A review by reka111
The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

You may come as a proud prince today young Habsburg. But you shall travel many more roads in Castile in death than you ever will in life.

After reading the Queen's vow, there was no question that I read this too, and gods how well I did! The book was a masterpiece, with my favorite queen in the lead role, so why not love it?

Johanna (or Juana), the corner of my heart, is a rebellious and passionate woman torn apart by the world of men, starting with her father, with her husband, and finally her son. In this book, I felt a lot more fiction for her character than in other books, but it was importat to us to love her. And no, I don't believe she was really crazy, she probably did have mental illness, but not all the way, not forever and not so strongly, even Henry (the VIII) himself said (knowing her personally) that she was completely normal and rumors about her madness were spread only by her relatives to keep power. Either way, she never deserved what she got. Philip, as in real life, was a memorable person, so to speak, but not in a good way. He deprived his wife of everything. I know I shouldn't judge him, but I can't forgive him, and I never will. Power is dangerous and unpredictable, and he was too weak for it.

The plot was easy, well understood and enjoyable, although here I felt the fictional elements were more than enough, the writer remained faithful to history, in a word, perfect. The wording was wonderful as always, only the ending felt a bit quick, but I feel like it's present in every book.
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