Captivating and wonderful written! I've always loved the Borgias and really loved Sarah Dunant's first Borgia novel, Blood & Beauty. This novel felt like a companion to Blood & Beauty.

In the Name of the Family has fascinating historical detail, but the story ultimately fails to captivate. Telling the story of the famous Borgia family during the years of 1502 to 1503, In the Name of the Family begins as Lucrezia Borgia is about to be married to her third husband, Alfonso d’Este. Lucrezia’s brother, Cesare Borgia, is stirring up trouble and taking over cities, and their father, Pope Alexander VI, is scheming away in Rome. Into the mix of the Borgias comes Niccolo Machiavelli, a diplomat from Florence who is sent to Cesare Borgia.
In reading the synopsis above, it mentions the Corleones and the Lannisters, both families with intrigue and scandal attached to their names. The Corleones are from The Godfather series, and the Lannisters are from A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones). So I was expecting the Borgias to fascinate and intrigue me. Unfortunately, they failed to fully pique my interest. I think this has to do with the time frame that the book is set in. Lucrezia’s relationship with her second husband, whom her brother murdered, sounds like a fascinating story. Unfortunately, those events are in the past when this book begins, and the story of Lucrezia travelling and meeting her new husband, who is more interested in his whores and his foundry than her, just isn’t that exciting. While I liked Lucrezia, and I actually liked her soon-to-be husband, Alfonso d’Este, their story was fairly bland compared to what Lucrezia’s relationship with her second husband was surely like. Also, Lucrezia would go on to have an affair with her brother-in-law, who was married to Alfonso’s sister (who hated Lucrezia) and that sounds like an interesting tale. Alas, the book doesn’t go that far, so we don’t get that story here.
And Cesare, who is supposed to be this good-looking playboy, with the strategic wit, was interesting to a point, but the more interesting details (how he was able to take over Urbino and Sinigaglia) are glossed over, and I just felt a bit let down. I wanted more of his plotting and drama to be in the book.
And the same with the Pope. Pope Alexander VI seemed to be an interesting guy, with the desire to rule the world, but he also had an extreme love of his family, so to have that juxtaposition of destruction towards everyone else, but powerful attachment to his children was interesting to read. He was probably my favorite character to read, as he was pulling the strings and slowly declining. I didn’t like him, but he was unpredictable and therefore interesting.
These three characters, along with Machiavelli (who was very bland in comparison), make for a historically fascinating book, but I wanted more. More drama, more conspiracy, more romance. Just more all around. Some interesting tidbits are briefly mentioned; with the mundane items receiving more of a narrative priority, and these decisions didn’t make a lot of sense to me.
The “F word” is used many times here, which seemed a bit out of place to me, and there are also many mentions of syphilis (or the “French pox”) and how the disease manifests which were intriguing to me, but may be a little gross for some. I did learn more about how syphilis was viewed as a man’s disease, with little thought to how women could get the disease, and how few women were actually given any treatment for it.
All in all, In the Name of the Family will appeal to those who love historical fiction and want to learn more about the Borgias. I think that perhaps the earlier book by Sarah Dunant, Blood and Beauty, which traces the earlier story of the Borgias, may be more interesting and have that intrigue that was missing here. I haven’t read that one yet, but now I want to! I wonder if there will be a third Borgia book, as In the Name of the Family felt like a transition book, where we have the fallout of certain actions from before, and a setup for what is yet to come.
Bottom Line: There was something missing here. Fascinating historical detail, but the characters failed to draw me in.

I was somewhat shocked to discover that this book is basically a retelling of Dunant’s previous book, “Blood and Beauty,” although with more shallow characterizations. There is also a bit of a different emphasis, but basically I didn’t really understand why she wrote another book so similar to the previous one. I know it is in theory a “sequel” but it seemed very repetitive to me.

Nevertheless, the story of the Borgias is a good one, and I didn’t mind reading much of it again, but I did feel like I was mainly doing a “re-read.”

Having read two other novels by Sarah Dunant, I was looking forward to reading this one. Initially, I found it wasn’t capturing my interest. The political climate was hard to follow and I found myself skimming the storyline concerning Pope Alexander. There are also many names to keep track of, so I felt I needed a “who’s who” list of 15th century Italy.

The Borgia family story is told from the perspectives of Pope Alexander, his son Cesare Borgia and his daughter, Lucrezia. Of the three perspectives, I found Lucrezia’s to be the most intimate and feel like Dunant could have worked an entire novel around Lucrezia alone.

As for Cesare, I never felt I got to know him very well, other than his struggle to overcome the French pox. Maybe a bit more character develop would have helped with Cesare’s storyline.

I love that Dunant tried to keep the story as factually correct as possible and I was fascinated by the inclusion of Niccolo Macchiavelli. I would have loved for Dunant to have delved a bit more into his life, especially his actions immediately after the Pope’s death.

Even though this may be my least favorite of Dunant’s novels, I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me an advance read copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have loved or at least really liked the Sarah Dunant books I've read in the past. So, I was thrilled to get an ARC of this novel concerning the Borgias. I did not read Blood and Beauty, which is the predecessor to this book, detailing the early years of Pope Alexander VI’s reign. This novel details his later years and the rise of his son, Cesare and daughter, Lucrezia.

The book is told from multiple points of view. Each chapter is another character and you're inside someone else’s head. Despite that intimacy, I had trouble connecting with any of the characters. The book seemed very dry despite the thoughts of so many individuals.

Certain historical facts made for interesting reading, especially the prevalence of the French pox on so many of the nobility, doctors’ efforts to treat it and their belief that wives didn't get it from husbands that strayed. Cesare’s ability as a commander was intriguing. I never read Machievelli’s The Prince so am unable to comment on how well Dunant portrays Machiavelli or Cesare, on whom it is based.

In the end, I was very lukewarm about this book.

My thanks to netgalley and Virago for an advance copy of this book.

I did not finish this book as I could not engage with it on any level.

Thanks Random House Publishing Group - Random House and netgalley for this ARC.

You know its going to be fantastic from Sarah Dunant, but this is historical fiction at its finest. The empathy, heart, and villainy done just right.

This book was kinda interesting, but also kinda dry. It also seemed like it was longer than necessary - I almost gave up but I kept plodding through. I liked the parts with Lucrezia Borgia the best.

(Rec'd arc from Netgalley)

This is a novel about the notorious Borgia family. Spanish by descent and Italian later, the reader gets to know Alexander when he was pope and his children, Lucretia and Cesare.
Dunant writes a cracking pace novel with perhaps some different touches from the usual portrayals of the main characters. Lucretia was not the whore, Alexander was a loving father, if very angry at Cesare, and Cesare was a sick deranged man, probably bi-polar.
I much enjoyed the settings and depth of the characters in this long book.
Recommended for those who love historical fiction of this period.

Once again S. Dunant proves she is a master at her craft! This novel is about the Borgia family, the head of the family being the Pope! The setting is during the Italian Renaissance period thus provoking thoughts of many famous names.. Artists, poets, sculptors, names that are revered today, but the story is not about them. It is a story of power. How you rise to it, how you keep it, how you grow it and the daily ways that it is undermined. There are a thousand little wars taking place constantly. Many are fought on the battlefield, but there are just as many taking place that are fought with words, sex, money and manipulation. This story has intrigue, scandal, murder, humor, and the constant grasping of holding on to your power. Fabulous read!

I read about a quarter of this and then put it down. It just didn't hold my attention.

In the Name of the Family is about Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) and his illegitimate children, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia as their age of control comes to an end. The pope has been in power for some time and is trying to cement his legacy, Cesare has a ruthless and violent agenda of his own, and Lucrezia has a rather sad life as a political pawn, being bought and sold in marriage to further her family's standing. This is the first book I have read about the Borgias, and I found it extremely interesting. I have not read the first book in this series, Blood and Beauty, but I had no trouble following the characters or the story line in this sequel. I found the chapters following the life of Lucrezia particularly compelling, but thought many of the details of this period were quite fascinating. It was definitely a cruel and violent era. And the pox, oh, the pox - how many family history's were changed by the pox?? Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for letting me read this excellent work of historical fiction in exchange for an honest review. Some of the reviews made me hesitant to read it, but I thought it was great! I also want to read Blood and Beauty soon, to learn about the early life of the Borgias, and how they came to power.

I adore Sarah Dunant and I was excited to receive an ARC of this book. While I have not yet read the first book Dunant wrote about the Borgias (Blood and Beauty, pre-ordered but shamefully not yet read) I was still able to enjoy this book. It is definitely stronger on the historical than the fiction, I really enjoyed it. I like her Renaissance trilogy better (more drama and stronger on the fiction) but I was quickly sucked into this story as well. In my opinion, Lucrezia's story was the most compelling. Cesare and Alexander's warring and scheming got a little old after a while and good grief, the pox...the freakin' pox all the time! Parts of the story dragged but the character's were all quite richly drawn and I appreciated the amount of research that obviously went into this book. Definitely recommended for those interested in the Borgia's or fans of historical fiction.

Where to begin? First, when I saw this book was written by Sarah Dunant, I was thrilled and knew immediately I wanted to read it. Then, I saw it was the second in a series. I decided to go ahead and give it a try. Since I've read other books about Lucrezia Borgia I had no trouble with following this one. I guess I should have also paid more attention to the name of the book. It really was so much more about the family and not the one member who interested me the most, Lucrezia Borgia, which was very disappointing.

When the book was about Lucrezia, I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, not enough of the book focused on her. If you want a book about her and are not really interested in the details of the power struggle and politics of the time, this is probably not the book for you. There was much more about Cesare and his campaigns than I was expecting. At times it seemed that this struggle for power was really one of the main characters in the book. Also, after about the first half to two-thirds, the book seemed to really slow down for me since it seemed to focus more and more on this never-ending, complex power struggle.

When I like Sarah Dunant's books I LOVE them. I got an ARC of The Birth of Venus thirteen years ago, and I stayed up all night to finish reading it. I savored every bit of Sacred Hearts, and it became one of the books I forced people to buy when I worked in the bookstore because I thought everyone in the world should love it as much as I did. But when I don't like Sarah Dunant's books I drag my feet through them like a cranky child, and then I'm mad that I wasted my time. It was like that for me with In the Company of the Courtesan and Blood and Beauty. I had hoped that this second novel of the Borgias would be more interesting to me. For some reason that I am having trouble remembering now, I was really, really excited to read this, and I looked forward to starting it.

My enthusiasm for this book hit the bottom pretty quickly. I simply could not get into the book, and all the inner thoughts of all the characters (every. frigging. character. has an inner voice, no matter how inane) drove me nuts after twenty pages. It literally took me months to get through the first chapter. By then I was very grudgingly invested in the story, mostly I suspect, because I've read a lot of history of the Borgias already, so I was familiar with the key characters and events. I read on (and on and on) but the story never once grabbed me, although I did appreciate that Lucrecia was portrayed as a charming, thoughtful, creative woman.

The historical books I've read about the Borgias were much more interesting and flowed so much better than this book. Sarah Dunant is a good writer, and she has proven that she can write some powerful, gripping historical fiction. This one just didn't do it for me.

The sequel to Blood & Beauty: The Borgias, it picks up where book 1 left off. I feel it is necessary to have read the 1st one to be able to understand the motivations of the main characters, Cesare, Pope Alexander/Rodrigo, and Lucrezia.
I like fact the author delves into Lucrezia's story, history, and personality. In many books set in this time period, female figures are ancillary to the male protagonists. This is the case in arranged marriages of the time, but showing how the women of the era worked behind the scenes was very interesting. I especially appreciated the fleshing out of the secondary figures - the spouses, lovers, kings and rivals, priests, and doctors - all orbiting the Borgia sphere of influence.
The author breathes life into these unsympathetic figures and adriotly fills in the gaps where historical transcripts left a few blank pages.
Fans of historical fiction will not be disappointed.

An interesting family that's better than fiction. Scandals, intrigue, lust, danger. You couldn't make the Borgias up. Great storytelling moves this book along.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

In the Name of the Family is Dunant's second book about the notorious Borgia family. The first, Blood and Beauty, establishes the Borgia family dynamics - their love for each other, the cruelty towards others, and the absolute corruption of the Borgia papacy. Reading the first book is essential to understanding and appreciating this second title.

Again, Lucrezia, Pope Alexander's daughter, is a central figure. Her gender makes her a pawn in the Borgia quest for Italian dominance. Here she is to be married for the third time in order to cement a relationship with Ferrara. This relationship is rocky but ultimately survives as powerful and outlasts the Pope and his machinations.

Despite the fact that her brother, the vicious Cesare Borgia, Duke Valentine, has murdered her beloved second husband Alphonse, Lucrezia quiets her anger and establishes her marriage with the Ferraras. Lucrezia may be a pawn but she is nobody's fool. She is aware of her duties and responsibilities, and she keeps focused on them. Dunant clearly describes the health dangers facing women in the early 16th century as Lucrezia suffers fevers and a stillbirth.

Niccolo Machiavelli makes an appearance as an envoy from Florence. He is much taken by the powerful and charismatic Duke Valentine, and his dispatches home serve as a somewhat objective view of history. Machiavelli provides insight into Valentine, from the height of his military prowess to the depths of his imprisonment.

The corruption of the Borgia papacy, where every office and every absolution came at a price, has been documented in many ways. Dunant brings these troubled, self-absorbed, and selfish historical figures to life.

I haven't read the authors first book - Blood and Beauty so I was a little lost in some areas. I will go back and read the first book as people have said it's a good book. I love the story of the Borgia family. Lucrezia was my favorite character. Cunning, ruthless, and a woman of her own. If readers enjoy stories about the Renaissance, they will enjoy this book

Was unable to finish this book in time unfortunately