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aggressive_nostalgia's review against another edition
3.0
Stylistically, this is a luxurious and vividly-written trilogy, flush with grand, insightful oratory and dramatic visual description. It captures the feel and sound of Tudor England impressively well. The dialogue is particularly well-executed. Although it can be a little slow to get into, after you've marinated in the flavor of the first few chapters, it becomes a very immersive world.
If you're a real stickler for historically accurate and easy-to-follow character arcs, however, you won't find as much to admire here. Ford makes heavy use of alternate character interpretation (with the exception of Henry, whose fickleness and emotionality I felt was captured quite well), throwing out almost everything popularly and academically accepted about the character of Katherine Howard in order to paint an entirely different sort of tragedy than the one that actually happened. Ford also plays fast and loose with the sequence of events (both present and past) to help achieve the climax he wanted rather than the less grand, more abrupt ending of real history. Supporting characters like Culpeper and Udal are wrangled, simplified, and repainted to fit the adjusted narrative. Here Katherine's downfall is almost entirely due to the machinations of others—her own indiscretions and poor choices are nearly all glossed over as whole-cloth inventions—and she is portrayed as much more well-educated, pious, wise beyond her years, and nobly self-sacrificing than we have reason to believe the real Kat Howard ever was. It's an enthralling story, and I can respect Ford's desire to lift up the character of a maligned historical figure, especially a woman, but it's difficult to argue that it's not hugely fictional.
It was certainly a fun and excellently-penned read, but Ford's historical license is so distractingly flagrant it's hard to call it a masterwork in the complete sense.
If you're a real stickler for historically accurate and easy-to-follow character arcs, however, you won't find as much to admire here. Ford makes heavy use of alternate character interpretation (with the exception of Henry, whose fickleness and emotionality I felt was captured quite well), throwing out almost everything popularly and academically accepted about the character of Katherine Howard in order to paint an entirely different sort of tragedy than the one that actually happened. Ford also plays fast and loose with the sequence of events (both present and past) to help achieve the climax he wanted rather than the less grand, more abrupt ending of real history. Supporting characters like Culpeper and Udal are wrangled, simplified, and repainted to fit the adjusted narrative. Here Katherine's downfall is almost entirely due to the machinations of others—her own indiscretions and poor choices are nearly all glossed over as whole-cloth inventions—and she is portrayed as much more well-educated, pious, wise beyond her years, and nobly self-sacrificing than we have reason to believe the real Kat Howard ever was. It's an enthralling story, and I can respect Ford's desire to lift up the character of a maligned historical figure, especially a woman, but it's difficult to argue that it's not hugely fictional.
It was certainly a fun and excellently-penned read, but Ford's historical license is so distractingly flagrant it's hard to call it a masterwork in the complete sense.
awin82's review against another edition
4.0
I’d call this book a masterpiece. It’s poppycock, but very intriguing.
aquaflame64's review against another edition
5.0
I won this book in a good reads first reads giveaway contest. I'm really looking forward to reading this book as I am a big fan of the tudors.
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