Review: Skilled Artifice by Mary Robinette Kowal

Title: Skilled Artifice
Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
Series: Whitehall ~ Season one, Episode II
Publication: May 25th 2016 by Serial Box Publishing
Genre: Historical Fiction
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | iBooks | Kobo
Rating: 4/5

Review copy received in exchange for an honest review.

Weddings, baptisms, and a birth make up a recipe for drama in the second installment of Whitehall, an episodic royal tale full of true history and sensual intrigue, new from Serial Box Publishing.

Weddings and births are usually causes for celebration – but no joys are simple when a royal family is involved. Jealousy and suspicion lurk everywhere as questions of loyalty – to faith, to promises, and to the heart – shadow the new king and queen of England.

This episode is brought to you by Mary Robinette Kowal, who cautions all against the green-eyed monster.

"Skilled Artifice" continues the 13-part serial, Whitehall, presented by Serial Box. Intrigue, romance, and scandal fill the palace halls in this historical tale, collaboratively written by Liz Duffy Adams, Delia Sherman, Barbara Samuel, Madeleine Robins, Sarah Smith, and Mary Robinette Kowal.

Skilled Artifice continues where Embarkations left off. I'm glad I can say I enjoyed this second story as much as the previous one. It also has its fair share of delicious drama when the king's mistress Barbara gets jealous of Charles spending more time with his new wife Catherine. 

I really like Catherine in the story. I also felt she took more things in her own hand, like "seducing" her husband. I also like Jenny a lot and am shipping her now with Thom. I hope something will happen there. This story was writting by Mary Robinette Kowal. Another author I didn't know but the writing was very good. 

I've got to say I'm not a big fan of Barbara because I'm really rooting for Charles and Catherine for some reason but at least it never gets boring like this. Who doesn't like a bit of melodrama, right? And I'm expecting a lot more of that in the next stories with how this one ended. It's bound to be very dramatic, I'm sure! 

       About the Author:

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Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of The Glamourist Histories series of fantasy novels. She has received the Campbell Award for Best New Writer, three Hugo awards, and the RT Reviews award for Best Fantasy Novel. Her work has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. Her stories apear in Asimov's, Clarkesworld, and several Year's Best anthologies. Mary, a professional puppeteer, also performs as a voice actor, recording fiction for authors such as Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi. She lives in Chicago with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.

Find my review of episode one: Embarkations here