The Devil's Web (The Web Trilogy)

The depth of the characters and the challenges that their conflicting emotions created made this plot very exciting to follow. Mary Balogh develops their complex relationship masterfully. While I can see how some can be frustrated by this book and I wished that the resolution of the relationship between Madelien and James could have started sooner and been developed more, I think that this book is unique and exceptional and I wished there were more books exploring complex characters and deeper conflicts.

This is the darkest of the 'Web' stories and tells the story of Madeline, sister of Edmund and Dominic and James Purnell, brother of Alexandra (Edmund's wife from Gilded Web). I won't precis the plot because other reviewers have done that but IMO this is the most complex relationship of the three books and as usual its very well done with lots of emotional intensity. Yes, he's not very nice to her, but he comes from a horrific background, a father who was a fanatically religious disciplinarian who ruled his children with a rod of iron in a very bleak home. There is another skeleton in his closet which needs to be exposed before he can truly forgive himself. Madeline by contrast has had a very loving, open and happy childhood and the contrast between the two of them and their trials and tribulations before they eventually come to a happy outcome is perfectly understandable and very well described. Definitely worth reading as usual. Would have liked a slightly more drawn out happy ending is my only slight criticism.

I loved this book, the characters, and the situations. I agonized through the main characters inability to talk to each other. I ached as they watched others have the type of lives they wanted but did not know how to achieve. My heart broke for James as he tried to break through to his father, knowing it was impossible. And I absolutlely LOVED how Balough wove all the different aspects of love throughout this story with the lives and reactions of the different characters. I think this is one of my favorite Balough books. I don't understand how others could see it as anything other than affirming the ability to overcome the most crippling of psychological obstacles in an attempt to find freedom in the ability to express love. I will re-read this book down the road, and I will enjoy every one of the interwoven love stories that each open the door for James and Madeline to be able to share themselves.

I've just finished reading The Devil's Web. I've read the other two books. The Devil's Web is definitely different. Unlike most of the other reviewers, I enjoyed the difficult relationship between James and Madeline. I found the frequent misunderstandings between them, from an inability to communicate with each other, quite real. To be honest, I couldn't put the book down!

While other reviewers were disheartened by the struggles the main characters experience throughout this story, I found the book perfectly understandable and appreciated the continuity that Balogh is brave enough to create and publish. If you had read the other two books, you would realize that this final story would be the most difficult of the three love stories. Balogh left the character of James for the end because he had the most inner hubris to overcome and work through. I've read enough Balogh books to realize that her characterization is always consistent. She won't compromise character traits or inner struggles that she gives them in previous books. I was eager to see how she would help James resolve his guilt and overcome his difficult upbringing. She's 'right on' in his reticence, fear of love, and in the ways he would treat Madeleine. I also realize, however, that I was girding myself for a difficult read when I purchased Devil's Web. I, like others, much prefer a more light-hearted romance. This is an older book, and I think that Balogh has matured as a writer over the last 17 years. She does keep getting better and better, but I have a hard time seeing readers give her such low marks when she is by far one of the best writers writing romance these days.