The Master of All Desires by Judith Merkle Riley

I have enjoyed listening to every other book by JMR and saved this one for last. Stick with it and by the end I think you will be pleased you did. This was a great listen, even past the awful narration. Nostradamus was fantastic, his familiar was wonderful, but I think it was the Aunt Pauline who stole the show. Who was the most memorable character of The Master of All Desires and why? One small point in her favor is that she didn't butcher the French pronunciations. If you can just suffer through, I think the story will catch you like it did me and you can listen past the narrator. She makes poor Sabille sound like a complete airhead in the beginning, and all the men sound ridiculous, but luckily the story kept me going and eventually the narrator toned the every-single-word breathlessness down a bit and it was easier to listen to. Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Hollis McCarthy? And they were never fully good or fully bad they were believable. They never let you down in humor, cunning or determination. A little history, a little intrigue, a little mystery, and some unredictable romance, it was a good book I was certainly driven to finish.

The plot was great, with the twists and interesting characters I've come to expect from JMR. Where does The Master of All Desires rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far? The three-way battle that ensues - a prophet who scorns poetry, a woman in love, and a sly and ruthless queen - is set against the rich, detailed tapestry of a nation on the verge of civil war and a lively constellation of famous figures clustered around Nostradamus, seer of the millennium.

And the head, in its coffer, has fallen into the possession of a charming, wryly perceptive but stubborn young woman: Sybille Artaud de la Roche, a bluestocking poet who needs it to obtain all her desires.beauty, genius, and a dashing, intelligent cavalier. But she does not know that evil befalls all those who wish upon this accursed object. The queen, Catherine de Medicis, a dabbler in black magic, has decided to get rid of the king's mistress by seeking out the legendary Undying Head of Menander the Magus, known as the Master of All Desires. It is 1556 and the queen's astrologer, the prophet Nostradamus has uncovered a secret that could destroy the kingdom of France. The Master of All Desires has it all, with an extra helping of the occult, clad in Riley's hallmark style and wit. In The Oracle Glass and The Serpent Garden, Judith Merkle Riley enchanted listeners with rich, pause-resisting re-creations of eras past, wicked thumbnail sketches of power players, riotous action, delicious mystery and romance, luminous prose, and feisty heroines with a feminist sensibility. From the novelist with Antonia Fraser's authenticity and Anne Rice's allure comes another 'highly enjoyable romp' ( Newsday), with a millennial twist.

The Master of All Desires by Judith Merkle Riley