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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
informative
fast-paced
Very well written. Took me quite a bit to get through it as it is not a page turner novel. I really liked the way that she outlined the facts, evidence and hearsay of the case and then drew a conclusion, or didn't. So often an author feels that they need to draw a finite conclusion and it was refreshing to have someone say that we just don't know....
Nicely done as an audiobook, the author neither pities nor exalts Anne. I liked the balance.
Good writing and I found the book a bit tedious by the end. Maybe because I've read a lot about this era, or maybe because I found the author making strong conjectures while complaining that other authors had made strong conjectures about the same events with limited indisputable facts...
This was a pretty tedious read. It felt in places like Weir was out to prove a point about her research, rather than her subject. She'd spend pages comparing versions of a particular incident, but then *not draw any conclusions.* I read historians so they can tell me what their judgment of a situation is, and Weir seemed to dodge that at every opportunity. She also seemed to ignore evidence (for instance: Boleyn's father was named to her and her brother's juries (or some other legal review board - I may be misremembering the details) but that there wouldn't be relatives of the accused on the boards; Weir related both of these facts with out comment.)
Weir also seemed to confuse following procedures with actual fairness to the accused, claiming that Boleyn's trail was fairly conducted. Seriously? It may have proceeded according to the rules, but that in now way means it's fair.
Weir also seemed to confuse following procedures with actual fairness to the accused, claiming that Boleyn's trail was fairly conducted. Seriously? It may have proceeded according to the rules, but that in now way means it's fair.
I'm in to this time period anyway, but I enjoyed this. It's a more complete view of Anne Boleyn than we usually get. She was a complicated figure. Devious and shallow but also determined and heroic. Slow read, but I thought it was worth it.
I think the Tudor period of history is my favourite. I knew a lot of the theories and evidence in this book but it was still interesting to read an analysis of Anne Boleyn’s downfall that purely concentrated on that subject. It was well written and obviously well researched and appeared fairly impartial. I recommend it, go read.
Meticulous attention to detail and facts. Fascinating. I enjoy Ms Weir’s bit of snark that comes out out occasion where she’ll state that some fact that has been asserted by another historian can’t be true (and then effectively explains why).
Anne Boleyn. Queen. Woman. Wife. Mother. Adulterous? Alison Weir tries to recount the last months and years after the death of Anne. It is quite an interesting read. Tedious at times with all of the back tracking that is done to explain something that happened, but other than that it brought to light and made clear the argument that she was fasely accused, that or as she states in the last chapter, "maybe some evidence that would prove damning was destroyed." But this book just proved to me that she was wrongly convicted and that Henry VIII just wanted a new wife. IF Anne really had that female blood pregnancy problem then that just proves the birthing of still born sons was as much Henry's fault as hers.
