This is a retelling of Joan d’Arc/Joan of Arc from the 15th century during the English and French war. One might say a story inspired by the real person.

Instead of this historical girl who was visited by angels and spiritual visions, we have a girl who is beaten by her father nearly daily. Jacque d’Arc curses and wishes she were never born, her only crime not being a boy when she was born. He had lost a bet on that, and now will never forgive her.

Joan learns how to take the beatings, she learns how to fend for herself, living off scrapes of food, or sleeping in the forest to escape more brutal beatings. This childhood taught her the strength and fortitude to go to battle against the English in the name of taking back France and give the crown to its rightful King.
The God Joan talks to isn’t the saintly spiritual type one may expect. She demands things of God, or tell God what will happen. How Joan becomes super strong and accurate and seemingly well trained as a soldier does appear to be miracles granted by God.

The general outline of the book, once Joan leaves her family village, somewhat follows the true story of the historical Joan, but it still has much fiction within.

Going into this book expecting a realistic fictional account of Joan will lead to frustration. I admit I kept thinking of what I knew of her story and expecting this to come up in the book, but that made me not fully appreciate the story we have here. It is a well-written story that I got wrapped up into.

This is a wonderful reimagining of Joan of Arc. This is a richly detailed book about a powerful person in history. This is a heavily researched book that uses those details to give us a full picture of a strong, willful young woman. Joan comes alive and becomes not just a historical figure, but a woman who comes to know what she is supposed to be doing with her life, and does that.

I enjoyed this book. It was an excellent read on the life and martyrdom of Joan of Arc. What a fascinating person!

I LOVE the stories of Joan of Arc and this one has been so capitvating to read! Chen starts each section of the book with a quick historical recap and sets the readers up for creating accurate visuals! Her writin is descriptive and gives you a sense that whils Joan is larger than life she is also very human. I loved the look at Joan's early years in this one! I love historical fiction and haven't read much about Joan of Arc and I would definitley recommend this one!

Very interesting interpretation of Joan of Arc’s story. A little slow at first but intensified when the battles began. While Joan’s character was well developed the other characters were less so.

I posted my thoughts on storygraph and on goodreads. I'll post a link to goodreads in my instagram stories in a few days.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4881895641

This is a lyrically written account of the life of Joan of Arc. I loved that this book described her as a real woman and not a Saint. She was compassionate but also arrogant. The brutality of her upbringing at the hands of her father shaped her into the fierce fighter she became. However, her youthful belief that she was right and the king was wrong led to her downfall. The arrogance of youth. The writing describing the battles was exceptional. So vivid. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a really solid story that brought Joan to life as a real person. It didn't rely on mystical blather, it didn't get caught up in religion beyond how other people chose to interpret or capitalize on Joan's experiences. Joan did manifest some perhaps miraculous talents, but her naivete and pure practicality made it all seem just another day in the life. You feel really bad for Joan, trying to avenge her sister and save the French common people, while swimming with sharks and ultimately getting thrown under the bus by her king.

I was excited to read this book because I didn't know much about Joan other than the basic outline of her glory in battle and then being tried for witchcraft. I had a hard time getting into this book though. It was so slow that I often found myself avoiding reading just because I didn't want to start a new book until I finished this. I enjoyed the character of Joan in the book, but not enough to enjoy the book overall.

“Once you lift a sword, it is hard to put down again.”

I’ve been curious about Joan of Arc for a long time. I love military history, and as a feminist, I also love that Joan was responsible for leading French victories centuries before women were permitted to serve in the military of any major power. When I saw that Katherine J. Chen had written a “secular reimagining of the epic life of Joan of Arc…a feminist celebration of one remarkable—and remarkably real—woman who left an indelible mark on history,” I was all in.

My thanks go to Net Galley and Random House for the invitation to read and review. This book is for sale now.

In her end notes, Chen tells us that Joan’s biographers tend to leave out her difficult home life, with a violent, angry father that hates Joan from the moment she draws breath; he has wagered heavily on her being male, and she’s failed him. Chen sees it as a major factor in Joan’s development as a warrior.

When Joan leaves home, after her beloved uncle leaves and her elder sister, her one true friend within the family, commits suicide after she is raped by English soldiers, she expects to labor for her bread, which is nothing new to her. But ultimately, she wants to get word to the Dauphin, the heir to the throne, who is in hiding: she knows how to win this war.

I absolutely love the version of Joan that Chen develops, and my only frustration is in not knowing what aspects of Joan’s life she has had to invent, and which are historically accepted as truth. She tells us that Joan’s biographers would have her praying constantly, and that they depict Joan as little more than a totem that they carry to battle, a sort of human version of a lucky rabbit’s foot. And then I wonder even more: what facts are undisputed? Of course the Church would depict Joan as hugely religious, given that she has been beautified as a saint. Did she actually influence the battle plans? This part is frustrating to me. Had more information been provided, this would be a five star review.

In any case, the battle scenes are riveting, and Joan’s character is unforgettable. I look forward to seeing what Chen writes next.

Recommended to all that love the genre.

Outstanding novel reimagining the life of Joan of Arc not as a pastel-colored saint from a holy card but a living breathing angry soldier. So immersive. There were times when I had to stop and reread sentences just for their precise beauty. If you love well-written historical fiction, this is a must-read.

I love reading historical fiction so was beyond thrilled when the publisher offered me an ARC of this title. To be sure, this book did NOT disappoint.

Just about everyone knows the arc (apologies for the pun) of Joan’s story…but, who was she before she was burned at the stake? What led her to lead armies? What happened in Joan’s personal life (there were difficulties) that led to the path that she undertook?

In this novel, Joan, starting at age ten, and her time period are brought to remarkable life. Readers will be immersed in a time and place that will leave a deep impression. Joan, too, will be someone that the reader will be honored to know.

I recently heard the author interviewed on NPR. Look for this if you can. She speaks of how the story was characterized, why she ended it where she did, and how elements from her own life influenced her writing.

Lovers of historical fiction, this may be your book of 2022.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.

In the early 1400s, France is beset by nearly 100 years of war with England and now Normandy. This biographical fiction of Joan of Arc is Katherine J. Chen's reimagining of her life growing up, her battles against France's enemies, and her fall into disfavor with the King and her followers -- all over one lost battle which was not hers but the king's failure when he refused her the number of soldiers needed to win. Joan is portrayed as an ugly child -- hated, degraded, and abused by her father. This makes her into the fighter, tough, independent, and strong woman (literally) that defines her adult years. Chen does not portray her as a devoted Catholic as history does, but the opposite in skepticism. It made me wonder just how much history has skewed the truth towards Joan as a religious zealot versus a more pragmatic woman. I like to think the later. Joan's size and strength gave her the mythological stature of a superhero. Her feats and challenges could only be won by a non-human hero and were not believable. This lowered my rating from a 5 star to a 4. Otherwise, the book was well written and made me want to seek out a good biography of Joan so I could get a truer picture about her life.

I will be recommending this to my followers who are obsessed with retellings. This is for people who also love historical fiction.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this title.

I wasn't sure what I'd think about this book - I knew a little bit of Joan of Arc, but I did a quick Wikipedia hit first to get a basic grounding. Then I took a look at some of the reviews - some complaints that the Joan of this book was not religious enough and that the battle scenes weren't gory enough. Both of those struck me as interesting (religion) and good (not a whole lot of gore). So I dived in!

Once I started, I had a lot of trouble putting this down. I found Joan's early life fascinating - a spunky kid, who had to deal with a father who hated her because she wasn't a boy and made him lose a bet, and therefore beat and abused her consistently. Independent minded, and well liked by the other people in her village. An uncle she adored, despite the fact that he never really helped her out on his infrequent visits. When her father threw her out, she didn't sit and cry - she headed out to make her way in the world - and always won admiration for her extremely hard work.

A key part of her life was her size - she was bigger and stronger than most men. Along with this, she had an almost supernatural ability to use any weapon - immediate ability with a bow, quickly learning any weapon that came her way. When she wound up joining the military forces of the Dauphine of France in the Hundred Years War, it was as a soldier and a leader of soldiers, not as a religious mystic. And that's a choice that the author made, to make her more relatable.

I realize that this is fiction, not by any means a straight biography, so you shouldn't read this to get a factual biography of Joan of Arc. I read it, and enjoyed it very much, as fiction. A woman in a completely male dominated world, who had exceptional strength and military skills - for which she was rewarded, and then punished. An extremely interesting book, and fascinating to read.

I knew almost nothing about Joan of Arc before reading this. After reading the afterward, I’m still not sure how much is accurate, but it was a great story.

Like most people, I’ve heard of Joan of Arc. But I’ve never read much about her life.. before now! Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. Bringing a historical figure to life, fleshing them out with things that did or might’ve happened is such amazing work for an author to do. When it’s as well written as this story was, it makes for magical reading. Joan wasn’t how I’d always imagined her. She was big and strong, and full of strength from the abuse she endured as a child. She was full of goodness and knew love, even as she was rejected by her father over and over. I enjoyed the story of how she came to be known as beloved to God and the Dauphin. Even after reading many, many novels about royalty, it’s still painful to read how fickle the rulers were and how short their memories. This wasn’t a quick read.. full of details, it took me awhile to get through it! And I definitely felt like it just kind of.. ended. Certainly, I know her fate in life, but there could’ve at least been a blurb at the end about what happened to her.

This book is definitely worth reading. It’s full of life, love of God, and life and death. If you enjoy stories of kids and queens, royal life, and history, you’ll enjoy this one!

4.5 stars.

Chen has given me the Joan of my heart. An avenging warrior and military genius, who did what no king, nobleman, knight… what no MAN could: inspired a country and led it to victory. Not because she was holy, heard voices, or saw visions, but because she was simply a better warrior.

When the Dauphin asks of what service she can be to their case, Joan answers, “Majesty, I can fight.”

Chills.

I know the basics of the story of Joan of Arc, I've seen the TV miniseries and The Messenger and of course Ingrid Berman's tour de force performance. I've done some historical reading of Saint Joan, but all that being said, I had a hard time with this book. The author takes religion completely out of the book and the only time it is mentioned is in a negative way.. The Joan of history was deeply religious, the Joan of this book doesn't think of religion much if at all, except as a means to an end. Her visions don't appear in any form, and she only agrees to be called a holy woman in order to meet the king and raise troops to fight against the English, who have sacked her village.

I also think too much time was spent on Joan's youth. It was a real slog to get through, almost a third of the book, before it got interesting, because time had passed and she was old enough to be the Joan from the stories. IT was just story after story of Joan's father beating her, and her running away and finding solace with others. I don't think so much time should have been spent on her abuse by her father, which is, of course, from the author's imagination./

This book just didn't work for me, as someone who takes Joan of Arc and her legacy more seriously than the author.

I had no idea what to expect with this book. Joan of Arc lived in the 1400s and not much is known about her. But this book was a great read. — Very engaging and interesting. We’ll never know much about the real Joan, but this version makes a lot of sense. Highly recommended to all historical fiction readers.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced reader copy.