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133 reviews for:
Elizabeth, the Queen: From the Sunday Times Bestselling Historian
Alison Weir, Alison Weir
4.02 AVERAGE
133 reviews for:
Elizabeth, the Queen: From the Sunday Times Bestselling Historian
Alison Weir, Alison Weir
4.02 AVERAGE
This has been one of my favourite historical books by alison weir. Elizabeth was such a fascinating character, as the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn we couldn't expect any less! Great eye to detail in this book as always, and I felt I learned a lot about this astounding period of history.
A comprehensive, detailed account of Elizabeth I's reign. Although I do wish this book included more of Elizabeth's teen/formative years, it's an interesting account of a fascinating woman. Highly recommend.
A bit of a slog. Unfortunately not as interesting or riveting as I wanted it to be.
Narrator: 4 stars
Book: 2.5 stars - DNF
I've always been fascinated by Queen Elizabeth I, and after reading Alison Weir's novelization (to use the term loosely) of Elizabeth's pre-reign life (The Lady Elizabeth), I wanted to experience her take on Elizabeth as a historian, since she seems to not only be a great researcher, but also not someone with an obvious bias for or against this queen.
Unfortunately, there was something I'd forgotten from the other works of Weir's that I've read: her tendency to get stuck on a "theme" and repeat it repetitively continuously throughout her books, bringing the same thing up over and over repetitiously. Did I mention she tends to repeat herself time and time again?
This is a 24-hour long audiobook (and Davina Porter does an excellent job bringing life to what could have been dull non-fiction in another's less-capable hands), and the first 18 or so hours of it focus on the fact that ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED and played around with the idea a couple of times but never actually got married. Did I mention that everyone wanted Elizabeth to get married, but she didn't really want to? Oh, and she spent all her time with Robert Dudley, not to mention the fact that she was an emotional basketcase and screamed and yelled at people when she didn't get her way or when they reminded her she wasn't married or told her she should get married or presented an idea of whom she could marry to her. Oh, and did I mention SHE WASN'T MARRIED? Because obviously, this was the absolute most vital, important part of her reign that Weir spent about 75% of the book focused on the fact that ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED.
By the time I finally gave up trying to force myself to finish this book and moved on to something else, I'd learned one very important thing:
ALISON WEIR WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE ALL KNEW THAT ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED.
Oh, and apparently she couldn't do anything without Robert Dudley, either. They fought and she sent him away, but then she had to have him back because she couldn't "do" without him for very long. But she wouldn't marry him.
And if there was anything international to do, it was only because ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED and she might be looking abroad for someone to marry.
So, all that to say that this probably wasn't the best bio of Queen Elizabeth I for me to read. Because, actually, I already knew that Elizabeth WASN'T MARRIED and NEVER MARRIED. (Except, possibly, David Tennant's version of Doctor Who---but that's another story.)
Book: 2.5 stars - DNF
I've always been fascinated by Queen Elizabeth I, and after reading Alison Weir's novelization (to use the term loosely) of Elizabeth's pre-reign life (The Lady Elizabeth), I wanted to experience her take on Elizabeth as a historian, since she seems to not only be a great researcher, but also not someone with an obvious bias for or against this queen.
Unfortunately, there was something I'd forgotten from the other works of Weir's that I've read: her tendency to get stuck on a "theme" and repeat it repetitively continuously throughout her books, bringing the same thing up over and over repetitiously. Did I mention she tends to repeat herself time and time again?
This is a 24-hour long audiobook (and Davina Porter does an excellent job bringing life to what could have been dull non-fiction in another's less-capable hands), and the first 18 or so hours of it focus on the fact that ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED and played around with the idea a couple of times but never actually got married. Did I mention that everyone wanted Elizabeth to get married, but she didn't really want to? Oh, and she spent all her time with Robert Dudley, not to mention the fact that she was an emotional basketcase and screamed and yelled at people when she didn't get her way or when they reminded her she wasn't married or told her she should get married or presented an idea of whom she could marry to her. Oh, and did I mention SHE WASN'T MARRIED? Because obviously, this was the absolute most vital, important part of her reign that Weir spent about 75% of the book focused on the fact that ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED.
By the time I finally gave up trying to force myself to finish this book and moved on to something else, I'd learned one very important thing:
ALISON WEIR WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE ALL KNEW THAT ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED.
Oh, and apparently she couldn't do anything without Robert Dudley, either. They fought and she sent him away, but then she had to have him back because she couldn't "do" without him for very long. But she wouldn't marry him.
And if there was anything international to do, it was only because ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED and she might be looking abroad for someone to marry.
So, all that to say that this probably wasn't the best bio of Queen Elizabeth I for me to read. Because, actually, I already knew that Elizabeth WASN'T MARRIED and NEVER MARRIED. (Except, possibly, David Tennant's version of Doctor Who---but that's another story.)
Criminy, did I love this book. I learned a lot, yet it was a total page-turner. Anyone interested in women's history might want to give this a shot.
This is a excellent book, written in a very lively way that truly makes this fascinating part of history all the more interesting. Every fact is clear and the book follows a nice arc, each section neatly tying together parts of Elizabeth's life. Weir is also adept at keeping all of the various people and their changing titles and circumstances straight, and I never felt confused despite the large number of complex people and events in Elizabeth's life. It is certainly just as enthralling and interesting as any fictional work and feels just like reading a thrilling story rather than a straight biography. Definitely worth the read!!
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
I feel like I am the smartest person in the world for having read this in its entirety. Partially I thought ‘wow that book looks daunting why don’t I prove something to myself and read it all in a week / week and a half?’ And now that I finished it I feel smart but also lighter for it being done. It is both dreary, repetitive, sprinkled with typos, and interesting, cool and thorough. Elizabeth was complicated and dynamic and real and both good and bad and this book really gets that across. I could not keep up with all the names and largely just kept reading even if I couldn’t remember a person.. my book had character maps in the very back which I could have used !!and should have been in the front dammit. Anyway we love Elizabeth she’s great
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Didn’t flow super well, but easy to read and lots of details about the reign of Elizabeth I.
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced