Alchemy (Giordano Bruno, Book 7)
1588. Giordano Bruno finds himself in Prague at the request of both Elizabeth I’s spymaster, Walsingham, and his old friend and colleague, Dr John Dee. The court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, is a hotbed of scientific experimentation, with numerous alchemists vying for Rudolf’s favour by attempting to discover the philosopher’s stone or an elixir for eternal life. But all is not well. By toying with forbidden knowledge, Rudolf has brought himself to the attention of the ruling powers of the Catholic church. Moreover, by the time Bruno arrives, one alchemist has already met a grisly death and John Dee is missing. With no idea who he can trust (apart from his enthusiastic but sometimes naïve assistant Besler), it will take all of Bruno’s wits to unmask the murderer and stay alive himself…
This is the first of the long-running Giordano Bruno series of historical thrillers I have read, but that didn’t in the slightest hamper my understanding of who is who and what was going on. Relevant details about Bruno’s past are mentioned in passing, and research is expertly woven in, usually using Bruno’s unfamiliarity with Prague, or Besler’s ignorance, as an excuse to explain things that might not be familiar to the modern reader.
I love the touches of humour in Bruno’s wry first-person narrative, mocking himself as much as he mocks others and providing some light relief in what could have been a very dark novel. Parris plays fair with her readers by never withholding information, and while I occasionally found myself one step ahead of Bruno, within a few pages he had not only caught up but overtaken me. The only downside is that I fear I will soon be adding the earlier books in the series to my already scarily large ‘TBR’ pile.
