Reviews tagging 'Death'
The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World by Shelley Puhak
6 reviews
readhaileyread's review
dark
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Child death, War, and Death
mondovertigo's review
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Murder, Child death, Death, Violence, and Misogyny
Moderate: Religious bigotry
Minor: Slavery
constancely's review against another edition
dark
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
I loved every page of this book and have already recommended it to all my friends. In case anybody doubts whether it's boring or slow-paced at some points, it isn't. It's incredibly compelling and I certainly wasn't expecting to enjoy this book so much.
Content Warnings
Minor: Torture, Murder, and Death
katiemack's review
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2022: Read a history about a period you know little about.
I learned a lot about the early modern period in my college history classes and always thought the Tudors and the Stuarts had the most infamously scandalous drama. These two rival sixth-century queens make those families look like kids having petty squabbles.
It's clear that Puhak did a great deal of research for this book (even if, as she claims, it's more a work of narrative nonfiction than an academic treatise on the period). Upon reading the author's note about how little artifacts and primary sources there are for the Merovingian dynasty, her work is even more impressive. Puhak's narrative is informative yet entertaining; I feel like I learned a lot without having to slog through unnecessary details or tedious sidebars.
If you're interested in learning about strong women who have been hidden from history by the patriarchy, this one's for you.
I learned a lot about the early modern period in my college history classes and always thought the Tudors and the Stuarts had the most infamously scandalous drama. These two rival sixth-century queens make those families look like kids having petty squabbles.
It's clear that Puhak did a great deal of research for this book (even if, as she claims, it's more a work of narrative nonfiction than an academic treatise on the period). Upon reading the author's note about how little artifacts and primary sources there are for the Merovingian dynasty, her work is even more impressive. Puhak's narrative is informative yet entertaining; I feel like I learned a lot without having to slog through unnecessary details or tedious sidebars.
If you're interested in learning about strong women who have been hidden from history by the patriarchy, this one's for you.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Death
xandra_evelyn's review
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
3.5
This was a hard book to rate. Basically, the story writes itself - the author simply accumulated the known writings of these two queens and put it into a book.
However, Shelley Puhak (the author) admits this is "not an academic history; it is a work of narrative nonfiction" (171). As an historian, that didn't sit well with me. I also felt there were some analysis issues that a true historian would have navigated better. On a more petty note (but one that bothered me) her citations were rather unconventional, using page numbers and quotes rather than footnotes. (Ms. Puhak is not an historian, but is actually a poet, so that may explain some of it.)
Those are big things for me, but may be little things for non-historians. Overall, it's a good story. Like I said, the history is fascinating and writes itself. Ms. Puhak was simply kind enough to compile it.
However, Shelley Puhak (the author) admits this is "not an academic history; it is a work of narrative nonfiction" (171). As an historian, that didn't sit well with me. I also felt there were some analysis issues that a true historian would have navigated better. On a more petty note (but one that bothered me) her citations were rather unconventional, using page numbers and quotes rather than footnotes. (Ms. Puhak is not an historian, but is actually a poet, so that may explain some of it.)
Those are big things for me, but may be little things for non-historians. Overall, it's a good story. Like I said, the history is fascinating and writes itself. Ms. Puhak was simply kind enough to compile it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Death
Death: there's a lot of people who are killed Torture: quite a few torture methods are briefly described.alisonvh's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
5.0
This book is so good and I learned so much! Everyone should read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Child death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, and Pregnancy
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, and Sexual assault
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