Helpful Score: 3
I adore this book. I enjoyed the liberties she took with Elizabeth's life along the way. A wonderful novel that imagines her journey from childhood to the crown. I anxiously await Weir's next novel.
After thoroughly enjoying Weir's first foray into fiction ('Innocent Traitor'), I was looking forward to her fictionalized story about Elizabeth I. I finished this in two days and am disappointed.
Weir took liberties with Elizabeth's story which didn't sit well with me. Although she explained why she did it in her afterword/author's note, I still am not comfortable with the events she portrayed. Yes, it IS fiction, but like Robin Maxwell's book 'The Queen's Bastard' which took the liberty that Elizabeth and Robert Dudley had a child together, I couldn't stomach the fiction Weir wrote about.
While I'll give Weir a chance if she should write another fictional work, I do think that her non-fiction is leaps and bounds better than this novel.
Weir took liberties with Elizabeth's story which didn't sit well with me. Although she explained why she did it in her afterword/author's note, I still am not comfortable with the events she portrayed. Yes, it IS fiction, but like Robin Maxwell's book 'The Queen's Bastard' which took the liberty that Elizabeth and Robert Dudley had a child together, I couldn't stomach the fiction Weir wrote about.
While I'll give Weir a chance if she should write another fictional work, I do think that her non-fiction is leaps and bounds better than this novel.
Helpful Score: 1
Ok book. Disappointed that book never reaches into timeframe of Elizabeth's reign. Remember that it IS fiction...so liberties are taken with historical accuracy.