A few months ago, I had the privilege of getting an advanced reader copy of The Sound of Diamonds in exchange for a review! The book was very interesting, and while I fully intended to review it right away that didn’t happen. Here’s my review now. :)
The Sound of Diamonds by Rachelle Rea
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
There were several things I really liked about this book. First, I loved the historical value. This book had a lot of different details about the 16th century and what it was like to live there and I loved reading about the Iconoclastic Fury—how that affected Holland, how it affected England, what kinds of people lived through it, etc. This book is absolutely fascinating when it comes to this sort of stuff!
I wear glasses, and the main character, Gwyneth, wears glasses as well. I hadn’t realized that back in the 1500s you were even able to get glasses! That fact was fascinating!
I’ve been studying church history this year for school. When I came across the Iconoclastic Fury then, I found the stories told about it fascinating. So it was pretty neat to realize that this is the time period The Sound of Diamonds is set in! Of course, the Fury isn’t the main part of the book, but it definitely had a play in the events described through the story.
I really love the historical elements of this book—they were very well done.
The thing I didn’t really like was the romantic aspect of the story. I should have expected it, but I didn’t and in the end I was kind of saddened by the fact that it was there. The romance never went beyond kissing or thoughts about the other person, but to me (in some places anyway) it seemed like we were invited to witness something that should have been private. But then, romance is a subjective thing—what’s not okay with some people is okay with others, so that is merely my opinion of what’s shown here. In some ways that did put a damper on how much I like the book, but overall I’ve really enjoyed the story.
The historical events were obviously researched well, and Rachelle did a marvelous job in creating characters and developing and executing the well-planned plot. She obviously has a lot of talent and I really admire how she wove everything together in the end.
Overall, I think I’d give this book four stars out of five. Good job, Rachelle.
I wan't to read this book, I know how you feel about the romance and all that, sometimes I wish they could just leave it all out. And so often it is all so unrealistic, or the age of the characters...
ReplyDeleteBeside the romance, it was a great story. And in this case, it was pretty much believable, and there's nothing wrong with their ages.
DeleteI suppose people write what they enjoy reading, and that's okay with me. Everyone has a right to do what they want to do with their books. :)
Hi Esther! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing Diamonds. I appreciate your honesty about disliking the romantic aspect; thanks for saying what you did about the history that sparked the idea for me :)
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