Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The QUEEN'S BASTARD: A Novel by Robin Maxwell ISBN: 0-684-85760-X Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 15 June, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.37 (19 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Still trying to finish it....
Comment: I have about fifty more pages until I am done with this book; it's taken me more than a month to get to this place! I love historical fiction and devour anything about English history, so after reading "The Secret Dairy of Anne Boleyn" I couldn't wait to get my hands on this sequel (the possibility of an illegitimate royal heir is intriguing). I'm having a hard time finding the desire to read on to the ending; at this point it has dragged on so long that I just don't care. I have to agree with other reviews when they state that the chapters devoted to Arthur Dudley's dairy entries are boring. The endless descriptions of war, spying and fighting (approximately the last quarter of the book)are monotonous and just plain uninteresting. I so eagerly look forward to the chapters devoted to Elizabeth, but there are few towards the end and they almost all have to do with war. And one chapter had something to do with a weird supernatural pagan ceremony encouraging Elizabeth and Robin Dudley to have "relations" for the sake of saving England in the war-bizarre and unnecessary!! It started out well enough, but has turned into a slow-moving war epic - not my cup of tea. On a positive note, as inaccurate as many say this story is, I have learned a great deal about English history during this time. And for good measure, I probably will finish those last 50 pages...and then sell the book to a secondhand bookstore!
Rating: 3
Summary: Brilliant in Thought, Marginal in Execution
Comment: Tudor England is fascinating, and Elizabeth a worthy heroine. Whether Elizabeth was indeed the Virgin Queen is open for debate, but almost 500 years of speculation about her supposed affair with her horseman, Robin Dudley, lends a plausible air to this novel. Maxwell has done a deft job rendering Elizabeth as both majestic and at times ridiculous. Reading her interactions with her court, her relatives, and her supposed lover are an exercise in devouring truly brilliant prose. Maxwell has done well capturing Elizabeth's reign, including bits of Philip II's hatred and lust for the Virgin Queen, the troubles in the Netherlands, and the damnable Mary Queen of Scots.
The only false note here comes from the passages of Elizabeth's supposed son by Dudley, Arthur. There has been exploration and speculation regarding any illegitimate children the Queen may have had, so the idea of Arthur as her son allows a suspension of disbelief. However, the passages with Arthur as narrator are extremely dull and quite pointless. After the first few, I skipped over them entirely, and found that they were recapped almost in their entirety in the following chapters.
While "The Queen's Bastard" is a great read, and the subject has a distinct air of possibility, it is too long by almost 100 pages. Those pages from Arthur's journal are just unnecessary. Nevertheless, I did enjoy reading this novel, and am currently reading the concluding book in Maxwell's trilogy "Virgin." I heartily recommend this novel, but do take it with a grain of salt.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wild, rollicking fun literary Historical ride!!!
Comment: This book is probably, no, definitely, Historically inaccurate, but so what? It's the sequel to Maxwell's Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, in which the newly crowned Queen reads her mother's diary and learns of the threachery of men, in particular her royal father, Henry VIII. Having decided to rule without ever marrying, but telling no one of her decision, the headstrong and lusty young queen continues her affair with her equally lusty and power hungry favorite, Robin Dudley. The two have a passionate relationship, and other courtiers are either trying to drive a wedge between them or simply don't trust Dudley. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Robin manage some degree of real domestic intimacy as they progress through England with Dudley's sister, Mary, her husband Henry Sidney and their son, Sir Phillip, the future poet, and visit their old teacher, the scholar/wizard John Dee. In between debating the relative virtues of Mathematics and Astrology, translating Greek texts, and discussing the future of the Americas, Dee divines that a life grows in Elizabeth's belly. Elizabeth is shocked and angry. She does "not bleed like other women." It can not be possible. But it is. The determined Queen decides to give birth secretly and keep the child hidden until it is safe to make him heir to her throne. But her devoted gentlewoman, Kat Ashley, and advisor, William Cecil, have other ideas. It will never be safe for the Queen's bastard to come to light, they reason. So little Arthur, Robin and Elizabeth's son, is switched with a stillborn baby, and is raised by Robert Southern, an old beau of Kat's, who, unfortunately for Arthur, has a nasty and crazy wife who additionally can't stand what she thinks is her husband's illegitimate son. Thus, the tale really begins. The lives of Robin and Elizabeth at court are intertwined with Arthur's upbringing and striking out on his own to fight in the Netherlands, as recorded in his diary. There is, of course, a poignant misunderstood meeting, as well as a fabulous crescendo in the battle against the Armada which contains some pagan rites between Robin and Elizabeth (!), while Arthur is busy spying for his country in Spain and on the Armada fleet itself. It all fits remarkably well together. Maxwell is brilliant in that she only takes advantage of the room for speculation and never alters the facts themselves which she presents with seemless accuracy. This makes for a convincingly crafted work of fiction. Leicester's love of Mathematics and Horses is very well drawn making him the most interesting character of the book, but Elizabeth and Arthur are also well-rendered as are other characters like the devoted Kat Ashley, the loyal Lord Sussex, the flirtatious Scottish ambassador, James Melville, Dudley's silly mistress Lady Douglas Sheffield, and the noble Dutch leader, William of Orange. If one or two of the author's devices are decidedly picaresque, so much the better for the entertainment value and essential romance of the narrative atmosphere. A very engaging story that enthusiastically suggests the possibility that Elizabeth and Dudley just might have had more of a marriage than Henry VIII ever did.
 |
Title: The SECRET DIARY OF ANNE BOLEYN by Robin Maxwell ISBN: 0684849690 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 28 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: Virgin: Prelude to the Throne by Robin Maxwell ISBN: 0743204859 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 02 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
 |
Title: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory ISBN: 0743227441 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 04 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Wideacre : A Novel by Philippa Gregory ISBN: 0743249291 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 02 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: The Favored Child : A Novel by Philippa Gregory ISBN: 0743249305 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 02 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
