A review by inthelunaseas
Anna of Kleve: Queen of Secrets by Alison Weir
3.0
In this edition of the Six Tudor Queens series, Weir brings the 'fiction' to 'historical fiction'.
It's understandable, when it comes to Anna of Kleve. Despite being one of Henry's wives, very little is known of her- and what is commonly known is often false (such as her being unattractive). It's no wonder the UK title of this book is 'Queen of Secrets'.
But all in all, I didn't enjoy Weir's foray into fantasy. She is clearly trying to give all the queens their time in the limelight (each book is roughly 500 or so pages, with Aragon's being 600), but with Anna only being Henry's wife for six months and the first quarter of her life being unknown beyond her being... well, born and being a princess of Kleve, there's dreadfully little to work with.
Broadly speaking, I enjoyed the general ideas Weir came up with, such as Anna having not one, but two secret children, and her being romantically entangled with a man. So far she's been the most sexually liberated of the queens, which is saying something as she's the only one to not have sex with Henry. But she's also the most dull here, and I didn't begin to really enjoy the book until the last 200 or so pages.
Up next is Kathryn Howard- my favourite queen. I'm hoping Weir doesn't disappoint.
It's understandable, when it comes to Anna of Kleve. Despite being one of Henry's wives, very little is known of her- and what is commonly known is often false (such as her being unattractive). It's no wonder the UK title of this book is 'Queen of Secrets'.
But all in all, I didn't enjoy Weir's foray into fantasy. She is clearly trying to give all the queens their time in the limelight (each book is roughly 500 or so pages, with Aragon's being 600), but with Anna only being Henry's wife for six months and the first quarter of her life being unknown beyond her being... well, born and being a princess of Kleve, there's dreadfully little to work with.
Broadly speaking, I enjoyed the general ideas Weir came up with, such as Anna having not one, but two secret children, and her being romantically entangled with a man. So far she's been the most sexually liberated of the queens, which is saying something as she's the only one to not have sex with Henry. But she's also the most dull here, and I didn't begin to really enjoy the book until the last 200 or so pages.
Up next is Kathryn Howard- my favourite queen. I'm hoping Weir doesn't disappoint.