Lord of the Night

Author:

Susan Wiggs

Published:

Harper Monogram, October 1993 ; 342 pages

Subgenre:

Historical romance -- Renaissance

Setting:

Italy -- Venice, 1531

Main characters:

Sandro Cavalli and Laura Bandello

Sexual explicitness:

Fairly explicit

Keywords:

Intrigue ; artists, class differences, courtesans, family responsibility, law officers, males disguised as females, murder

Reader rating:

Reader comments:

LORD OF NIGHT had a beautiful and intriguing setting, Venice and potentially compelling characters (Sandro & Laura) but the novel never engaged my interest. It was little things really that kept distracting me, like the modern tone used during some of the conversations (i.e. "it must be your lucky day") and heroine's ambition to become a painter. Life for women during the Renaissance was very structured and restrictive, so the ease with which Laura articulated and implemented her desire to become a painter was unbelievable. Laura was written much too modern to be in book about the Renaissance, IMO. I knew who the killers were early on but I was interested in the events leading up to denouement. The ending itself was much to pat and tidy. Ms. Wiggs does write in a easy to read style so it wasn't hard to finish this novel, I just wish it had lived up to its potential. (K.G., 2-18-97) I have all of Susan Wigg's books up to date. This book has outshone the rest. This book was well researched for the time period. She makes her character's come to like. I especially liked that the heroine had a brain and was very modern for that time period. The lord that played the hero, you couldn't help but fall in love with him. This was a great book, Susan Wiggs always does a lot of research in writing her books. I would like to see her write a modern book, with her talent and ability it would be a hit. (E.B., 12-12-96) Wiggs is a fairly skillful, smooth and readable writer, and this book's setting and lead characters had the potential to be very interesting indeed. If only Wiggs had spent some more time developing them--as she does, say, in her OCTOBER WIND (where characters and setting are in my opinion nowhere near as interesting!). For example, this book needed more physical descriptions of Renaissance Venice (one of the world's loveliest cities), more background on how the policing organization called Lords of the Night got started, more on the male main character's failed first marriage, and more on the female main character's art career and training. Instead, we get a lot of mental lusting and interrupted sex acts--the sort of thing one finds in books by bad romance writers (like the worst of the bunch, in my opinion, Catherine Coulter) and which should be beneath a writer of Wiggs's skill. I'd guess she turned this book out too quickly to meet a deadline and/or that some foolish editor got his/her mitts on it! (E.P., 6-27-96) An interesting period and place to choose. That's what kept the book interesting, not the plot nor the characters. The book had all the elements to be great, but it didn't quite make it. Still, worth reading. (L.F., 5-30-96) I look for all her books, she is very in depth writer and this book was her best yet. It's a keeper and makes you look forward to her next books. (E.B., 5-18-96) What a great book! It had excellent details of the Renaissance. (K.S., 3-28-96)

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