1572 Spy master Walsingham is in Paris, while the massacre of St. Bartholomew is occurring. But he must retrieve an important document. Later, events result in sending Dr John Dee into France. Meanwhile Walsingham believes he must deal with the threat from Mary, Queen of the Scots.
An entertaining well-written historical thriller with some interesting characters.
A good start to a new series even though the story was written in the present tense, not something I particularly like.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

“The Eyes of the Queen” is the first book in the “An Agent of the Crown” series by Oliver Clements, which the author used to busily lay the groundwork for his new spy series. The historical fiction series revolves around the original MI6 agents.

Clements’ book lurches with a wobbly start as readers are quickly thrust into the thick of a spy plot when the cunning Walsingham and a colleague rush into violence to recover a document. The first 50 pages or so of the historical fiction spy novel will leave readers’ heads spinning as they are quickly introduced to a menagerie of characters without a moment to register their involvement in the actual story. Once Clements introduces John Dee to the reader, the story gains a more balanced pace as the author leaves bread crumbs about Dee’s ties to Queen Elizabeth I.

The story itself, which revolves around Walsingham’s efforts to derail a Spanish invasion and protect the queen from the treachery of an assassin’s bullet, rapidly moves through France, England and Scotland as the characters puzzle out their foe’s plot.

Given that this book is intended to be the first in a series readers can forgive the hasty and at times cluttered pages, however readers might find it helpful to make notes about the characters as there are quite a number of characters that make a brief appearance only to play a larger role later on in the novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Simon & Schuster for this Advanced Reader Copy and the opportunity to review “The Eyes of the Queen.” All opinions are my own.

I began this with good intentions, enjoying the story as it unfolded. Decided to ignore the premise on the first pages “… a man who will become the original M16 agent.” That sounded a little too “new.” Okay, whatever. I’ll just go on. The book “stars” John Dee, who as history says was the court astronomer and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. Oliver Clements, our author would have him in love with the Queen, and as a “intelligencer” (spy) for Francis Walsingham.

The story starts in France with the Huguenot massacre. Stolen plans are involved, a link to the fabled “Northwest Passage.” But what it all boils down to is intrigue and treachery surrounding Mary, Queen of Scots. And boy, what that lady gets up to in the course of the book, they didn’t teach us in our history books, let me tell you. Be advised that there’s some erotic content here that’s, uh, interesting, that even puts a blush on Sir Francis’s face.

So, our John follows a dream. He does that a lot, and finds out things. There’s a lot of treachery and double-crossing going on, of course. And in the end, we learn that assassins are out to kill Elizabeth, but with John’s help, that doesn’t happen, of course. He’s quite the inventive guy.

I wanted to enjoy this book. It was interesting, if a little too modern in its themes and “feel.” I was okay with that. Until I got to the very last page, and realized that what I was reading was a pitch for a screenplay. Too twee for my taste, with an (I hope) intended funny ending that just felt like I was reading something written for our current century, not an Elizabethan one. Felt totally unnecessary, to me. I won’t be reading another of Dr. Dee’s “adventures,” if there is one.

The Eyes of the Queen by Oliver Clements is an excellent historical fiction murder/mystery that kept me enthralled from beginning to end. It is the first book in a new series: Agents of the Crown. I am so excited to see that this is the beginning, of hopefully, a long and successful mystery series, as I truly, truly enjoyed every page of this gem.

This book takes place over the course of about 2 months in 1572. This is a tale of espionage, mystery, intrigue, deception, cryptics, double-handed deeds, twists, turns, and just a pure joy to decipher.

The reader is taken back to Tudor England and also unstable France. Both countries are areas of instability and hotbed activity with Protestants and Catholics jockeying for position. We are under the ruling of Queen Elizabeth and follow along with multiple plots of espionage, treason, and plans of assassination towards a multitude of historic figures, including the Queen herself.

I love how nothing is as it initially seems to be, there are plenty of shady characters, cryptic messages and intents, inraveling plots and plans occur in complexity and in layers. I love how the author placed us into the thought processes of a multitude of characters, and how he incorporated many true to life historical figures as part of his realistic and fascinating plot. We get to jump into the minds of not just Queen Elizabeth, but Queen Mary of Scots, Dr. John Dee, Francis Walsingham, amongst others.

This was the perfect book for anyone that enjoys political intrigue, murder/mystery plot, historical fiction, and a great, engaging plot.

5/5 stars. A must read.


Thank you Atria/Leopoldo Co Publishing for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my NetGalley account immediately, however will post the detailed review above to my GR, Bookbub, Instagram, Amazon, and B&N accounts upon publication per Publisher request. See all links below.

Thank you again.

3.5 stars
This is a complex story of spying on behalf of Queen Elizabeth and on behalf of her rival, Mary (popularly known as Mary, Queen of Scots) in 1572. It is a time of intense religious feeling, and the book opens with scenes of violence as Catholics slaughter Protestants (Huguenots) in France. In England there is fear that the Spanish are making plans to crush England via the sea in order to put the Catholic Mary on the English throne.

The adventures culminate with the establishment of Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

I enjoyed the exploits of Francis Walsingham and John Dee and loved reading the vivid descriptions of London and all the other locations - how disgusting the Seine and the Thames were! The story dragged in places, however. Also, there are some scenes that involve Mary, who is under house arrest in Sheffield, that involve sex toys, self-stimulation and stimulation required from her female servants that seemed to me totally unnecessary to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the chance to read an advance copy of this book.

I am a big fan of historical mysteries, so I was happy to have a chance to read a review copy of The Eyes of the Queen, which is the first title in a new series featuring the real-life John Dee - mathematician, astrologer, astronomer, alchemist, philosopher and also, by-the-way, advisor to Queen Elizabeth I - as the protagonist.

Clements’ tale weaves nicely among major historical events of the day: the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in France; Queen Elizabeth’s reluctance to execute Queen Mary, even in the face of numerous real and rumored plots to put Mary on the throne of England; Philip of Spain’s attempts to invade England; and the search for a rumored Northwest Passage. Many historical figures other than Dee, including Francis Walsingham, William Cecil, Philip Sidney, and of course, Elizabeth herself, have roles to play as well, fleshing out a nice historical background.

And the story itself is a good one, more of a spy thriller than a mystery, with multiple threads told from multiple viewpoints that kept me reading until the very end. John Dee’s character is an interesting mix of what today would be seen as scientist and charlatan, but Dee’s analytical skills were quite advanced for his time, and he puts them to good use. The author’s slightly understated writing style is also engaging. For example, in a moment when Walsingham and his aide-de-camp are puzzling over something, the author comments in a dry aside that “knowing what it isn’t doesn’t help them with what it is”.

I did have a couple of minor issues with the book. First, by the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, Queen Elizabeth would have been on the throne for nearly 15 years, so I have a bit of trouble imagining that she would only now be setting up a formal spying apparatus. And second, without being spoiler-ish, I wasn’t thrilled with some of the behaviors attributed to Queen Mary during her captivity. These may be based in fact, but I didn’t see that they added much to the story, and so the descriptions seemed rather gratuitous to me. But both of these are sort of minor, and overall, I liked The Eyes of the Queen a lot, and hope that more titles in the series are to come.

Please note that I tend to be pretty conservative in awarding stars, only giving five stars to maybe one in thirty or forty books. So four stars is a great rating from me and means I really do recommend this book. And my thanks again to the publisher, Atria/Leopoldo & Co, and NetGalley for the ARC, provided in exchange for my honest review!

Quick, propulsive, about a fascinating period of history with compelling real-life characters and modern appeal.

The premise is absolutely fascinating and the writing is excellent. I'm not entirely sure which parts of the book didn't fully resonate with me but it did slog in a few places and could be edited down just a smidge. That doesn't mean that I won't be looking forward to books in the series in the future because I think that there is a lot of material to be mind and in the author's desk hand will get better and better as a series goes on

This new series is set during Elizabeth I reign. It concentrates on her "ring of spies" led by John Dee. It has everything you expect from a spy book, intrigue, traitors, liars, and action. It was a good start to the series and I am looking forward to the next book.

this was a great start to a series, I love the Elizabethan age and am glad that this was used as the time period. The characters were great and I really enjoyed the plot. I look forward to more in the series.

Stunning historical fiction with elements of mystery and suspense. Set in 16th century England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth; this novel is brimming with twists and intrigue. Fans of Ken Follett will enjoy this historical retelling. Well written and captures the complex dynamics of this game of thrones. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this ARC.

The Eyes of the Queen by Oliver Clements
Book #1: Agents of the Crown Series
Source: NetGalley and Artria/Leopoldo Co.
Rating: 2/5 stars

**MINI-REVIEW**

The Bottom Line: I am the first to admit I am a sucker for a good bit of historical fiction, and I have a particular fascination with Elizabethan-era stories. I dove into this book anticipating an excellent period piece but what I got is something I still haven’t quite wrapped my brain around. I believe I lost faith and interest in this book very early on, but I continued with the book to the very end hoping it would take a turn for the better. My interest was lost, and pure disbelief set in following the descriptions of Mary, Queen of Scots and how she spent her days locked away as a “guest” of Queen Elizabeth. I can accept a lot of things and like to consider myself open-minded, but this description seems tremendously far-fetched and wholly unnecessary to the telling of this particular story. To make matters worse, I found most of the characters to be somewhat unrealistic and completely out of synch with what history tells us about the people, time and place. The point of historical fiction is to take the real and blend it with fiction to create a dynamic and interesting read based in reality. What I got with this book trends far more toward pure and somewhat fantastical fiction rather than historical fiction.

So this is historical/mystery set during the reign of Elizabeth I which is one of my favorite historical time periods to read about. So this has everything mystery, political intrigue, treachery and with a cast of characters pulled straight out of history. Walsingham is great as the chief spymaster for Elizabeth I who loses a key piece of encrypted intel about how to find the northwest passage so they recruit John Dee to go and recover it. This takes place over the course of 2 months in 1572 while both England and France are unstable and dealing with the Protestants and the Catholics jockeying for position and supremacy. I really enjoyed going from the point of view of Queen Elizabeth to John Dee to Walsingham to Mary Queen of Scots and many more. Right now Mary Queen of Scots is in exile after marrying her third husband who was suspected of killing her second husband and is now under house arrest in England after seeking asylum and this is who the Spanish want to use to get a Catholic back on the throne of England until Elizabeth finally relents and executes her for her treachery.
I really loved the mystery and historical aspects of this story as well as the political intrigue which is my favorite part of any historical novel. This was a really well written and well plotted book and it just keeps your interest throughout with all the layers of characters where nothing is what is seems at first and you have to keep reading to figure it out.
Thanks to Atria Books and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

I was initially intrigued by this book because of the gorgeous cover. I'm really interested in Tudor times and the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants. Walsingham is a great protagonist, as he is chief spymaster of Queen Elizabeth I. The descriptions of the Catholics punishing the Huguenots is explicit and scary. I'm drawn to stories of political intrigue and this book delivers it. It is extremely well-written, with deep characters and a well driven plot. I'm thrilled that is is a first in a new series and I certainly plan on reading the next book. I definitely recommend this book for lovers of historical novels, Tudor times and political intrigue.

I would like to thank Oliver Clements, Atria Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.