The Ashes of London

"The Ashes of London" is the first installment of a series of historical novels set in 17th century London. While the city of London is going up in flames around her, a young woman is on the run. At the same time, a young clerk is ordered to investigate a murder. When their paths cross, neither one of them knows that it won't be the last they've seen of one another. I picked this book up because I've always been fascinated by the Great Fire of London. Whilst this story is set during this tragedy, it isn't primarily about the fire and the affected itself. Even though, this book did not turn out to be how I expected, I still enjoyed it. It's rather atmospheric and gives you a pretty good idea of the social hierarchy and customs back then. The plot is definitely on the slower side, though, which makes it feel kind of lenghty at times. Also, the murder mystery aspect is not as exciting as I hoped it would be. James Marwood and Catherine Lovett, the book's protagonists, are interesting enough, but could have been a little more fleshed out for my taste. I wasn't able to really connect with either one of them. All in all, "The Ashes of London" won't be finding its way on my favorites shelf, but I still enjoyed reading it and am interested to see how their stories continue in the following books. If you like historical novels,especially those set in London, I definitely recommend you check it out.