Reviews
3.5 stars! This will be a bit of a shorter review. It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's just that....well, I don't really have anything to say. The book itself is about the Grey ladies: Jane, Katherine and Mary. Each got a section of a book and their stories overlapped each other. Each had incredibly distinctive personalities. Each were flawed in their own way. I honestly couldn't choose a favorite. I liked and disliked them all pretty equally. Jane was okay. I had only read a couple other books about her, Innocent Traitor and My Lady Jane. Each portrayed Jane in very different ways. Innocent Traitor portrayed her as a quiet girl who was thrown into a terrible situation while My Lady Jane portrayed her as a girl who just wanted to be left alone with her books. The Last Tudor portrayed Jane as incredibly stuck up and rude but highly intelligent. I found that I didn't like her POV very much. She was rude and hateful, even though she often criticized those that were rude and hateful. Katherine was portrayed as a girl completely different Jane. Katherine liked pretty things and pretty animals. She loved flirting with boys and wanted to be the prettiest person in the room. She just wanted to find a good husband and life the live of a wife and mother. I found her childish in the beginning but she began to grow on me as more and more situations arose. She was incredibly strong by the end of it all and I respected her. Mary was a dwarf and the most cunning and amazing of them all. I liked her POV a lot. She was crafty and knew how to play the court. I loved her tenacity and her strength to go on, even though everything seemed to be falling apart around her. She did not let her stature get in the way her desires. I would love to read a book just about her. Unfortunately, this will be the last of the Tudor books that Philippa Gregory will write. In the author's note, she said she would be starting another series. I will anxiously be awaiting that series. I am positive it will be just as good as this series, even though I have yet to finish it.
Not my favourite of Gregory's books. I wasn't familiar with the Grey sisters so interesting to read something from their POV. But it was an endlessly sad book with few bright spots and Elizabeth is depicted as a fearful, cruel and vindictive monarch with little political skill.
At times frustrating, at others moving - the stories of the Tudors are always fascinating, even if morbidly. But I did love these insights into the three Grey sisters. How sad their lives were, and unlucky. I'd never really thought of Elizabeth in such a light as she's painted in this book - I've always thought of her in a heroic sense. Choosing to live her life so very differently to the majority of women around her. But through the eyes (even fictionalised) of those close to her, she seems a lot more human - even if that's through flaws. I did find myself wanting the story to move on a little faster in places, but that's likely a result of all three sisters being confined to imprisonment for significant amounts of time. Or perhaps a result of my knowing the basics of the outcomes for at two of the sisters before reading, and thus being impatient to get there. Regardless, this was an enjoyable read. I'd recommend it if you've liked Gregory's books previously, or if you like historical fiction. It is certainly really well done and researched, as well as imagined in an authentic way when the official history leaves blanks.
