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A review by liziev
Katherine by Anya Seton
2.0
Where to even begin?
I'm not sure that this counts as a spoiler, but I'm hiding it just in case.
If I was to summarize the story in two minutes or less, you'd be really intrigued. Don't get me wrong, it's a great story, fantastic characters, and it sets the stage for the whole Tudor empire so it's a turning point for English history. If you wiki Katherine Swynford, you'll learn more about her than what I'll "spoil" here....
It's a 500 page book. 250 pages of it revolves around her upbringing, and arrival at court. This could probably be halved, and still get the point across. Her affair really lasts about 30 pages or so, then John of Gaunt is betrothed to someone else. Which leads to 150 pages of her being a mistress which is, for the most part, pretty boring. The last 100 pages moves at lightening speed, compared to the rest of the book. Riots, revolts, break ups, and finally being reunited. Granted, in real life, this all happened in the last few years of her life, so I understand why this all happened at the end of the book. But everything would have been much more enjoyable if we would have just gotten to the point already.
What started as a labor of love, turned out to just be labor.
I'm not sure that this counts as a spoiler, but I'm hiding it just in case.
If I was to summarize the story in two minutes or less, you'd be really intrigued. Don't get me wrong, it's a great story, fantastic characters, and it sets the stage for the whole Tudor empire so it's a turning point for English history. If you wiki Katherine Swynford, you'll learn more about her than what I'll "spoil" here....
It's a 500 page book. 250 pages of it revolves around her upbringing, and arrival at court. This could probably be halved, and still get the point across. Her affair really lasts about 30 pages or so, then John of Gaunt is betrothed to someone else. Which leads to 150 pages of her being a mistress which is, for the most part, pretty boring. The last 100 pages moves at lightening speed, compared to the rest of the book. Riots, revolts, break ups, and finally being reunited. Granted, in real life, this all happened in the last few years of her life, so I understand why this all happened at the end of the book. But everything would have been much more enjoyable if we would have just gotten to the point already.
What started as a labor of love, turned out to just be labor.