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sophiasewpersad's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
worldsunlikeourown's review against another edition
3.0
Read more reviews on my blog.
The Dead Queens Club was a last minute addition to my TBR from my list of maybes - and also not the best decision.
The Tudor Era has long been one of my favourites time periods and settings when it comes to historical fiction. The court of Henry VIII certainly did not lack for drama - which is why this parallel set in a modern day high school works so well. There are so many historical facts woven into the narrative with a modern twist, like Henry's leg injury, Anna's necklace and more.
The humour is not bad and Henry as a character is perfect for the modern-day portrayal. It's also nice how the six girls' backstories tie into each other. Unfortunately that's pretty much where my likes end. It was the protagonist that was the downside of this narrative. Annie Marck aka Cleves spends way too much time whining about her newspaper woes and how awful the editor is. The summary makes out Cleves to be some kind of investigator when they're actually best friends. As for the whole murder plot, I found it impossible to take seriously, partly because I was too busy being annoyed with so many of the characters and the slow moving plot. Overall, it wasn't really my type, but not a horrible read either.
The Dead Queens Club was a last minute addition to my TBR from my list of maybes - and also not the best decision.
The Tudor Era has long been one of my favourites time periods and settings when it comes to historical fiction. The court of Henry VIII certainly did not lack for drama - which is why this parallel set in a modern day high school works so well. There are so many historical facts woven into the narrative with a modern twist, like Henry's leg injury, Anna's necklace and more.
The humour is not bad and Henry as a character is perfect for the modern-day portrayal. It's also nice how the six girls' backstories tie into each other. Unfortunately that's pretty much where my likes end. It was the protagonist that was the downside of this narrative. Annie Marck aka Cleves spends way too much time whining about her newspaper woes and how awful the editor is. The summary makes out Cleves to be some kind of investigator when they're actually best friends. As for the whole murder plot, I found it impossible to take seriously, partly because I was too busy being annoyed with so many of the characters and the slow moving plot. Overall, it wasn't really my type, but not a horrible read either.
emleemay's review against another edition
2.0
I really did my best to like this but it was just not my thing.
Starred reviews from Kirkus usually prompt me to take a second look at books I was about to pass by. Then when I read that this one was a high school comedy retelling of history - specifically that of Henry VIII and his six wives - I thought it sounded like a lot of fun. But I struggled just to make it through.
The book is narrated by Annie of Cleveland, or "Cleves". She befriends Henry at Overachievers Camp, dates him for 15 days, and lives to tell the tale. Which is more than can be said for some of this player's other girlfriends. Now Cleves and Henry are best friends. But after two of Henry's exes die, the evidence begins to pile up-- could Henry be a murderer?
To be honest, I thought the murder aspect of the plot leaned more toward ludicrous than the hilarious/meaningful it was shooting for. Maybe because the plot - and its timeline - were so messy that the whole thing left me scratching my head.
My problem with this book all comes down to two main things:
» It's not my brand of humour.
Humour is so subjective, and this one just did nothing for me. I generally prefer it when funny things and situations occur as the story unfolds. I laugh more when the author sets the scene and builds up to the punchline. I’m less of a fan when the characters just constantly talk in jokes, as they do here. It felt forced. And kind of annoying.
Don’t get me wrong, occasional jokes in the dialogue can be very funny, but Annie's constant need to be quirky and snarky left me feeling exhausted. I enjoyed last year's [b:Nice Try, Jane Sinner|33413915|Nice Try, Jane Sinner|Lianne Oelke|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1500554660s/33413915.jpg|49155351] much more, for example. On a side note,
» The convoluted, messy, confusing plot.
The chronology of events in this book is very confusing. Cleves zips around from past to present without any warning, making it difficult for me to follow. There are some chapters that feel so messy and random that they read almost like stream-of-consciousness. We are constantly bombarded with jokes and sarcasm, and it takes forever to get to the actual meat of the story.
One thing I will say in the novel's favour is that the ending is quite satisfying if you manage to enjoy the book up until that point. I've seen some other DNF reviews complaining about an issue - an issue I might have complained about had I not finished it - but it is actually resolved well. The issue being
Some readers are going to love this book. It just didn't work for me.
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Starred reviews from Kirkus usually prompt me to take a second look at books I was about to pass by. Then when I read that this one was a high school comedy retelling of history - specifically that of Henry VIII and his six wives - I thought it sounded like a lot of fun. But I struggled just to make it through.
The book is narrated by Annie of Cleveland, or "Cleves". She befriends Henry at Overachievers Camp, dates him for 15 days, and lives to tell the tale. Which is more than can be said for some of this player's other girlfriends. Now Cleves and Henry are best friends. But after two of Henry's exes die, the evidence begins to pile up-- could Henry be a murderer?
To be honest, I thought the murder aspect of the plot leaned more toward ludicrous than the hilarious/meaningful it was shooting for. Maybe because the plot - and its timeline - were so messy that the whole thing left me scratching my head.
My problem with this book all comes down to two main things:
» It's not my brand of humour.
Humour is so subjective, and this one just did nothing for me. I generally prefer it when funny things and situations occur as the story unfolds. I laugh more when the author sets the scene and builds up to the punchline. I’m less of a fan when the characters just constantly talk in jokes, as they do here. It felt forced. And kind of annoying.
Don’t get me wrong, occasional jokes in the dialogue can be very funny, but Annie's constant need to be quirky and snarky left me feeling exhausted. I enjoyed last year's [b:Nice Try, Jane Sinner|33413915|Nice Try, Jane Sinner|Lianne Oelke|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1500554660s/33413915.jpg|49155351] much more, for example. On a side note,
Spoiler
the most I have ever laughed at a book was in [b:Faefever|2702704|Faefever (Fever, #3)|Karen Marie Moning|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437781062s/2702704.jpg|2728068] when Barrons walks in on Mac with the MacHalo and the whole Bad Moon Rising thing. It was so funny that I can remember literally rolling around with laughter (almost 8 years ago!). I would read a few more pages and have to pause to laugh again.» The convoluted, messy, confusing plot.
The chronology of events in this book is very confusing. Cleves zips around from past to present without any warning, making it difficult for me to follow. There are some chapters that feel so messy and random that they read almost like stream-of-consciousness. We are constantly bombarded with jokes and sarcasm, and it takes forever to get to the actual meat of the story.
One thing I will say in the novel's favour is that the ending is quite satisfying if you manage to enjoy the book up until that point. I've seen some other DNF reviews complaining about an issue - an issue I might have complained about had I not finished it - but it is actually resolved well. The issue being
Spoiler
the discrepancy between Cleves' feminist comments and her actual behaviour.Some readers are going to love this book. It just didn't work for me.
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liesthemoontells's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I read this book this based on a recommendation from an academic featured on the Not Just the Tudors podcast, who praised it for its novel reinterpretation of the six wives of Henry VIII and its play on their well-worn tropes. And it was... Fine?
The characters are insufferable, the dialogue comes from the Diablo Cody school of "no teenager actually speaks like this", and much of the mystery of the plot comes from it's confusing chronology rather than careful plotting. If we're picking modern representations of the six wives for an audience of adolescent girls, the musical Six does it much better.
That being said, it was entertaining and, like Six, may be successful in humanising its historical subjects for its target audience.
The characters are insufferable, the dialogue comes from the Diablo Cody school of "no teenager actually speaks like this", and much of the mystery of the plot comes from it's confusing chronology rather than careful plotting. If we're picking modern representations of the six wives for an audience of adolescent girls, the musical Six does it much better.
That being said, it was entertaining and, like Six, may be successful in humanising its historical subjects for its target audience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
vaenadal's review against another edition
4.0
Fun, creative, and clever! And most impressive, despite the contemporary high school setting and Mean Girl trappings, the book stays more true to the spirit of Tudor era events and figures than some historical fiction novels I've read. A well-done adaptation!
keen23's review against another edition
4.0
Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a great book. But it was enjoyable as hell.
mbenzz's review against another edition
2.0
This book reads like an episode of The Gilmore Girls.
I HATE the Gilmore Girls.
The banter back and forth between these kids (especially Cleves and Henry and Cleves and Parker), is constantly trying WAY too hard to be witty, snappy and clever, and it's just EXHAUSTING. Teenagers do NOT talk like this (though if I'm pointing that out, then I must also point out that normal teenagers don't ACT the way they do in this entire book, either...but I I'll leave that alone for Fiction's sake).
This book could easily have been 150-200 pages lighter if the author or editor had whittled down the pages and pages of unnecessary 'oh-so-witty-Rory-and-Lorelai-esq' banter.
I love Henry VIII and all his crazy wives. Have for yeeeeears. SO when I heard about this book, I did kind of roll my eyes a bit, but I figured if done right, this could actually be pretty good. Alas, I was disappointed.
We all know after Henry's accident (real life jousting, Dead Queens falling off a slide while trying to ride a bike down it) he changed. He became paranoid and mean. Well, that works when your the King of 16th Century Britain and can get away with all the things....not so much when you're a high school student in small town Indiana. It all just seemed silly and ridiculous.
Maybe I'm too old for this type of book, but I kept wondering...WHY didn't Katie just break up with Henry?? She clearly loved Tom, and she knew she had been caught out, so why run after him all psycho? Just leave him and be with who you WANT! But it's all about images here, I guess.
Also, it was really annoying how Cleves had never even MET some of the people that she was so definitively characterizing. Lina? Jane? Anna? She didn't know squat about these woman, yet she was so smug in how she thought she knew exactly who the were and what they would do.
And the ending? The 90's Spice Girls 'Girl Power!' ending? Nope.
Again...ridiculous and silly. But that's not what irritated me most. What infuriated me was I had just spent 400+ pages sifting through the not-so-funny comedy hour of Anna of Cleveland, and I don't even find out what happens in the end?! No epilogue? No, BTW, here's what happened to Henry after his girl-gang exposed him for the crazy weirdo that he is. Oh, and this is what Cleves ending up doing with her life since she spent a good chunk of the book lamenting about how she had no idea what she wanted to be when she grows up. YOU'RE WELCOME!
Nope. The girls get their overly dramatic 'justice', and the book fades to black.
In my opinion, I say skip this one. However, if you love Henry and his women, then curiosity will most likely get the better of you. In that case I say...you were warned.
I HATE the Gilmore Girls.
The banter back and forth between these kids (especially Cleves and Henry and Cleves and Parker), is constantly trying WAY too hard to be witty, snappy and clever, and it's just EXHAUSTING. Teenagers do NOT talk like this (though if I'm pointing that out, then I must also point out that normal teenagers don't ACT the way they do in this entire book, either...but I I'll leave that alone for Fiction's sake).
This book could easily have been 150-200 pages lighter if the author or editor had whittled down the pages and pages of unnecessary 'oh-so-witty-Rory-and-Lorelai-esq' banter.
I love Henry VIII and all his crazy wives. Have for yeeeeears. SO when I heard about this book, I did kind of roll my eyes a bit, but I figured if done right, this could actually be pretty good. Alas, I was disappointed.
We all know after Henry's accident (real life jousting, Dead Queens falling off a slide while trying to ride a bike down it) he changed. He became paranoid and mean. Well, that works when your the King of 16th Century Britain and can get away with all the things....not so much when you're a high school student in small town Indiana. It all just seemed silly and ridiculous.
Maybe I'm too old for this type of book, but I kept wondering...WHY didn't Katie just break up with Henry?? She clearly loved Tom, and she knew she had been caught out, so why run after him all psycho? Just leave him and be with who you WANT! But it's all about images here, I guess.
Also, it was really annoying how Cleves had never even MET some of the people that she was so definitively characterizing. Lina? Jane? Anna? She didn't know squat about these woman, yet she was so smug in how she thought she knew exactly who the were and what they would do.
And the ending? The 90's Spice Girls 'Girl Power!' ending? Nope.
Again...ridiculous and silly. But that's not what irritated me most. What infuriated me was I had just spent 400+ pages sifting through the not-so-funny comedy hour of Anna of Cleveland, and I don't even find out what happens in the end?! No epilogue? No, BTW, here's what happened to Henry after his girl-gang exposed him for the crazy weirdo that he is. Oh, and this is what Cleves ending up doing with her life since she spent a good chunk of the book lamenting about how she had no idea what she wanted to be when she grows up. YOU'RE WELCOME!
Nope. The girls get their overly dramatic 'justice', and the book fades to black.
In my opinion, I say skip this one. However, if you love Henry and his women, then curiosity will most likely get the better of you. In that case I say...you were warned.
mkot's review against another edition
4.0
This was honestly a great book, the only reason I didn’t give it 5 was because of how long it took me to get into it - although to be fair, as a high school teacher, I am biased.
The characterization was solid, the dialogue was decent and the character arch was *chefs kiss*.
10/10 would read again.
The characterization was solid, the dialogue was decent and the character arch was *chefs kiss*.
10/10 would read again.
marieintheraw's review against another edition
4.0
Listen. I was dedicated. The events of the dust jacket take half the book to come to fruition. Obviously, at that point I was too far in. That was helped by impulsively readable this book turned out to be. Unfortunately, it was not as realistic as I was hoping.
I'm interested in works by this author in the future; however, this one missed the mark for me.
Edit: I am a bad egg who didn't appreciate this story and am bumping my rating up to a four because I'm still thinking about it 9 months later.
I'm interested in works by this author in the future; however, this one missed the mark for me.
Edit: I am a bad egg who didn't appreciate this story and am bumping my rating up to a four because I'm still thinking about it 9 months later.
tophat8855's review against another edition
4.0
This was a really fun read. I've been watching the Tudors, so it was fun to see references to the real story (which I know the Tudors is not, but it at least gave me a visual): the yellow dress, for example. Spot on Anne Boleyn reference. And the references are throughout the book so it's not like it stops doing them. So that's fun.
Lost a point because it felt choppy in the beginning and there were a lot of current pop culture references that I'm not sure how well they'll age.
But if you like YA and you like Henry VIII drama, it's for you.
Lost a point because it felt choppy in the beginning and there were a lot of current pop culture references that I'm not sure how well they'll age.
But if you like YA and you like Henry VIII drama, it's for you.