Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'm a sucker for historical fiction and it never gets old reading about the queens of Henry VIII. It gives me a serious appreciation for my daily life after reading about the dangers of living in the past.
I really enjoy Gregory's style of writing. It's extremely easy to read. I am however not a fan of the characterization. Besides Anne of Cleves, the other two main characters, the devious Jane Boleyn and vapid, infantile Katherine Howard, both seem like caricatures.
There is violence in the book, but it's more mentally disturbing than visceral, and there's not much of it. The ending is dramatic and well played, leaving a hollow feeling but sticking close to the source material.
I really enjoy Gregory's style of writing. It's extremely easy to read. I am however not a fan of the characterization. Besides Anne of Cleves, the other two main characters, the devious Jane Boleyn and vapid, infantile Katherine Howard, both seem like caricatures.
There is violence in the book, but it's more mentally disturbing than visceral, and there's not much of it. The ending is dramatic and well played, leaving a hollow feeling but sticking close to the source material.
I really enjoyed reading this book. At first it seemed a little annoying since the story is being told thru the eyes of 3 different women in alternating chapters: Anne of Cleves who becomes King Henry the VIII's wife after Jane Seymour, Katherine Howard ( niece of Anne Boleyn) who as a maid in Queen Anne of Cleves court, catches the eye of King Henry who has been disgusted by Anne of Cleves since first meeting her (with mutual feelings by Anne) . Katherine becomes the next wife [b:after Henry|7830|After Henry|Joan Didion|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165644411s/7830.jpg|4297] has his marriage with Anne annulled. The third woman is Jane Boleyn who was George Boleyn's former wife. Jane had betrayed her husband and sister in law Anne Boleyn who were both sent to the scaffold. Jane is conniving and ends up doing the same to poor young Katherine. Though I'm sure most of this is pure fiction, some of it is based on fact and I had never heard much of these 3 women previously. I thought this was much better than The Other Boleyn Girl by the same author.
Parts of this book I really enjoyed but two thirds of the way through it lost its appeal and I almost gave up. It just went round and round each character repeating things all the time. I enjoyed the last 50 pages again though. It was interesting to read something from the view points of Anne of Cleaves and Katherine Howard, as the lesser known wives. I found Anne of Cleaves interesting rather than the stereotypical image, however Kitty Howard was very irritating - maybe quite true to character though! This book has lowered my opinion of Philippa Gregory and was a disappointment to me. I enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl although my favourite is still The Constant Princess. I think this was very poor compared to those other two books by her that I have read. I don't remember them being so repetitive.
The author brings to life the stories of three woman, who were part of the court life of Henry VIII, in this work. Albeit a work of fiction, the tale is intertwined with factual accounts and documents of the time. I really enjoyed this read, especially written in first person narratives. This was exceptional well written and all the characters while telling their thoughts and discourses in the narrative you get a feeling of being there and adds so much more than just reading a small section in a history book.
emotional
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
it was freaky to see how tyrannical king henry VIII could be. a great read, but not as good as her other books.
Finishing the Tudor Court series for me....It's a pretty straightforward, normal Philippa Gregory book. My favorite of her books is still the Queen's Fool. I think Gregory does better when she has characters inside the history as opposed to historical characters as her main characters. This book tales the depressing tale of Anne of Cleves and Katharine Howard. We all know that Henry's wives get boring after Anne Boleyn so don't expect much drama here. Just a lot of silly passages about how silly and young Katharine Howard is and Anne moping about that Henry is a madman. A lot of the chapters feel repetitive, like you've read the same emotions and confessions of the characters over and over again.
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated