Release Date: January 1, 2002
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers
Pages: 240
Received: Library
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers
Pages: 240
Received: Library
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
I'll declare my allegiance here and now, I am 100% Team Katherine. I loathe Anne (even if she does spell it with an e). I can't help but feel a sense of smug righteousness whenever it comes time for Anne to lose her head in whatever story I'm reading or watching (including this one).
Carolyn Meyer wrote Anne in a way where even my hard heart softened for her enough to feel a smidgen of pity. The girl sure did have a crappy family. Plus, I couldn't help but admire her drive to set the bar high and make it happen. But even a first person narrative (albeit a distant, cool, and not particularly exciting first person narrative) could not make me come around to Team Anne.
This account is short, (not so) sweet, and to the point. Anne talks a lot about wanting to be queen and she does sound determined, but there isn't a whole lot of meat to this tale and Carolyn Meyer really doesn't dig into the politics of the time. It's a good introduction and it's so short that Tudor fans really can't lose by adding this to their TBR.
As for the Young Royals series, this isn't a terrible addition, but it is by no means the best (check out The Bad Queen about Marie Antoinette for my personal favorite).
Have you read any sympathetic books about Anne?
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I'm team Katherine too! I always thought she was a smart lady.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm glad this author made you feel at least something for Anne. that's hard. she's not the most sympathetic of characters.
haha no Anne's not! :P
DeleteI'm not Team Catherine, but I'm not Team Anne either. Catherine raised a daughter who grew up to be Bloody Mary...which to me says something about Catherine's parenting style and, in turn, what kind of person she was. But, honestly, I think all of Henry's wives were victims of political scheming. And a egomaniacal husband.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but I think that's potentially a little hard on Catherine. Given her mother, I'm sure she was probably pretty strict about religion. But, she was also estranged from Mary when Mary was a teenager and then Mary watched her family and her religion get torn down around her by Anne's schemes. And then she had to play nurse to Anne's daughter, who replaced her as princess. Then she was snubbed by the man she wanted to love her. Mary was dealt a HARSH hand, and while I don't actually like her or condone what she did, I feel sorry for her. Her story is a tragedy.
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