A review by sortabadass
The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir
2.0
I knew very little about Elizabeth I besides her basic biography and that her bonuses in Civ 5 are awesome.
Now, I know way more than I ever wanted to know about her. I'm trying to read more nonfiction, and I generally enjoy the biographies of interesting monarchs. Because Elizabeth I was a sovereign in a time when women were considered unfit to rule, I assumed she would be interesting. I have never been more wrong.
Now I'm sure that Elizabeth was a very good queen. It's just that 40 years of maintaining economic stability and peace doesn't make for a great book.
Weir does well vividly describing 1500s England and outlining the broad strategies that encompassed Elizabeth's reign, but I feel like she could have condensed some of the oft-repeated scenarios to make it a little easier on the reader. (An example of this is Massie's treatment of the later "favorites" in [b:Catherine the Great Portrait of a Woman|10414941|Catherine the Great Portrait of a Woman|Robert K. Massie|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327884954s/10414941.jpg|15319151].) As an ugly American, I also have zero experience with formal titles. The closest thing in my experience to someone being granted an official title is Snoop Dogg changing his name to Snoop Lion. So when a main character gets a new title halfway through the book and suddenly is referred to exclusively by the new title, that stuff's confusing. Especially because this happened to several -- if not most -- of the characters. I wish Weir would have just referred to them by last names instead of titles for the sake of clarity.
Now, I know way more than I ever wanted to know about her. I'm trying to read more nonfiction, and I generally enjoy the biographies of interesting monarchs. Because Elizabeth I was a sovereign in a time when women were considered unfit to rule, I assumed she would be interesting. I have never been more wrong.
Now I'm sure that Elizabeth was a very good queen. It's just that 40 years of maintaining economic stability and peace doesn't make for a great book.
Weir does well vividly describing 1500s England and outlining the broad strategies that encompassed Elizabeth's reign, but I feel like she could have condensed some of the oft-repeated scenarios to make it a little easier on the reader. (An example of this is Massie's treatment of the later "favorites" in [b:Catherine the Great Portrait of a Woman|10414941|Catherine the Great Portrait of a Woman|Robert K. Massie|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327884954s/10414941.jpg|15319151].) As an ugly American, I also have zero experience with formal titles. The closest thing in my experience to someone being granted an official title is Snoop Dogg changing his name to Snoop Lion. So when a main character gets a new title halfway through the book and suddenly is referred to exclusively by the new title, that stuff's confusing. Especially because this happened to several -- if not most -- of the characters. I wish Weir would have just referred to them by last names instead of titles for the sake of clarity.