The King at the End of the World

Elizabeth I is dying.  Her most likely heir is James VI of Scotland, but is he at heart a Protestant or a Catholic?  Either answer has huge implications for England.  How to determine the answer is at the heart if Arthur Phillips' new novel, The King at the End of the World (#908).

Some of Elizabeth's extensive spy network hit upon what seems to be the perfect solution: send a Turkish physician stranded in England after a deputation from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire returns to Constantinople without him to Scotland to determine the king's mind.  It's an intriguing premise.

Although I greatly enjoyed the sections dealing with Dr. Mahmoud Ezzedine, in truth the novel is much more about the political maneuverings of one of  spymaster Walsingham's retired operatives, Geoffrey Belloc.  He is the one who sets things in motion and becomes Ezzedine's handler under a different guise.  The question at the end becomes Who is playing whom?  Phillips leaves the conclusion in the readers' hands.

I did find the end of the book rather unsatisfying, but others may really like this open-endedness.  You will have to determine that for yourself.

I will tell you one thing I did not like about this book, and that is the cover art.  The pastiche of monkey, crown and rosary beads was almost enough to put me off reading it.  It smacked too much of fantasy.  Every book of fiction qualifies as fantasy at some level, but this image seemed to have little to do with the contents.  Just my opinion...