talbert334's Full Review: Carolyn Meyer - Mary, Bloody Mary
I usually don't care for historical fiction books written for teens, even though I am one, but, I liked this one a lot. I've read 5 books by Carolyn Meyer: this one, "Patience Princess Catherine," "Doomed Queen Anne," and her royal diary books on Isabella of Castile and Anastasia Romanov. Out of all those, I think that this one is the best.
This book is part of Carolyn Meyer's Young Royals series, so it's not on Mary's whole reign. It's only on when she was young. This book is narrated by Mary. It begins when everything is still good in Mary's life and she is being betrothed to a son of King Francis I of France. It describes how Henry VIII divorced Mary's mother Catherine of Aragon, and married Anne Boleyn who disliked Mary very much. Anne doesn't give Henry the son that he wants, but she does give him a daughter, Elizabeth. Anne Boleyn makes Mary become one of Elizabeth's servants. Anne is eventually executed for adultery and treason. This book ends right after Anne Boleyn's execution when Mary is meeting Jane Seymour for the first time.
This book is good and is an interesting read. There were only a few things about it that I didn't really care for. I didn't care for how the book ended. The last sentence was of Mary declaring that because of the unfair treatment that she had received because she was Catholic, she was never going to persecute people for their fate. Then, you turn the page to the epilogue where is says that Mary didn't keep this promise and she had about 300 Protestants burned on the stake once she became Queen. I think it would have been better if she would have said the opposite and had presaged the actual future. (That's just my opinion, though.)
I've read several nonfiction books on the Tudors. Out of the three authors who I've read books by that write historical fiction books for young adults on the Tudors-Carolyn Meyer, Kathryn Lasky, and Ann Rinaldi-I think that Carolyn Meyer is the best. Overall, her books are the most historically accurate and the most entertaining.
The story of Mary Tudor's childhood is a classic fairy tale: A princess who is toinherit the throne of England is separated from her mother; abused by...More at HotBookSale
The story of Mary Tudor's childhood is a classic fairy tale: A princess who is toinherit the throne of England is separated from her mother; abused by...More at HotBookSale
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