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writerrhiannon's review against another edition
4.0
(Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review)
My Review:.
I loved escaping to the castles and kingdoms of this historical novel. I was drawn in to the story by Frances' use of herbs to assist those in need. I did wish there was more of that content as the story progressed, but the 2nd half of the book is much more focused on the plot to assassinate the King and all the court players. However, this is the first book in a trilogy and I am hoping the second and third books will focus more on Frances' talents (I mean the trilogy is name after her!).
My Review:.
I loved escaping to the castles and kingdoms of this historical novel. I was drawn in to the story by Frances' use of herbs to assist those in need. I did wish there was more of that content as the story progressed, but the 2nd half of the book is much more focused on the plot to assassinate the King and all the court players. However, this is the first book in a trilogy and I am hoping the second and third books will focus more on Frances' talents (I mean the trilogy is name after her!).
lylah's review against another edition
3.0
You can tell that Borman is a historian in her writing—she vividly brings detail to the front and really makes you feel like you’re actually there in that moment, smelling Frances’s herbs and visualizing the dresses and castles and the decadence of the court. This is the best thing about the novel and definitely where it shines, and even when it was too slow or not well-developed I reveled in these descriptions.
I think that some of historical fiction can be very limiting when all the characters are real figures, as they are in this book. When you figure out the protagonists are embroiled in the gunpowder plot, even with a very small knowledge of English history, you would be able to tell they’re going to fail and most of them will die. Borman embellishes this history very little with extra detail, relying on historical accuracy over making the plot interesting. She does not do anything original with it, which would be fine if her characters were not dull. I did not care about any of the characters in this book, and I especially did not care for the main romance, but I think it may have been a flaw to choose a main character who sits on the sidelines to all the interesting aspects of this moment in time — we get to see her tried as a witch for about a chapter, and then everything else we have to hear through messengers days after it happened. It was anticlimactic.
I had a few issues with the writing, which was mostly good but dabbled a lot in cliches (if anyone else’s eyes had blazed I was probably going to put it down after the 10th or 11th time). It also seemed like if there was nothing else going on in the plot Borman would just make someone fall ill suddenly and Frances would have to come to the rescue.
Overall, this book was too long, and not very captivating in terms of plot or character, but I did enjoy it as a kind of “period piece.” It’s decent for a fiction debut. I won’t be reading the other books in this series because I’m just not interested but I would definitely return to Borman again after she has more fiction under her belt.
I think that some of historical fiction can be very limiting when all the characters are real figures, as they are in this book. When you figure out the protagonists are embroiled in the gunpowder plot, even with a very small knowledge of English history, you would be able to tell they’re going to fail and most of them will die. Borman embellishes this history very little with extra detail, relying on historical accuracy over making the plot interesting. She does not do anything original with it, which would be fine if her characters were not dull. I did not care about any of the characters in this book, and I especially did not care for the main romance, but I think it may have been a flaw to choose a main character who sits on the sidelines to all the interesting aspects of this moment in time — we get to see her tried as a witch for about a chapter, and then everything else we have to hear through messengers days after it happened. It was anticlimactic.
I had a few issues with the writing, which was mostly good but dabbled a lot in cliches (if anyone else’s eyes had blazed I was probably going to put it down after the 10th or 11th time). It also seemed like if there was nothing else going on in the plot Borman would just make someone fall ill suddenly and Frances would have to come to the rescue.
Overall, this book was too long, and not very captivating in terms of plot or character, but I did enjoy it as a kind of “period piece.” It’s decent for a fiction debut. I won’t be reading the other books in this series because I’m just not interested but I would definitely return to Borman again after she has more fiction under her belt.
thegoblinempress's review against another edition
2.0
Check out this review and more on my blog!
I received an eARC of The King’s Witch from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In recent years there’s been a spate of historians taking to historical fiction – like Lucy Worsley with [b:Eliza Rose|27279241|Eliza Rose|Lucy Worsley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456141469l/27279241._SY75_.jpg|47334386] and Janina Ramirez with [b:Riddle of the Runes|38324464|Riddle of the Runes|Janina Ramírez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1517523853l/38324464._SY75_.jpg|59979136], and Alison Weir has been writing fiction alongside her non-fiction for years – so when I saw Tudor and Stuart historian Tracy Borman had written her debut novel about a suspected witch, I couldn’t resist requesting a copy from NetGalley.
The novel follows an incredibly turbulent period of Britain’s history, following the death of the last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I, and James VI of Scotland’s ascension to the English throne as James I. James was obsessed with witches and many women, and men (but mostly women), died because of his obsession, and many more died because of his persecution of the Catholics. In fact he treated the Catholics so badly that, only two years into his reign, they tried to blow him up.
Into this turbulent environment walks Frances Gorges. A lover of the countryside and her family’s home there, she’s taken to the Stuart court by her uncle in the hopes that she’ll make a good match where he’s secured a job for her as a companion to the young Princess Elizabeth. Unfortunately for Frances, her affinity for herbs and healing sees her come under suspicion for witchcraft, and a budding romance with another courtier puts her in danger of being accused of something else entirely.
Sadly I didn’t love this one, but I also can’t say it’s a bad book. If you haven’t read a lot of historical fiction, or haven’t read a lot set during this period of history, I think The King’s Witch would be a great starting point. Tracy Borman is a historian and she really knows her stuff; there are little details she adds about England at the period, and particularly about some of our most famous historical buildings such as Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London, that have you learning without it being obvious that she’s teaching you, and this book is a very easy read.
My issue with this book is that, for me, it isn’t anything new. Of course Frances is the most beloved and beautiful and learned and most studious child in her family, and of course she has a jealous sister who we barely see which begs the question why she was there at all other than to make Frances look good, and her uncle is a bit too moustache-twirly to be taken seriously. I found Frances a little too passive which is a real shame because I think there is a lack of quiet heroines in fiction, but Frances wasn’t quiet so much as waited for the men around her to tell her what to do. This is particularly odd when her internal narrative so often called out how unfair it was that women had to do what men said all the time – and yet that’s what she spent the majority of this novel doing.
I mean this woman gets caught up in one of the most famous regicidal plots in history by accident. There’s so much more that could have been done with this novel, but instead it felt like two novels mashed together. The first half followed Frances’s battle with a witchcraft accusation – and to Borman’s credit, I really appreciated that she included a ‘witch-pricking’ scene which just proves how horrific and degrading a process it was once a woman was accused of witchcraft – and the second half followed her falling into the Gunpowder Plot.
The strange thing is these two halves of the plot could have fit together more than they did; because King James hated witches and Catholics in equal measure, Catholicism itself became associated with witchcraft so it would have made sense for Frances to also be a secret Catholic. Instead she grows to care about the Catholic plot because all the men involved tell her she should care and she thinks, ‘fair enough, yeah okay’ and I just didn’t believe her.
Worse still, I kind of lost a little respect for her? Don’t get me wrong the woman suffers a harrowing ordeal and she has just as much of a reason to hate the king as everyone else he’s wronged, but it didn’t take much to win her over to the Catholics’ side and I’d’ve preferred the novel if she’d already been on their side to begin with. Instead we have a novel about the Gunpowder Plot where we never actually see its organisers organising it, and it seems a shame we were left out of that side of things.
Frances’s romance with one of the conspirators also could have been fleshed out more. They seemed to fall in love incredibly quickly, and whenever they declared their love for one another all I could think was, ‘why, though?’ because for the majority of the novel Frances has no idea what he’s up to. It’s difficult to decipher how much they actually knew each other at all.
(I also wasn’t a fan of the sex scene – why so many historical fiction sex scenes completely forego foreplay and include lines about ‘pain giving way to pleasure’ I’ll never know.)
I do really appreciate that Borman included Anne of Denmark, James’s wife, a lot in this novel, as I feel she’s someone who’s often forgotten and I’d love to know more about her. I can’t imagine it was easy being married to a man like James VI, especially as he was rumoured to prefer the company of men and often flaunted his favourites in front of the queen. The Anne Borman wrote was incredibly dignified, and I always looked forward to scenes she was in.
My only other thought, upon finishing this novel, is that I can’t help wondering if historians are letting women from history down when all they write about is the royal court. Considering the majority of women accused of witchcraft in the 16th and 17th centuries were ordinary, working class women, I can’t deny that it’s frustrating to see yet another witch novel set at the royal court. Frances was able to escape the fate of many accused witches thanks to her connections at court, but what about all the ordinary women who had no such benefactor?
Of course a lot of historians specialise in royal history, in fact both Borman and Lucy Worsley are Joint Chief Curators of Historic Royal Palaces, but the historians who turn their hand to historical fiction are also the writers who have the means for researching the ordinary people from history at their disposal.
All that aside (I feel like I’m being very mean, and I actually like Tracy Borman a lot – I’ve seen her speak a couple of times and she’s incredibly knowledgable and genuinely lovely!) while it is clear this is Borman’s debut novel, she certainly has the potential to get better and better. I won’t be picking up the next book in this trilogy, sadly I don’t care enough about Frances to find out what happens to her next, but I’d be interested in seeing what else Borman may write in future.
I received an eARC of The King’s Witch from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In recent years there’s been a spate of historians taking to historical fiction – like Lucy Worsley with [b:Eliza Rose|27279241|Eliza Rose|Lucy Worsley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456141469l/27279241._SY75_.jpg|47334386] and Janina Ramirez with [b:Riddle of the Runes|38324464|Riddle of the Runes|Janina Ramírez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1517523853l/38324464._SY75_.jpg|59979136], and Alison Weir has been writing fiction alongside her non-fiction for years – so when I saw Tudor and Stuart historian Tracy Borman had written her debut novel about a suspected witch, I couldn’t resist requesting a copy from NetGalley.
The novel follows an incredibly turbulent period of Britain’s history, following the death of the last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I, and James VI of Scotland’s ascension to the English throne as James I. James was obsessed with witches and many women, and men (but mostly women), died because of his obsession, and many more died because of his persecution of the Catholics. In fact he treated the Catholics so badly that, only two years into his reign, they tried to blow him up.
Into this turbulent environment walks Frances Gorges. A lover of the countryside and her family’s home there, she’s taken to the Stuart court by her uncle in the hopes that she’ll make a good match where he’s secured a job for her as a companion to the young Princess Elizabeth. Unfortunately for Frances, her affinity for herbs and healing sees her come under suspicion for witchcraft, and a budding romance with another courtier puts her in danger of being accused of something else entirely.
Sadly I didn’t love this one, but I also can’t say it’s a bad book. If you haven’t read a lot of historical fiction, or haven’t read a lot set during this period of history, I think The King’s Witch would be a great starting point. Tracy Borman is a historian and she really knows her stuff; there are little details she adds about England at the period, and particularly about some of our most famous historical buildings such as Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London, that have you learning without it being obvious that she’s teaching you, and this book is a very easy read.
My issue with this book is that, for me, it isn’t anything new. Of course Frances is the most beloved and beautiful and learned and most studious child in her family, and of course she has a jealous sister who we barely see which begs the question why she was there at all other than to make Frances look good, and her uncle is a bit too moustache-twirly to be taken seriously. I found Frances a little too passive which is a real shame because I think there is a lack of quiet heroines in fiction, but Frances wasn’t quiet so much as waited for the men around her to tell her what to do. This is particularly odd when her internal narrative so often called out how unfair it was that women had to do what men said all the time – and yet that’s what she spent the majority of this novel doing.
I mean this woman gets caught up in one of the most famous regicidal plots in history by accident. There’s so much more that could have been done with this novel, but instead it felt like two novels mashed together. The first half followed Frances’s battle with a witchcraft accusation – and to Borman’s credit, I really appreciated that she included a ‘witch-pricking’ scene which just proves how horrific and degrading a process it was once a woman was accused of witchcraft – and the second half followed her falling into the Gunpowder Plot.
The strange thing is these two halves of the plot could have fit together more than they did; because King James hated witches and Catholics in equal measure, Catholicism itself became associated with witchcraft so it would have made sense for Frances to also be a secret Catholic. Instead she grows to care about the Catholic plot because all the men involved tell her she should care and she thinks, ‘fair enough, yeah okay’ and I just didn’t believe her.
Worse still, I kind of lost a little respect for her? Don’t get me wrong the woman suffers a harrowing ordeal and she has just as much of a reason to hate the king as everyone else he’s wronged, but it didn’t take much to win her over to the Catholics’ side and I’d’ve preferred the novel if she’d already been on their side to begin with. Instead we have a novel about the Gunpowder Plot where we never actually see its organisers organising it, and it seems a shame we were left out of that side of things.
Frances’s romance with one of the conspirators also could have been fleshed out more. They seemed to fall in love incredibly quickly, and whenever they declared their love for one another all I could think was, ‘why, though?’ because for the majority of the novel Frances has no idea what he’s up to. It’s difficult to decipher how much they actually knew each other at all.
(I also wasn’t a fan of the sex scene – why so many historical fiction sex scenes completely forego foreplay and include lines about ‘pain giving way to pleasure’ I’ll never know.)
I do really appreciate that Borman included Anne of Denmark, James’s wife, a lot in this novel, as I feel she’s someone who’s often forgotten and I’d love to know more about her. I can’t imagine it was easy being married to a man like James VI, especially as he was rumoured to prefer the company of men and often flaunted his favourites in front of the queen. The Anne Borman wrote was incredibly dignified, and I always looked forward to scenes she was in.
My only other thought, upon finishing this novel, is that I can’t help wondering if historians are letting women from history down when all they write about is the royal court. Considering the majority of women accused of witchcraft in the 16th and 17th centuries were ordinary, working class women, I can’t deny that it’s frustrating to see yet another witch novel set at the royal court. Frances was able to escape the fate of many accused witches thanks to her connections at court, but what about all the ordinary women who had no such benefactor?
Of course a lot of historians specialise in royal history, in fact both Borman and Lucy Worsley are Joint Chief Curators of Historic Royal Palaces, but the historians who turn their hand to historical fiction are also the writers who have the means for researching the ordinary people from history at their disposal.
All that aside (I feel like I’m being very mean, and I actually like Tracy Borman a lot – I’ve seen her speak a couple of times and she’s incredibly knowledgable and genuinely lovely!) while it is clear this is Borman’s debut novel, she certainly has the potential to get better and better. I won’t be picking up the next book in this trilogy, sadly I don’t care enough about Frances to find out what happens to her next, but I’d be interested in seeing what else Borman may write in future.
annarella's review
4.0
A very good debut! The books starts slowly but if you keep reading it's a real page turner.
It's well written and well researche, fascinating characters and great descriptions.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and Netgalley for the ARC
It's well written and well researche, fascinating characters and great descriptions.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and Netgalley for the ARC
calli's review
3.0
3.5! Had some pacing issues. It felt like 2 novels in one. I like the attention to detail in the setting and the characters.
anyakinsl's review
Somehow I inadvertently read two books about The Gunpowder Plot back to back. Normally this would drive me absolutely insane, but this book was so wonderfully descriptive, so different from others, that it did not phase me in the least. The descriptions were lush and inviting, the characters were wonderful, and the story was touching, sad, and beautiful. The novel follows the story of Lady Frances Gorges, who was stationed to Queen Elizabeth I during the last years of her life, but was then given a post caring for young Princess Elizabeth after the accession to the throne of King James VI/I. She is a wonderfully complex character and I learned things about both Frances and Anne of Denmark that were surprising to me and exciting to see portrayed in a historical fiction novel. I absolutely loved this book and was very happy to see the way that it ended up.
This book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
thegoblinempress's review
2.0
Check out this review and more on my blog!
I received an eARC of The King’s Witch from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In recent years there’s been a spate of historians taking to historical fiction – like Lucy Worsley with [b:Eliza Rose|27279241|Eliza Rose|Lucy Worsley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456141469l/27279241._SY75_.jpg|47334386] and Janina Ramirez with [b:Riddle of the Runes|38324464|Riddle of the Runes|Janina Ramírez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1517523853l/38324464._SY75_.jpg|59979136], and Alison Weir has been writing fiction alongside her non-fiction for years – so when I saw Tudor and Stuart historian Tracy Borman had written her debut novel about a suspected witch, I couldn’t resist requesting a copy from NetGalley.
The novel follows an incredibly turbulent period of Britain’s history, following the death of the last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I, and James VI of Scotland’s ascension to the English throne as James I. James was obsessed with witches and many women, and men (but mostly women), died because of his obsession, and many more died because of his persecution of the Catholics. In fact he treated the Catholics so badly that, only two years into his reign, they tried to blow him up.
Into this turbulent environment walks Frances Gorges. A lover of the countryside and her family’s home there, she’s taken to the Stuart court by her uncle in the hopes that she’ll make a good match where he’s secured a job for her as a companion to the young Princess Elizabeth. Unfortunately for Frances, her affinity for herbs and healing sees her come under suspicion for witchcraft, and a budding romance with another courtier puts her in danger of being accused of something else entirely.
Sadly I didn’t love this one, but I also can’t say it’s a bad book. If you haven’t read a lot of historical fiction, or haven’t read a lot set during this period of history, I think The King’s Witch would be a great starting point. Tracy Borman is a historian and she really knows her stuff; there are little details she adds about England at the period, and particularly about some of our most famous historical buildings such as Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London, that have you learning without it being obvious that she’s teaching you, and this book is a very easy read.
My issue with this book is that, for me, it isn’t anything new. Of course Frances is the most beloved and beautiful and learned and most studious child in her family, and of course she has a jealous sister who we barely see which begs the question why she was there at all other than to make Frances look good, and her uncle is a bit too moustache-twirly to be taken seriously. I found Frances a little too passive which is a real shame because I think there is a lack of quiet heroines in fiction, but Frances wasn’t quiet so much as waited for the men around her to tell her what to do. This is particularly odd when her internal narrative so often called out how unfair it was that women had to do what men said all the time – and yet that’s what she spent the majority of this novel doing.
I mean this woman gets caught up in one of the most famous regicidal plots in history by accident. There’s so much more that could have been done with this novel, but instead it felt like two novels mashed together. The first half followed Frances’s battle with a witchcraft accusation – and to Borman’s credit, I really appreciated that she included a ‘witch-pricking’ scene which just proves how horrific and degrading a process it was once a woman was accused of witchcraft – and the second half followed her falling into the Gunpowder Plot.
The strange thing is these two halves of the plot could have fit together more than they did; because King James hated witches and Catholics in equal measure, Catholicism itself became associated with witchcraft so it would have made sense for Frances to also be a secret Catholic. Instead she grows to care about the Catholic plot because all the men involved tell her she should care and she thinks, ‘fair enough, yeah okay’ and I just didn’t believe her.
Worse still, I kind of lost a little respect for her? Don’t get me wrong the woman suffers a harrowing ordeal and she has just as much of a reason to hate the king as everyone else he’s wronged, but it didn’t take much to win her over to the Catholics’ side and I’d’ve preferred the novel if she’d already been on their side to begin with. Instead we have a novel about the Gunpowder Plot where we never actually see its organisers organising it, and it seems a shame we were left out of that side of things.
Frances’s romance with one of the conspirators also could have been fleshed out more. They seemed to fall in love incredibly quickly, and whenever they declared their love for one another all I could think was, ‘why, though?’ because for the majority of the novel Frances has no idea what he’s up to. It’s difficult to decipher how much they actually knew each other at all.
(I also wasn’t a fan of the sex scene – why so many historical fiction sex scenes completely forego foreplay and include lines about ‘pain giving way to pleasure’ I’ll never know.)
I do really appreciate that Borman included Anne of Denmark, James’s wife, a lot in this novel, as I feel she’s someone who’s often forgotten and I’d love to know more about her. I can’t imagine it was easy being married to a man like James VI, especially as he was rumoured to prefer the company of men and often flaunted his favourites in front of the queen. The Anne Borman wrote was incredibly dignified, and I always looked forward to scenes she was in.
My only other thought, upon finishing this novel, is that I can’t help wondering if historians are letting women from history down when all they write about is the royal court. Considering the majority of women accused of witchcraft in the 16th and 17th centuries were ordinary, working class women, I can’t deny that it’s frustrating to see yet another witch novel set at the royal court. Frances was able to escape the fate of many accused witches thanks to her connections at court, but what about all the ordinary women who had no such benefactor?
Of course a lot of historians specialise in royal history, in fact both Borman and Lucy Worsley are Joint Chief Curators of Historic Royal Palaces, but the historians who turn their hand to historical fiction are also the writers who have the means for researching the ordinary people from history at their disposal.
All that aside (I feel like I’m being very mean, and I actually like Tracy Borman a lot – I’ve seen her speak a couple of times and she’s incredibly knowledgable and genuinely lovely!) while it is clear this is Borman’s debut novel, she certainly has the potential to get better and better. I won’t be picking up the next book in this trilogy, sadly I don’t care enough about Frances to find out what happens to her next, but I’d be interested in seeing what else Borman may write in future.
I received an eARC of The King’s Witch from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In recent years there’s been a spate of historians taking to historical fiction – like Lucy Worsley with [b:Eliza Rose|27279241|Eliza Rose|Lucy Worsley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456141469l/27279241._SY75_.jpg|47334386] and Janina Ramirez with [b:Riddle of the Runes|38324464|Riddle of the Runes|Janina Ramírez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1517523853l/38324464._SY75_.jpg|59979136], and Alison Weir has been writing fiction alongside her non-fiction for years – so when I saw Tudor and Stuart historian Tracy Borman had written her debut novel about a suspected witch, I couldn’t resist requesting a copy from NetGalley.
The novel follows an incredibly turbulent period of Britain’s history, following the death of the last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I, and James VI of Scotland’s ascension to the English throne as James I. James was obsessed with witches and many women, and men (but mostly women), died because of his obsession, and many more died because of his persecution of the Catholics. In fact he treated the Catholics so badly that, only two years into his reign, they tried to blow him up.
Into this turbulent environment walks Frances Gorges. A lover of the countryside and her family’s home there, she’s taken to the Stuart court by her uncle in the hopes that she’ll make a good match where he’s secured a job for her as a companion to the young Princess Elizabeth. Unfortunately for Frances, her affinity for herbs and healing sees her come under suspicion for witchcraft, and a budding romance with another courtier puts her in danger of being accused of something else entirely.
Sadly I didn’t love this one, but I also can’t say it’s a bad book. If you haven’t read a lot of historical fiction, or haven’t read a lot set during this period of history, I think The King’s Witch would be a great starting point. Tracy Borman is a historian and she really knows her stuff; there are little details she adds about England at the period, and particularly about some of our most famous historical buildings such as Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London, that have you learning without it being obvious that she’s teaching you, and this book is a very easy read.
My issue with this book is that, for me, it isn’t anything new. Of course Frances is the most beloved and beautiful and learned and most studious child in her family, and of course she has a jealous sister who we barely see which begs the question why she was there at all other than to make Frances look good, and her uncle is a bit too moustache-twirly to be taken seriously. I found Frances a little too passive which is a real shame because I think there is a lack of quiet heroines in fiction, but Frances wasn’t quiet so much as waited for the men around her to tell her what to do. This is particularly odd when her internal narrative so often called out how unfair it was that women had to do what men said all the time – and yet that’s what she spent the majority of this novel doing.
I mean this woman gets caught up in one of the most famous regicidal plots in history by accident. There’s so much more that could have been done with this novel, but instead it felt like two novels mashed together. The first half followed Frances’s battle with a witchcraft accusation – and to Borman’s credit, I really appreciated that she included a ‘witch-pricking’ scene which just proves how horrific and degrading a process it was once a woman was accused of witchcraft – and the second half followed her falling into the Gunpowder Plot.
The strange thing is these two halves of the plot could have fit together more than they did; because King James hated witches and Catholics in equal measure, Catholicism itself became associated with witchcraft so it would have made sense for Frances to also be a secret Catholic. Instead she grows to care about the Catholic plot because all the men involved tell her she should care and she thinks, ‘fair enough, yeah okay’ and I just didn’t believe her.
Worse still, I kind of lost a little respect for her? Don’t get me wrong the woman suffers a harrowing ordeal and she has just as much of a reason to hate the king as everyone else he’s wronged, but it didn’t take much to win her over to the Catholics’ side and I’d’ve preferred the novel if she’d already been on their side to begin with. Instead we have a novel about the Gunpowder Plot where we never actually see its organisers organising it, and it seems a shame we were left out of that side of things.
Frances’s romance with one of the conspirators also could have been fleshed out more. They seemed to fall in love incredibly quickly, and whenever they declared their love for one another all I could think was, ‘why, though?’ because for the majority of the novel Frances has no idea what he’s up to. It’s difficult to decipher how much they actually knew each other at all.
(I also wasn’t a fan of the sex scene – why so many historical fiction sex scenes completely forego foreplay and include lines about ‘pain giving way to pleasure’ I’ll never know.)
I do really appreciate that Borman included Anne of Denmark, James’s wife, a lot in this novel, as I feel she’s someone who’s often forgotten and I’d love to know more about her. I can’t imagine it was easy being married to a man like James VI, especially as he was rumoured to prefer the company of men and often flaunted his favourites in front of the queen. The Anne Borman wrote was incredibly dignified, and I always looked forward to scenes she was in.
My only other thought, upon finishing this novel, is that I can’t help wondering if historians are letting women from history down when all they write about is the royal court. Considering the majority of women accused of witchcraft in the 16th and 17th centuries were ordinary, working class women, I can’t deny that it’s frustrating to see yet another witch novel set at the royal court. Frances was able to escape the fate of many accused witches thanks to her connections at court, but what about all the ordinary women who had no such benefactor?
Of course a lot of historians specialise in royal history, in fact both Borman and Lucy Worsley are Joint Chief Curators of Historic Royal Palaces, but the historians who turn their hand to historical fiction are also the writers who have the means for researching the ordinary people from history at their disposal.
All that aside (I feel like I’m being very mean, and I actually like Tracy Borman a lot – I’ve seen her speak a couple of times and she’s incredibly knowledgable and genuinely lovely!) while it is clear this is Borman’s debut novel, she certainly has the potential to get better and better. I won’t be picking up the next book in this trilogy, sadly I don’t care enough about Frances to find out what happens to her next, but I’d be interested in seeing what else Borman may write in future.
cjblates's review
4.0
Full review at https://sapphistication.wordpress.com/2018/09/03/reviewing-the-kings-witch-by-tracy-borman/
The King’s Witch follows young noblewoman Frances Gorges as she navigates the transition from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to that of King James I. Frances was a favourite of the old Queen, and her skills in herbalism and healing were called upon to aid the ailing ruler in her final days – but the new King is on a witch hunt, sanctioned by God, and when Frances is thrust into court by her uncle, she unwittingly becomes a target. Serving as a companion for King James’s daughter, she finds herself a favourite of the young princess and her mother – but the Lord Privy Seal’s loathing for Frances and her family and his desperation to secure favour from the new King put Frances and those she loves in peril.
He forces Frances to watch the hanging of a witch, and it’s the single most upsetting scene in this entire book.
Now I’ll admit, while I love history this is not a period I know a HUGE amount about, other than the details of witch-hunting (on which I have, for my own purposes, done quite a bit of research as of late). A Tudor fan in school, I comparatively know very little about the ruler that followed and the goings-on of his court. Borman is a historian, and from her writing you can tell she has a wealth of knowledge about the era – foods, clothes, makeup, all are painstakingly rendered real through Frances’s eyes. There were a few moments where the extent of the focus on these minor aspects began to shift it from fiction to historical, but more often than not they served to aid the story as opposed to hinder its telling. This attention to detail paid off in full when we as readers are first witness to the decadence and hypocrisy of King James’s court. A man with often puritanical beliefs and laws, we see his parties filled with salaciously clad guests – most memorably a woman wearing a large ribbon who is shortly thereafter very naked – and his young, handsome favourites openly spending more time in the company (and bed) of the King than his wife the Queen. King James is portrayed in a thoroughly unflattering light. Physically unattractive, rude, cruel and vulgar. His reaction to his wife’s miscarriage is one of disgust and loathing, and his invasive involvement in trialling witches is downright sinister. It suddenly became much more understandable that people had tried to kill him.
The King’s Witch follows young noblewoman Frances Gorges as she navigates the transition from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to that of King James I. Frances was a favourite of the old Queen, and her skills in herbalism and healing were called upon to aid the ailing ruler in her final days – but the new King is on a witch hunt, sanctioned by God, and when Frances is thrust into court by her uncle, she unwittingly becomes a target. Serving as a companion for King James’s daughter, she finds herself a favourite of the young princess and her mother – but the Lord Privy Seal’s loathing for Frances and her family and his desperation to secure favour from the new King put Frances and those she loves in peril.
He forces Frances to watch the hanging of a witch, and it’s the single most upsetting scene in this entire book.
Now I’ll admit, while I love history this is not a period I know a HUGE amount about, other than the details of witch-hunting (on which I have, for my own purposes, done quite a bit of research as of late). A Tudor fan in school, I comparatively know very little about the ruler that followed and the goings-on of his court. Borman is a historian, and from her writing you can tell she has a wealth of knowledge about the era – foods, clothes, makeup, all are painstakingly rendered real through Frances’s eyes. There were a few moments where the extent of the focus on these minor aspects began to shift it from fiction to historical, but more often than not they served to aid the story as opposed to hinder its telling. This attention to detail paid off in full when we as readers are first witness to the decadence and hypocrisy of King James’s court. A man with often puritanical beliefs and laws, we see his parties filled with salaciously clad guests – most memorably a woman wearing a large ribbon who is shortly thereafter very naked – and his young, handsome favourites openly spending more time in the company (and bed) of the King than his wife the Queen. King James is portrayed in a thoroughly unflattering light. Physically unattractive, rude, cruel and vulgar. His reaction to his wife’s miscarriage is one of disgust and loathing, and his invasive involvement in trialling witches is downright sinister. It suddenly became much more understandable that people had tried to kill him.
stephend81d5's review
4.0
thanks to netgalley and publishers for a free copy in return for a honest view
interesting historical novel starting at the end of Elizabeth I reign and the start of Charles stuart as Charles I with moving around the court and friction between new monarchs and catholics and a witchcraft, the author manages to weave in the gunpowder plot too in this novel but only as a backdrop
interesting historical novel starting at the end of Elizabeth I reign and the start of Charles stuart as Charles I with moving around the court and friction between new monarchs and catholics and a witchcraft, the author manages to weave in the gunpowder plot too in this novel but only as a backdrop
mal_eficent's review
3.0
I can’t really say much other than it was enjoyable, but not memorable, and not worth being a series.
Perhaps Borman did a lot of research into the period, perhaps not, but I was kind of left feeling like I was reading a few modern characters, and a few caricatures of important figures. And the characters the book focussed on didn’t really matter. Plot happened, and Gorges was kind of...there? I guess?
None of the actual events really involved her, and so there was a lot of being told what was going on by secondary characters. Even the plot events related to witch craft weren’t happening because of things she did and she wasn’t the one to resolve them.
That said, it felt like a campy period drama you’d find on CW, and it was fun. The book isn’t really here to be an important narrative on witch hunting or the politics of the time.
Perhaps Borman did a lot of research into the period, perhaps not, but I was kind of left feeling like I was reading a few modern characters, and a few caricatures of important figures. And the characters the book focussed on didn’t really matter. Plot happened, and Gorges was kind of...there? I guess?
None of the actual events really involved her, and so there was a lot of being told what was going on by secondary characters. Even the plot events related to witch craft weren’t happening because of things she did and she wasn’t the one to resolve them.
That said, it felt like a campy period drama you’d find on CW, and it was fun. The book isn’t really here to be an important narrative on witch hunting or the politics of the time.