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coffeeandsconestime 's review for:
Katherine of Aragon, the True Queen
by Alison Weir
I was really excited for this when I picked it up, because I'm fascinated by the story of Henry VIII's queens and have been for half my life or more. I figured something blending the historical with fiction would be a winner for me, so I had really high hopes for it. And it's definitely not bad in any way, just that it didn't really bring me anything new at all? I think part of it is that it felt like it both dragged in places, and was also exceptionally sparse in others, and I realize that's likely more to do with the nature of having to tell the story of someone who ruled for as long as Katherine did, but where the bulk of the story falls in the latter half of her reign, and even then still happens in fits and bursts over several years.
Add to that that I started reading this shortly after a recent re-binge of The Tudors, and perhaps I fell victim to a bit of deja vu on pieces? That show was certainly not historically accurate in many, many ways (though it did use just enough historical references that I was reading quite a few quoted letters and lines in this book in the actor's voices from the show), but it does the blend of the historical story with fiction reasonably well for what it is. And by comparison this felt just a little flat, I guess? It gives context and insight into Katherine's behavior and choices, especially during the tail end of her life and marriage to Henry, but there is little beyond those events. It felt more like a highlights reel for Katherine's life than anything, and I guess I was expecting something that built a little more of a story around the facts than that?
I feel like the Amazon page misrepresented it a little, since it leans on the line that this "takes on what no fiction writer has done before", which implied to me that the fiction piece of this was going to go a fair bit harder than it did in rounding out the story, rather than just lightly stringing events together. Like I said, not bad, just perhaps I stepped into it with the wrong expectations. I'm invested enough in the historical side of it to at least give the next one a read, and maybe will just expect something bordering closer to non-fiction this time and see if it sits better.
Add to that that I started reading this shortly after a recent re-binge of The Tudors, and perhaps I fell victim to a bit of deja vu on pieces? That show was certainly not historically accurate in many, many ways (though it did use just enough historical references that I was reading quite a few quoted letters and lines in this book in the actor's voices from the show), but it does the blend of the historical story with fiction reasonably well for what it is. And by comparison this felt just a little flat, I guess? It gives context and insight into Katherine's behavior and choices, especially during the tail end of her life and marriage to Henry, but there is little beyond those events. It felt more like a highlights reel for Katherine's life than anything, and I guess I was expecting something that built a little more of a story around the facts than that?
I feel like the Amazon page misrepresented it a little, since it leans on the line that this "takes on what no fiction writer has done before", which implied to me that the fiction piece of this was going to go a fair bit harder than it did in rounding out the story, rather than just lightly stringing events together. Like I said, not bad, just perhaps I stepped into it with the wrong expectations. I'm invested enough in the historical side of it to at least give the next one a read, and maybe will just expect something bordering closer to non-fiction this time and see if it sits better.