I didn't finish it (although I skipped to the end to check that out). This wasn't historical fiction, it was modern fiction in fancy dress. I should have been warned by the sex scene on the second or third page. The description had all the elements I liked, but after a few chapters the not-quite-good-enough history started to make my stomach ache, and I started flipping ahead, hoping it would get better, but it didn't. I couldn't even guess where Bellenger got her history, but probably wikipedia would have been better. Perhaps she figured that as long as it was a story with lots of sex, fighting, and magic no one would care if it had any intersection with history, but I feel that people who go to historical fiction prefer accuracy and only want speculation in the areas research can't fill in, and even that should be well supported.
It's rare that I find a book that's not even worth reading once, but this one was for me. I'm sure a different audience probably would like it, but it's not for anyone who wants a view of the dramas of history. ( )