As much as i didn't want to write a review, i had to.Despite the fact i have NEVER read from this author, i really enjoy Tudor History. I have read a lot of history but never got around to Margret. I found myself looking through my book shelf and found this book and decided to give it a try. I was expecting to find this book VERY dry and i was surprised that i didn't. I did have a few problems with the writing style. Jean seems to repeat way to much and whoever edited the book did a very bad job for i found many errors in the writing. (Yes, I am a grammar Nazi)The facts were up to date, but i found myself wanting to know the dates that each event happened for it would help me improve my knowledge for history better.Besides that, i found Margret to be a horny person. She had a desire for almost every hot guy and i found myself yelling at her telling her she is an idiot and a slut. She got mad over the fact that husbands all had bastard children. ITS THE TUDOR AGE! They sleep with everyone! Wasn't she excepting her husbands to sleep with other people? Especially James (Her first husband THE KING!)This bothered me a great deal but this doesn't have to do with the author. Margret (To me) was a slut and could have kept her sexually desires on a lower level. *SPOILERS*I also got mad at the fact that she married one year after her first husband, the king, died. She hardly waited a year to be exact.*End of spoiler*To end my rant, i just think the author often repeated herself. Thats all i really have against this book. As i said in the second paragraph, I'm a Grammar Nazi.
Decent story, covering events and a period I am not really familiar with, namely the life of Margaret Tudor in Scotland. However, far too much emphasis on sex and Margaret's love life for my liking. Not that there was anything graphic, it was just tiresome for her falling for one handsome man after another, and incessantly being reminded of how 'passionate' she was.As such, it was hard to sympathize or relate to her as a whiny, sex-mad overgrown spoiled brat who seemed incapable of realizing the damaging consequences of her own decisions, and having spent most of her life chasing men- yet always wanting men to 'love' her for who she was. If the fictional depiction was anything to go by- there was nothing much to love. Also, her attitudes and values, and those of other characters did not seem very plausible for the time period- she seemed far too liberal in her attitude to divorce and sexuality for the time, and hardly cared for religion at all. Labelling of preachers as 'fanatical' also did not seem very authentic for the time. Overall, not a satisfying read- more one I wanted to get finished with. I would have liked more of an overview of major political events and perhaps more developed well-rounded characters, or some notion of their personality and motivations. In spite of many good reviews elsewhere this was certainly not my favourite Plaidy.
Confession--I'm slowly becoming obsessed with British history, specifically the Tudor/King Henry VIII era, mainly because I've started watching "The Tudors." I began watching it because Jonathan Rhys Meyers is beautiful, but then enjoyed the show due to it's actual content. Soooo, I'm now reading books on this era.I loved this book and have heard that the other books by her are just as great. A lot of historical facts, but a great, heart-wrenching story. I felt Magaret Tudor's pain the whole time! She's a character I hated and loved. I think I even cried a little.
—Erin
*sigh* Margaret Tudor is a horny, horny woman. And kind of dumb, too, when she's being guided by her horniness. "Ooh, this guy's hot. He'll be perfect for me. ... What? He cheated on me? How dare he?! Ooh, this guy's hot. He'll be perfect for me. He'll love me and be faithful to me, unlike the last guy. ... What? He cheated on me?? How dare he?!?! Ooh, this guy's hot. He'll be perfect for me. He'll love me and be faithful to me, unlike the last two. ... " Also throw in that she attempts to lead Scotland based on who she's horny for this month, and it's just craziness.The book is historical fiction, and I know nothing about English history, so I don't know how much of the lustiness of the Kings and Queens is well-known fact (How many men did she really sleep with? Did she really get it on with her son, the King's, servant? And did *all* of those men really have *all* of those affairs?), and how much is creative license. However, the writing is good, and the story is a quick read, a nice morsel of history. Although the historical fiction tends to focus more on the romance side, and less on the political side, it has enough political backstabbing and wheeling-and-dealing that it doesn't feel like an all-out Romance novel.
—Tiffany
I think I would have liked this book better if it had been about a period in history I cared more about or knew less about.Ms. Plaidy's facts seem to all be in order, but the perspective is necessarily narrow (what would a Queen know about the lives of the peasants) and the characters come off as a bit shallow and self-absorbed. (Which, credit where it's due, they may very well have been.)Also, in this book's defense, it's quite far into a series I haven't read the rest of, so it's entirely possible that if I'd started at the beginning I would have been able to build up the sense of depth I was missing.
—Kate
