This first installment in a planned series, Order of Darkness: Changeling represents Gregory's first foray into young adult literature. Also, unlike the popular Tudor and Cousins' War books, she does not write about the lives of actual historical women. Rather, she has created a band of fictional characters to play out her story. In this story, ex-monk-in-training Luca is sent out to investigate phenomena that seem to be pointing to the end of the world. It is a clever way to combine historical fiction with the ever en vogue paranormal fiction in a way that doesn't feel overly forced. Although I think the superstitious nature of the people of the 15th century could have been developed slightly better at times. 
 Unsurprisingly, character creation was one of the weaknesses of the novel. This wasn't a venture where Gregory could just fill in the cracks of history. On top of the parsed down, YA narrative, I felt left wanting with these characters often. The characters are compelling, but I don't know enough about them. I know that Luca wants to know things. I know that Isolde is a powerful woman. I have trouble coming up with more than that. Actually, Luca's servant friend who comes along for the adventure ends up being the most compelling character for me. He speaks in a distinctive voice, and I get to find out about him a little at a time. I know he likes food. He's good with animals, and he's at least somewhat smarter than his buffoon nature. 
 In addition to the characters, I had some trouble with the pacing. I wasn't sure what the overall arc of the novel was supposed to be. It featured a bit of back-story for our leads, Luca and Isolde, along with two "mysteries" (for lack of a better word at the moment). Most of our time was spent in a nunnery, which could be slightly awkward as it was organized into one long chapter. Then, after the nunnery issue was resolved, I didn't have enough sense of a through line to really have an idea with what was happening with the rest of the book. As a result, the second "mystery" felt kind of rushed, in addition to slightly pointless. 
 Despite all this, I enjoyed my time with the book, hardly putting it down. It's a shockingly quick read if you're used to Gregory's historical fiction. It clocks in at a little over 300 pages and the spacing on the paperback copy I read was liberal. It will be interesting to see where Gregory plans to go from here. 
 http://teaandtomes.wordpress.com/2013...