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ellielou13 's review for:
The Constant Princess
by Philippa Gregory
I decided to read this after becoming obsessed with The Spanish Princess (which is based on this) and then The Tudors and then that era more generally. I really enjoy Katherine’s story and I was very excited to read this!
It’s very different from the show but it was still enjoyable. The book placed much more emphasis on Katherine’s relationship with Arthur while the show was more focused on Henry.
I also enjoyed the parts about Spain because I’m studying Spanish (language + history and culture) at uni, and I thought it was an interesting take on her life.
One of my only issues was that it kept switching from third-person to first-person in italics. At first I thought it was useful as we could learn Katherine’s thoughts but later it appeared so often, even including conversations, when it could have just been in third-person, and I didn’t enjoy reading the italics.
It also ended rather abruptly and then skipped forward years to the trial on the King’s Great Matter. I guess it made sense for the story but if I didn’t know the story I would have been a bit confused. I’m hoping the other books allow me to see more of Katherine’s story, particularly the birth of Mary, her miscarriages and the dissolution of her marriage. However, the order is kinda confusing? My copy goes onto The Other Boleyn Girl next but apparently there are two between them? I think the others are maybe Plantagenet novels which I’m not super interested in.
It’s very different from the show but it was still enjoyable. The book placed much more emphasis on Katherine’s relationship with Arthur while the show was more focused on Henry.
I also enjoyed the parts about Spain because I’m studying Spanish (language + history and culture) at uni, and I thought it was an interesting take on her life.
One of my only issues was that it kept switching from third-person to first-person in italics. At first I thought it was useful as we could learn Katherine’s thoughts but later it appeared so often, even including conversations, when it could have just been in third-person, and I didn’t enjoy reading the italics.
It also ended rather abruptly and then skipped forward years to the trial on the King’s Great Matter. I guess it made sense for the story but if I didn’t know the story I would have been a bit confused. I’m hoping the other books allow me to see more of Katherine’s story, particularly the birth of Mary, her miscarriages and the dissolution of her marriage. However, the order is kinda confusing? My copy goes onto The Other Boleyn Girl next but apparently there are two between them? I think the others are maybe Plantagenet novels which I’m not super interested in.