The Fiery Furnace
“As the novel opens, Olivier de Mazan is trying to evade the Inquisition and its secular thugs, while Count Raimond of Toulouse and French Queen Blanche of Castile are using the boudoir to pursue their own political aims.”
Scott Kimmich continues his “Ordeal By Fire” series (begun in Apostles of Satan) with this new novel set in Europe during the heyday of the Inquisition.
A complicated and fast-moving tale, this novel involves a wide cast of characters who struggle with the savageries of the era. Olivier de Mazan deals with the Inquisition, while his grandsons deal with the rampaging French army and take two very different paths to meet their destinies.
Kimmich works many other elements into his slightly convoluted and over-crowded narrative, including two love stories, copious theological discussions, and the son of Robin Hood. Although the pacing never flags and some of the dialogue is sharply rendered, the novel occasionally loses focus in a sea of historical research.
A less frenetic volume would make a good finish to this trilogy.
