The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
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Book Reviews of The Boleyn Inheritance
Book Review: The Boleyn Inheritance
Summary: 4 Stars
It seems every time I pick up a Philippa Gregory book, I cannot put it down. Since reading The Constant Princess, I have been hooked on her books and find myself totally absorbed in her storytelling. The Boleyn Inheritance was no different.
The story is set between 1539 and 1542 after Jane Seymour dies and King Henry VIII decides to marry once again. He marries a German princess, Anne of Cleves, but after a bad first encounter with her, he quickly begins to hate her. Once Anne is in England she finds herself alone and barely able to speak the language, with a husband who will not consummate the marriage and who dislikes her from the start.
The story is told from the points of view of Queen Anne, Katherine Howard who is a lady in waiting, and Jane Boleyn, who is George Boleyn's widow. Jane's own testimony helped send her late husband and his infamous sister Anne Boleyn to the chopping block.
I enjoyed this book very much. The Boleyn Inheritance has been the perfect read on a cold winters night. There was drama, romance and plenty of interesting characters to keep me hooked. I was completely hooked on the last few chapters and was up until late into the night reading. Philippa Gregory had me on the edge of my seat.
Book Review: Boleyn Inheritance - stunning sequel
Summary: 4 Stars
The Boleyn Inheritance picks up where The Other Boleyn Girl left off: Anne Boleyn and her brother George have been beheaded as traitors, Jane Seymour has died in childbirth, and King Henry is searching for his fourth wife. The story is told from the alternating points of view of three women central to this period in English history: Anne of Cleves, the unlucky fourth wife whom Henry despises almost from first sight; Katherine Howard, a maid to the queen who is almost as witless as she is beautiful, and Jane Boleyn, who sent her husband and sister-in-law to the gallows on the order of her uncle, whose scheming service she finds herself in once again. These three women struggle to survive in a court that can bless its favored with riches one minute and condemn them as traitors the next, each one longing to be free of the men who seek to control them, each doing whatever is necessary to survive.
Gregory's books aren't for children - there's a fair amount of sex and sexual innuendo in them - but if schools taught history like this, we'd all have aced it.
Book Review: worth reading, though a little light
Summary: 4 Stars
First of all, let me start by telling you I am almost as obsessed with Gregory's books as I am with Tudor history - and that's saying something. This is a wonderful book, told in 3 ladies point of view. I was really excited to read this, because I didn't know much about 2 of the 3 ladies. All of that being said, however... as much as I did enjoy this book (and I give it 4 out of 5 stars), I was so disappointed because the story line seems so... simple. I would have thought this was a young adult book, except... it's not a young adult book. I kept waiting for more. I did thoroughly enjoy the portrayal of Anne of Cleves & slightly less so of Lady Jane Rochford, but Katherine Howard... childlike, immature, beautiful, vain Katherine Howard, just drove me nuts. I have never believed her to be as simple as Gregory pictured her.
All in all, I'd recommend to other history buffs, but it's not a book I'd read again.
Book Review: Great read, not as great as The Other Boleyn Girl.
Summary: 4 Stars
After reading "The Other Boleyn Girl", i was immediately interested in reading this book. I was a bit dissapointed comparign it to The Other Boleyn Girl. The characters were not as easy to love as in the other book, and i personally do not think that narrating from three person's point of views worked for this book. Narrating this way seemed to take away my oppurtunity to deeply connect with a character. I found the Anne segments boring, and to long, while i loved the Katherine segments, and wished they were longer. As far as Jane Boleyn, i liked those parts because it was like a flashback to The Other Boleyn Girl. I found some parts of the book to dragged on, while others were to short, and some of the rushed parts were very important. Overall, I would recommend reading this book after reading The Other Boleyn Girl, but don't expect it to be as good.Book Review: Divorced, beheaded, died...
Summary: 4 Stars
divorced, beheaded, survived. For me, at least, this book combined as a little history lesson about two queens one does not often read about in this genre and some great fiction. I was impressed by Ms. Gregory's development of her characters and the way she allowed the reader to see the Tudor court from three distinct perspectives. I found this book to be superior to The Virgin's Lover, and somehow more tragic than the Other Boleyn Girl. Perhaps it was the youth of Katherine Howard or the seemingly inescapable tyranny of the Henry that is portrayed in this novel, but I found this one particularly sad and intense all at the same time. Overall, an engaging read for any Philippa Gregory fan or a fan of historical fiction.