Mistress Wilding

I rate MISTRESS WILDING with CAPTAIN BLOOD and THE BLACK SWAN as Sabatini in peak form--as good as swashbucklers get. As always, a hero who should have been played by Errol Flynn and a suspicious--but persuadable--woman--spiced with treachery, battles, duels and less formal swordplay. This one's set in Monmouth's Rebellion--right up there with the '45 for improbable adventure--and Sabatini uses it well. The book itself is a nice hardcover with the standard Bibliobazaar cover. I would say the text had been scanned in from an earlier edition with the use of an OCR program. This leads to a few typos, but nothing which hinders reading, and where else will you find a Sabatini in new hardcover? Just buy it.

Imagine a soap opera where the young lady hates the dashing hero for his roguish reputation, her brother hates him because he won't be able to enjoy his partying lifestyle when the hero weds the girl, and another young man, a broke gambler, sees his financial salvation in thwarting the hero and marrying the lady ('s fortune) himself. Then add the backdrop of the Duke of Monmouth's return during the reign of King James, so there's rebellion, insurrection and treachery on all sides. That's pretty much what this title gives you, along with a healthy dose of Sabatini-style chivalry. It's a rollicking read--you never know what's going to happen next, but suspect it'll keep getting worse and worse for our hero. Yes, the characters are a little unround and not far from 'types', but for tense plotting and a very Victorian moral code welded to history, you can't beat Sabatini. It's not his *best*, but it's still a great ride!

Don't let the ugly cover put you off. Here again, Sabatini puts the Duke of Monmmoth's failed overthrow of King James II to good use. But this time the man of the hour is hopelessly in love with a woman who has refused his offer of marriage. But Mr. Wilding seizes the opportunity to force her into accepting him to save her brother, a coward and drunk who challenged Wilding to a duel thinking the challange would not be accepted because Wilding would fear to anger his love and forever lose her. Within an hour of their wedding the fireworks begin, both between husband and wife and the Duke and the King. I'd love to be able to read this for the first time again. Buy it with Captain Blood by the same author and you'll have a great weekend of reading.

Chronicling the fortunes of Anthony Wilding as he attempts to woo his lady and help the Duke of Monmouth in his uprising against King James, this book was an entertaining read. There's romance and adventure, intrigue and suspense. It was also interesting to have a story that kind of overlapped with the story of Captain Blood, who was wrongly condemned for involvement in the Monmouth uprising... for those of you who are ridiculously obsessed with Captain Blood, like myself : ) Overall, I'd recommend this though, if you can get your hands on it.