I rather liked the French Executioner. So I was quite excited when "Blood Ties" was published as it continued the tale of the French Executioner.
However, after having struggled through it, my excitment has turned rather sour.
The tale of the French Executioner continues 20 years after the first part has ended. In many ways it is now the second generation taking over - Jean Rombaud's children and Anne Boleyn's daughter the future Queen Elisabeth are the focus of the tale. The subtitle " the worst wars are fought within
families..." applies equally to the Royal House of Tudor and the family of Rombaud.
C.C. Humphreys tries to continue his previous success but he does not succeed very well. It is demanding and actually quite boring to get into the book. The stories takes off far too late. Too many sub-plots and sub-stories are taken up, left off at some stage, then will be continued and of course have to be brought togther with the main story. So there is not a great flow. It actually drags on and on. Then suddenly one finds
oneself in Canada and has to get emerged in length desciptions of Indian life at that time. I can understand that the author wanted to bring his home country and Indian tales, but what the hell has that all to do with a tale on Anne Boleyn? That is too twisted for my taste and not very convincing.
All in all I was disappointed with "Blood Ties" and I do hope that C.C. Humphreys let it rest there and does not continue with a third tale. The end already seems to indicate a possibility for that.