Scan barcode
A review by jinny89
Victoria by Daisy Goodwin
3.0
I started this book AGES and AGES ago (in FEBURARY, omigod) and just got around to finishing it last night ... I don't know what happened, but I was actually almost done the book. Then something happened I guess, and I stopped reading it and just the other day, I was thinking, "Hey, I never finished Victoria did I?" I had a bookmark in the book so I just picked up where I left off (honestly, I only had 10 minutes of reading left to do and then I was done). So, there is a serious time gap with me reading this book from the beginning to end, but I'm pretty confident I still remember everything that happened.
I purchased this book from Costco because I felt like reading something and you know me, I like my historical-royalty fiction especially if it's NOT Tudor related because, even though I love the Tudors and all that, the historical-royalty fiction market is over saturated with their stuff. So I saw this and was like, "Oh wow, someone wrote about Victoria instead!"
This book is about Queen Victoria in her early years -- specifically, when she became Queen of England and the first few years of being monarch. It's a light read for sure, almost has a YA book feel to it, to be honest. Overall, I enjoyed it. I wasn't blown away by it or anything (clearly ... since I happily put it down for several months before finishing it off) but it was okay for sure.
I think the reason it was just okay for me was because, uh, Victoria's early years seriously were not that interesting. She was kind of bratty (in this novel) and immature. Which I guess is expected because she's only 18 years old. The author put in a romance between her and her prime minister, Mr. Melbourne. Not sure if that was real ... pretty sure it's completely fictional. Probably included to make some drama in the story because there isn't too many interesting things happening at that time. I don't know, I feel like it COULD have been more interesting because I kind of thought the book was going to be more about how this young teenager comes of age and rises to the challenge of becoming queen of a powerful nation. Instead, it was a lot more about Victoria with puppy dog eyes for her prime minister -- who, mind you, is like old enough to be her father or even grandfather, probably.
Oh yeah, there is, of course, romance involving Victoria and her real life husband, Prince Albert, but it kind of felt like it was shoved in at the end of the novel there.
So I know it sounds like I'm shitting on the book, which I'm really not trying to do. Bottom line is, I guess I expected something different, and I also have my own bias where I don't really like it when historical fiction diverges too much from actual history, but this is a good novel. 3 stars is for a good novel right? It wasn't super duper awesome or anything, but a solid 'good' to me.
I purchased this book from Costco because I felt like reading something and you know me, I like my historical-royalty fiction especially if it's NOT Tudor related because, even though I love the Tudors and all that, the historical-royalty fiction market is over saturated with their stuff. So I saw this and was like, "Oh wow, someone wrote about Victoria instead!"
This book is about Queen Victoria in her early years -- specifically, when she became Queen of England and the first few years of being monarch. It's a light read for sure, almost has a YA book feel to it, to be honest. Overall, I enjoyed it. I wasn't blown away by it or anything (clearly ... since I happily put it down for several months before finishing it off) but it was okay for sure.
I think the reason it was just okay for me was because, uh, Victoria's early years seriously were not that interesting. She was kind of bratty (in this novel) and immature. Which I guess is expected because she's only 18 years old. The author put in a romance between her and her prime minister, Mr. Melbourne. Not sure if that was real ... pretty sure it's completely fictional. Probably included to make some drama in the story because there isn't too many interesting things happening at that time. I don't know, I feel like it COULD have been more interesting because I kind of thought the book was going to be more about how this young teenager comes of age and rises to the challenge of becoming queen of a powerful nation. Instead, it was a lot more about Victoria with puppy dog eyes for her prime minister -- who, mind you, is like old enough to be her father or even grandfather, probably.
Oh yeah, there is, of course, romance involving Victoria and her real life husband, Prince Albert, but it kind of felt like it was shoved in at the end of the novel there.
So I know it sounds like I'm shitting on the book, which I'm really not trying to do. Bottom line is, I guess I expected something different, and I also have my own bias where I don't really like it when historical fiction diverges too much from actual history, but this is a good novel. 3 stars is for a good novel right? It wasn't super duper awesome or anything, but a solid 'good' to me.