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A review by jaepingsu
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
4.0
What a guilty pleasure of mine... Like most of Gregory's other novels, this is pretty trashy brain candy overall, but it was so much fun for me that I didn't mind at all. I was skeptical about a "sequel" to The Other Boleyn Girl at first--I assumed this would be about Mary Boleyn again, and so I put off reading this for years because I just didn't have an interest in reading more about her. When I found out it was actually about two of Henry VIII's queens and Jane Boleyn, the sister-in-law of Anne and Mary I was a whole lot more interested.
The three perspectives works perfectly for me in this novel, unlike in The Other Queen which I had just read before this. While I think she nailed the different voices for the characters in The Other Queen better than she did in here (There were times when they seemed a bit muddled, Kitty was easy to pick out but occasionally if I stopped mid-chapter I'd have to flip back and check to see who I was reading), I think the longer chapters in here worked much better for the three narrators than the itty-bitty chapters that plagued The Other Queen.
My favorite part of this was getting into Jane Boleyn's head, actually. Gregory's interpretation on why she betrayed her husband and sister-in-law. She was a pretty fascinating narrator--I enjoyed Anne, and Kitty was a twit but interesting enough, whereas Jane was just a very interesting look into a pretty mentally ill individual ("batshit crazy" comes to mind).
An incredibly entertaining read. Definitely not scholarly or great literature, but it was a great break for my brain!
The three perspectives works perfectly for me in this novel, unlike in The Other Queen which I had just read before this. While I think she nailed the different voices for the characters in The Other Queen better than she did in here (There were times when they seemed a bit muddled, Kitty was easy to pick out but occasionally if I stopped mid-chapter I'd have to flip back and check to see who I was reading), I think the longer chapters in here worked much better for the three narrators than the itty-bitty chapters that plagued The Other Queen.
My favorite part of this was getting into Jane Boleyn's head, actually. Gregory's interpretation on why she betrayed her husband and sister-in-law. She was a pretty fascinating narrator--I enjoyed Anne, and Kitty was a twit but interesting enough, whereas Jane was just a very interesting look into a pretty mentally ill individual ("batshit crazy" comes to mind).
An incredibly entertaining read. Definitely not scholarly or great literature, but it was a great break for my brain!