This was so hard for me to get through. I'm not sure if it was because I was reading it for a school project or what, but I found this book SO hard to finish. The plot seemed slow to me and I guess various events in it seemed choppy and random, but I'm going to blame about a quarter of that on my reading schedule with this book.

As far as Doyle is concerned, I think that this was some of his best and I think I would say most vivid writing. His main character left a great deal to be desired though. Alleyne was such a boring main character with real no flaws. He was plenty good at fighting, painting, languages, and playing instruments, but the only real problem Doyle gave him was that he was really hard to calm once his temper flared. There was development for him since he went from clergyman to squire, but... I don't know... I just couldn't bring myself to like him.

Oh, there was one other thing that bugged me a little: Doyle never offered any translations for his French. I don't speak the language and there were very little context clues in my opinion to understand it any time it came up, which irritated me a bit.

Also, there was the super happy ending. None of your main characters died and they all lived happily ever after as respected men. BORING! I've seen much better endings from Doyle.