and mayhem in the art world and no one is who they seem. So the book has the elements of a great mystery/thriller in a unique setting. And Paul has left plenty more mystery to explore in the next book, without leaving this one on a cliffhanger. Sure, there are things still to be resolved and questions that need to be answered in Book 2, but Venom at least has a satisfying ending in and of itself. I'm not sure that I believed Cassandra's reasons for making the decision she does in the end, but I was prepared to suspend my disbelief until Book 2. Overall, I enjoyed the book and probably would have enjoyed it more if not for the annoying attempts at an Italian accent made by the narrator of the audiobook version. So here's another one I would recommend reading in text format. Don't get me wrong, I love audiobooks and for the most part the narrators I've listened to have been great, but this one left me a little cold.
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