Publisher : Simon Schuster Audio
Publication Date : 2010 08 03
>> Hm
Slow cheesy with characters whose interior monologues tend to repeat the same few statements over and over again this book is NOTHING compared to Philippa Gregory s other novels it s as if this is her roughest of rough drafts Still I finished it It s not a waste because even a bad Gregory novel is still going to depict some fascinating and vivid historical moments Just don t expect The Other Boleyn Girl
>> The Scots Mary Romanticized
Tudor history has always fascinated me It is no surprise then that I picked up The Other Queen a story of Mary Queen of Scots Philippa Gregory has proven herself as the ruler of English historical fiction though her novels have been going south in quality But I m not here to review the other novels
The Other Queen tells a story of Mary s exile to England up until her death As with other Gregory novels the novel is a narration a very effective tool in historical fiction In this case we have three narrators Mary herself her Queen appointed guardian George Talbot and George s wife Bess I had hoped that at least one of the three characters would cover Mary s road to the point of her exile While there are snippets of it it was told as seen by Mary and in not much detail and much emotion has been given to Mary While I don t mind characters feeling emotion authors should be careful with enormous historical figures after all Gregory herself said that she prides herself on the depth of her research and accuracy in novels Taking that into consideration if one is unfamiliar with the story of Mary they may be somewhat confused after reading this novel
Mary Queen of Scots arrived England shortly after the birth of her son and heir James VI of Scotland exiled under suspicion of murdering her husband Lord Darnley in order to marry someone else Fleeing south to England England s Queen and Mary s cousin Elizabeth I feels threatened by Mary on many levels Mary is a Catholic and Elizabeth is Protestant at a time when Protestants barely hung onto power Mary was a legitimate child and descendant while Elizabeth was proclaimed a bastard by her father a fact which was never corrected Mary had a son an heir while Elizabeth didn t Finally Mary was thought to be the most beautiful woman in Europe which was a threat to vain and capricious Elizabeth who was on top of it all older than Mary
Mary feeling invincible because she was an annointed queen and Elizabeth s cousin did not worry at first That changed in time as each uprising to free Mary and put her on the English throne resulted in tighter control of Mary and a further delay of her release Gregory does a fine job portraying Mary through different phases that of a confident arrogant woman to that of a scared young monarch However Gregory dedicated most of her novel to the first couple of years of Mary s detention Towards the end the novel skips a dozen years into the future to the time of Mary s death That particular time was not well covered at all In the novel Mary s death was recounted by Bess in the past tense creating a feeling of what just happened instead of a rising tension as the death approaches There is an entire period of time not even touched by Gregory Also Gregory covered two rebellions in details then kind of brushed the rest of Mary s history away as if it was an annoyance hurrying towards the end The total effect was that of an excellent start to the novel with the rest of it being exceptionally rushed
All in all The Other Queen is an easy read though somewhat disappointing The historical events in the novel are correct and Gregory uses a lot of poetic license in her description of Mary s interactions with those around her Lovers of Tudor history will find this novel lacking and disappointing Recommended with caution
This review also published on Epinions
>> The Other Queen
Mary Queen of Scots has been driven from Scotland by the lords that will not accept her there She is now seeking refuge in England and help from her cousin Queen Elizabeth Instead of refuge and assistance to return to her throne she faces inquiry and is sent as a prisoner/guest to George the earl of Shrewsbury and his wife Bess
This is the setting for the opening of The Other Queen which tells the story of the downfall of Mary Queen of Scots through the voices of Mary herself and George and Bess Shewsbury The impact of this arrangement affects them all as Bess has to share her household with the Queen and George has to decide between love for his country and wife and his desire to help Mary be free All three are put in a dangerous position with Queen Elizabeth
While I enjoyed the story the novel had to tell there were a few things that irritated me Each character clearly had their role to play which they stated each time the narrative switched back to them For example Bess her worry about her fortunes each time she speaks Readers will pick up on this even without the repetition which I feel could have been scaled back Mary also becomes somewhat repetitive in her sections
The intrigues are enjoyable and this is a quick read despite the size of the novel The descriptions of the properties around England are interesting as are the costs of housing a royal court and all the items that a queen requires to live comfortably
Mary Queen of Scots is an interesting subject and a well written book by Philippa just not one of my favorites of hers The Boleyn Inheritance is written in the same manner with the switching of the narratives but it is a more interesting read with more fleshed out characters
