Like many others I am drawn to illustrations of history that garner much sympathy and my need to have a better understanding of certain maligned figures has me pulled in different directions of research to learn all I can at that moment. This year alone I have gathered knowledge and pushed past the many romantic (even biased) curtains on Empresses, Czars and various Queens across Europe. Their personal stories and preserved words easily fascinate and when I stumble across a non-fiction work that educates with hard facts with as little supposition as possible but also brings an era and forgotten life alive through the pages, I know I have found something to proudly display on my shelves and a book to share; unfortunately Crown of Blood: The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey won’t be joining my favorites. I will say this title was very easy to read and there is a little less shadow now on the portrait of Lady Jane Grey and her turmoil filled world but something just didn’t sit well with me. I hate to go against so many glowing reviews and I do honestly wish I could speak more of the positives with this work but I’m sorry there were too many assumptions, repetition of “colorful” narrative sections that either seemed forced or were a little unnecessary, modern explanations (that seemed summed down to “teenage behavior”) and a few very uncomfortable tangents or gossipy portions (ex: questioning if Henry Grey was inadequate in bed). I was also disappointed with the total lack of any kind of family tree (even for someone who is familiar with recurring names it can get confusing how lesser figures were related to the key personalities) as well as no photographs (even though sections throughout would refer to particular paintings or later images of important places). Those last negatives may be explained by my ARC version of this title (another helpful reviewer has alerted me that the published purchase version has some lovely pictures and family trees available) but I still think this book just sadly reminded me of another disappointing popular royalty biography I read last year and like that one it may be more suited to those looking for an introduction to the complex brutal games of politics and religion that dominated 16th-century Europe. If it gets someone reading and interested in history, I’m all for it but at the same time I think I will try Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery by Eric Ives or The Sisters Who Would Be Queen by Leanda de Lisle both look very promising. * I would like to thank Pegasus Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Crown of Blood: The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey -EGP/December 2016 Comments are closed.
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