You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
cara_selene 's review for:
The Constant Princess
by Philippa Gregory
I'm biased, I'm not particularly big on historical fiction to begin with, so I'm not the best person to give a review on this. Nevertheless, I found it started off strong and I was quite hooked with the depth of emotions exhibited within. Catalina's childhood was very interesting, as well as her coming to terms with her new life in England.
Unfortunately, about half way through, I found that the pacing hit a brick wall. It became awfully repetitive (and oh so annoying - Enough with your saintly mother, we get it already!), causing me to lose all interest in Catalina. Her marriage to Arthur was derivative and, quite frankly, downright boring after some time (it was a little too much fluff for me, but that's just my opinion). The next portion was a blur to me as I started to flip through the pages, looking for the next important event in Catalina's life. I lost interest and payed little attention to the giant portion of the novel that dealt with her excruciatingly long wait for her next husband, Henry.
The final part of the novel which focused on her reign as Queen of England (the part of the novel I was most looking forward to, hoping that the pace would pick up again) felt rushed and ultimately left me feeling disappointing and a little cheated.
All in all, if you're into historical fiction, maybe you'll feel differently. In fact, I hope you do, the beginning really was quite good. But as far as I'm concerned, the novel could have been cut in half in order to make it into a much more enjoyable read.
Unfortunately, about half way through, I found that the pacing hit a brick wall. It became awfully repetitive (and oh so annoying - Enough with your saintly mother, we get it already!), causing me to lose all interest in Catalina. Her marriage to Arthur was derivative and, quite frankly, downright boring after some time (it was a little too much fluff for me, but that's just my opinion). The next portion was a blur to me as I started to flip through the pages, looking for the next important event in Catalina's life. I lost interest and payed little attention to the giant portion of the novel that dealt with her excruciatingly long wait for her next husband, Henry.
The final part of the novel which focused on her reign as Queen of England (the part of the novel I was most looking forward to, hoping that the pace would pick up again) felt rushed and ultimately left me feeling disappointing and a little cheated.
All in all, if you're into historical fiction, maybe you'll feel differently. In fact, I hope you do, the beginning really was quite good. But as far as I'm concerned, the novel could have been cut in half in order to make it into a much more enjoyable read.