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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
I love that Gregory told the story of Queen Katherine’s younger years in stead of just focusing on the story of her being set aside by King Henry.
Phillipa Gregory specializes in historical fiction focused on the Tudor dynasty, although it might be more accurate to describe her books as "history lite". Her books are clearly well researched and quite detailed, but you wouldn't want them to be your sole resource if you're discussing actual historical events. "The Constant Princess" is a welcome addition to her works on the Tudors, with Katherine of Aragon as its heroine. "The Constant Princess" traces Katherine's development from youngest, favorite child of Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, through her young marriage to Prince Arthur of England, years of solitary widowhood, until she finally reaches what she views as her ultimate destiny, the throne of England as wife and queen to King Henry VIII. The book is told mainly from Katherine's perspective, and gives a particular slant on her motivations in sticking with her fight to be queen, despite the odds against her. "The Constant Princess", as with Phillipa Gregory's other books, paints a fascinating portrait of life at court, but should be taken with a grain of salt as far as historical accuracy is concerned. Overall, a worthwhile, engaging, and informative read.
My first Philippa Gregory book ever was The Constant Princess, the tale of Catherine of Aragon before she married Henry VIII. It tells of Catherine as Catalina, the Infanta of Spain, only to become Catherine upon her marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales. Arthur, Henry's older brother who was to become king. Arthur, the prince who became sickly and died too soon.
Catherine of Aragon is my least favorite of Henry VIII's wives [yes, I have them ranked. ish. Don't judge.], or at least bottom two. It's like a feel bad for her, but I don't feel her the way I feel some of the others. I don't believe this is due to Gregory's writing, but just Catherine herself.
The Constant Princess does introduce us to a new side of Catherine, a younger Catherine. She is a desperate widow, heartbroken by Arthur's death, abandoned by her father, abandoned by England. And so, she must take her fate into her own hands: she must fight for what she wants, she must fight to become the Queen of England, as she was meant to be.
If you're interested in Henry VIII, Historical Fiction, or Philippa Gregory at all, this book is worth the read. You'll like it.
Like my review? Check out more: http://jaymesbookreviews.blogspot.com
Catherine of Aragon is my least favorite of Henry VIII's wives [yes, I have them ranked. ish. Don't judge.], or at least bottom two. It's like a feel bad for her, but I don't feel her the way I feel some of the others. I don't believe this is due to Gregory's writing, but just Catherine herself.
The Constant Princess does introduce us to a new side of Catherine, a younger Catherine. She is a desperate widow, heartbroken by Arthur's death, abandoned by her father, abandoned by England. And so, she must take her fate into her own hands: she must fight for what she wants, she must fight to become the Queen of England, as she was meant to be.
If you're interested in Henry VIII, Historical Fiction, or Philippa Gregory at all, this book is worth the read. You'll like it.
Like my review? Check out more: http://jaymesbookreviews.blogspot.com
I don't really read this type of book but I had read the 2 I had brought on holiday very fast & this was the only book available in the hotel, it was an interesting read about king Henry's first wife, I had no idea she had been married to his brother first. I can't say I was engrossed but I read the story with interest
I needed another no think book. This has cured me of my no think books. So awful that I am ready to go back to thinking required books.
This was my favorite of the three I've read so far (others were The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance) - while the other books had some characters that were just straight out evil you almost cheered for them to be executed, I preferred the strong and likable female protagonist in this story. I also enjoyed the descriptions of the Alhambra, it brought back memories of my visit there with vividness.
I actually like this book the best by this author. I think it was because it was shorter so there was less opportunity for her to repeat the same 20 pages over and over, though at the beginning I thought I might scream if I read she was the infantana of Spain one more time... I get it no need to mention it over and over and over. Also Katherine was by far one of my favorite of Henry's wives and she totally got the shit end of the stick. I thought the ending was a bit rushed but I see why she didn't get into the whole Anne Boleyn thing since she already wrote about it. An interesting read.
Like with [b:The Other Boleyn Girl|37470|The Other Boleyn Girl|Philippa Gregory|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1277607929s/37470.jpg|3248536], it took me a while to feel the book. I first questioned it, thought that The Other Boleyn Girl was a better book. But I soon got drawn into the tale of Katherine, the first wife to king Henry. It was interesting to find out more about their relationship, that they had loved each other once. A good tale of a woman's life and trouble, and she was strong and wise.
As for the writing itself, I was kind of annoyed of the bits with Katharine's thoughts. I think the book could stand on is own without writing passages of 1:st POV. It would also have been interesting to read the whole deal with Anne and Mary from Katharine's POV, how she took it all to her end.
As for the writing itself, I was kind of annoyed of the bits with Katharine's thoughts. I think the book could stand on is own without writing passages of 1:st POV. It would also have been interesting to read the whole deal with Anne and Mary from Katharine's POV, how she took it all to her end.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, it was fun and easy to read. I learned quite a bit about Katherine that I had not known previously. The ending seemed a bit out of whack or rushed, military stuff tacked onto a slow-moving (very slow at times) tale of love and politics. I also didn't find her portrayal of Katherine/Catalina to be particularly charming, the inner dialogue seemed more rote than a look into the inner-depths of a person's mind.
Historical fiction always makes the "What If?" question come to mind. What if 'X' had lived? What if 'X' had died? What if 'x battle' had been lost instead of won? You get the drift. This is definitely one of those books that did it. Coming into this one, I didn't know much about Katherine of Aragon aside from her marrying Arthur, him dying, her marrying Henry VIII, being his first wife & being the mother of Mary so this was an interesting journey to the past for me.
I know this is a work of fiction, but Philippa Gregory does a lot of research for her books, so I think some of this is fairly accurate (except for things that we simply have to guess about). Despite being royalty, Catalina has a very unorthodox childhood. Having both her mother & father not just being the King & Queen, but also being warriors, gave her a different aspect on life...which also gave her a huge shock when she arrived in England. In England, woman were demur and obeyed without question their husbands and their King and while she adapted and outwardly did the same, internally she knew her own mind and pushed back when & where she could.
Her marriage to Arthur is where my 'what if' comes back to play. If, indeed, they did have the relationship that Philippa wrote about here, and they had these grand plans for England, it makes me wonder, what if Arthur hadn't died and they had been able to go on and create the universities they talked about and the ships and everything else. Where would the British Empire have ended up if this awful twist of fate hadn't taken him away from her and put her in the path of Henry? Granted that means that it may have taken much longer for England to have a Queen reign on her own, but would everyone have been better off?
This is book 6 in the Plantagenet & Tudors series and having read them in series order, not published order, I find that I think that Catalina, Infanta of Spain aka Katherine, Queen of England has been my favorite character so far. I would not mind reading more about her.
I know this is a work of fiction, but Philippa Gregory does a lot of research for her books, so I think some of this is fairly accurate (except for things that we simply have to guess about). Despite being royalty, Catalina has a very unorthodox childhood. Having both her mother & father not just being the King & Queen, but also being warriors, gave her a different aspect on life...which also gave her a huge shock when she arrived in England. In England, woman were demur and obeyed without question their husbands and their King and while she adapted and outwardly did the same, internally she knew her own mind and pushed back when & where she could.
Her marriage to Arthur is where my 'what if' comes back to play. If, indeed, they did have the relationship that Philippa wrote about here, and they had these grand plans for England, it makes me wonder, what if Arthur hadn't died and they had been able to go on and create the universities they talked about and the ships and everything else. Where would the British Empire have ended up if this awful twist of fate hadn't taken him away from her and put her in the path of Henry? Granted that means that it may have taken much longer for England to have a Queen reign on her own, but would everyone have been better off?
This is book 6 in the Plantagenet & Tudors series and having read them in series order, not published order, I find that I think that Catalina, Infanta of Spain aka Katherine, Queen of England has been my favorite character so far. I would not mind reading more about her.