Rating: 2.5/5 I found it hard to rate this book; I was caught between 2.5/5 and 3/5. At last, I opted for 2.5/5 due to personal taste. There are several factors that excited me about THE PASSION OF DOLSSA. First of all is the historical accuracy: it was my first time reading about the Inquisition in France, and this setting is so thought-out I can't but admire the author for her work. For example, I particularly appreciated the usage of the langue d'oc instead of French, which would have been inappropriate for the time. They may seem like insignificant details, but put together they paint an extraordinary picture of the historical period. Occasionally, YA authors overlook some inconsistencies they believe their readers won't notice (or maybe the authors themselves are not knowledgeable enough to notice), but Julie Berry doesn't make this mistake. Therefore, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to readers who are interested in learning more about its context. To an extent, I also liked the writing style: it's tailored to the time period without being excessively pompous; moreover, the abundance of narrators and narrative forms is quite interesting. However, I did not find it engaging; instead, to me it seems rather dull. I can't say for sure whether it was the writing style that did not persuade me to care for the characters or the other way around. In either case, the two elements are indeed tied together, because I could not bring myself to feel for any of them. Furthermore, the only two that piqued my interest, Dolssa and Lucien, are seldom the narrators. When an author tasks a somewhat ordinary character with the narration of the life of an extraordinary one, I enjoy the technique if the ordinary character displays some appealing traits, too, but in THE PASSION OF DOLSSA any character but these two failed to hold my attention. Moreover, the novel is not very eventful, which only made the experience more difficult for me. More than half of the book is about three sisters hiding Dolssa from the inquisition in a small village. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it didn't. I'm sure this story is meant to be appreciated for its psychological impact rather than the narrative itself, but I wasn't convinced by either of the two aspects. When I say that I gave this book 2.5/5 stars for subjective reasons, I mean that this is a very accurate YA take on novels with a strong religious theme, so, if you are curious or enjoy this premise, you will most likely fall in love with it. The author's note at the end also reinforced my impression of a (fictional) saint's or mystic's biography written for a teenage audience. Unfortunately, it's the sort of book I don't find compelling, so I can only praise the author's precision in her research, and her overall polished prose.
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October 2017
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