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errski's review against another edition
3.0
I started reading this book while anticipating a trip to Italy, and more specifically Florence. I have had an interest in the Medici's and how they became such a prominent family in Italy. It's a large book, and while the writing was engaging and entertaining, I felt like I didn't have enough time to finish the book before my trip. So I renewed the book from my library and read it when I came back from Florence. Half-way through I did purchase the audiobook, which is really great.
I enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure why Hibbert chose certain people to write about versus others, and the timeline was a little jumpy at times, especially when the book was describing siblings lives. The book has a habit of speaking about the whole life of one person and then immediately shifting to another person, so listening to the audiobook got a little difficult to follow at times, but since I listened after my trip to Florence, many of the names and places were so familiar in my mind.
The book expanded on my knowledge from Florence, museums and places, and was an overall entertaining read. I'm not sure I would have liked it if I hadn't visited Italy first, so I'm glad that I read the bulk of the book after my trip. But I really liked it, it was a nice listening experience, I might go back and listen to certain parts a second time.
I enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure why Hibbert chose certain people to write about versus others, and the timeline was a little jumpy at times, especially when the book was describing siblings lives. The book has a habit of speaking about the whole life of one person and then immediately shifting to another person, so listening to the audiobook got a little difficult to follow at times, but since I listened after my trip to Florence, many of the names and places were so familiar in my mind.
The book expanded on my knowledge from Florence, museums and places, and was an overall entertaining read. I'm not sure I would have liked it if I hadn't visited Italy first, so I'm glad that I read the bulk of the book after my trip. But I really liked it, it was a nice listening experience, I might go back and listen to certain parts a second time.
teatimewithliam's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
This one took me a LONG time to finish. That's not to say the material wasn't interesting...just very dense and fact-heavy which meant I couldn't get through many pages at a time.
I've been interested in the Medici family since first playing Assassin's Creed 2 (iconic game), finally picked this book up after watching Medici: Masters of Florence. I'm most interested in the Cosimo the Great to Lorenzo the Magnificent era, but there are plenty of interesting figureheads within this family (male and female) that kept me going through to the end.
Favourite quote: 'Impressed by her reformist zeal, the Arch-Bishop appointed her Mother Superior in place of the absconding transvestite.'
I've been interested in the Medici family since first playing Assassin's Creed 2 (iconic game), finally picked this book up after watching Medici: Masters of Florence. I'm most interested in the Cosimo the Great to Lorenzo the Magnificent era, but there are plenty of interesting figureheads within this family (male and female) that kept me going through to the end.
Favourite quote: 'Impressed by her reformist zeal, the Arch-Bishop appointed her Mother Superior in place of the absconding transvestite.'
cate_with_a_c's review against another edition
It’s well laid out, but I’m finding I’d rather watch a documentary so I don’t need to keep looking up images for reference.
twstdtink's review against another edition
2.0
No matter how interested I was in the subject, I just could't get past the dry and monotonous writing style.
alison18's review against another edition
Hard to keep track of everyone - it needed charts of dramatis personae I had to keep going back and re-reading pages