seascape62 's review for:

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

5.0

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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i had read The Other Boleyn Girl maybe 20 years ago, and remembered really loving it, but couldn't quite recall the story in detail, so i thought it would be fun to revisit - still love it! while the page numbers on this one are long, the recounting of the boleyn world was done with such skilled storytelling and a beautiful cadence that Gregory keeps the pages quickly turning. i also really enjoy that as a technical period/historical piece, it still has elements of modern-day romantic elements - love triangles galore, scandalous behind-the-scenes debauchery, and delicious dramatic twists and turns. the characters, while not particularly loveable, pull you in to their scheming and trickery, and it really is quite a fun (albeit tragic) little ride.