Like, seriously, I tried so, so hard. Harder than I really should, but 1) I bought aI TRIED. I TRIED SO HARD.
BUT I'M TOO MUCH OF A NERD FOR THIS BOOK.
Like, seriously, I tried so, so hard. Harder than I really should, but 1) I bought a pretty hardcover of this so I felt like I owed it to myself 2) I LOVE THE IDEA OF THIS SO MUCH. I loooove comedic stuffs, I love Tudor stuffs, I love the idea of a Princess Bride take on Tudor history, and I FLIPPIN' ADORE Lady Jane Grey. (Plus I really like these three authors.)
But, you guys, I think I love Lady Jane Grey too much for this. The REAL Lady Jane Grey. I've read forty billion Tudor history books. I've had an obsession with this era since I was a kid, most especially on the heirs of Henry VIII, and most especially pre-ascension Elizabeth. And I know--I KNOW--this is not actually history. It knows it's not. It's not trying to be. There's a bloody horse husband (named G why oh bloody why is he named G)
BUT OH GOD I AM JUST NOT COOL ENOUGH TO GO ALONG WIHT IT I AM SUCH AN OLD FUDDY DUDDY AND I WAS PHYSICALLY TWITCHING THROUGH IT ALL. The humor was quite nice, though perhaps a wee bit forced, but I straight up couldn't do this. I'm normally the last person to be too serious to enjoy something, but this book broke me.
LIKE! GAH! I know it's not supposed to be real history! There are boys who spend their days as galloping steeds and kings that spontaneously turn into lions. Obviously, purposeful liberties have been taken. And while I frickin' love the concept of the shifting Ethians (fuck if I'm going to look up that fancy lettermajig they used), as a stand-in for the Catholic/Protestant tensions of the times, it immediately falls apart. And that's just the first of 9048743 things I couldn't get past because I am a FUSTY OLD GRUMPASAURUS WITH NO JOY IN HER HEART.
There's no beating around the bush--I know too much about this time period and these historical figures to enjoy this book. It may sound like it's tooting my own horn--tooting my own Tudor, if you will--but them's the facts. I could totally love this concept applied to, like, any other time period of which I'm less knowledgable, but i am such a STICK IN THE MUD when it comes to the Tudors. The heart that beats beneath my bosom is as shriveled as an old maid's, my soul as dry as the pages of the history books to which I so desperately cleave.
Obbbbbviously this is not accurate Tudor times, Gillian! Calm thy shriveled maidly tits!
But like...I almost think the humor would have been even better if they'd adhered SLIGHTLY more to actual Tudorly Tudorness? (Really I'm just saying that because my sanity would have held together better if they had.) Like oh jesus, Jane just up and GETTING in her carriage to go visit her fiance whom she's never met BY HERSELF in the middle of the day which is apparently RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER why oh WHy oh WHY
Oh god. OH GOD and the worst of all the things! When Jane expressed how much she loves opera! OPERA WAS NOT A THING IN THE 1550s WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO HURT ME PERSONALLY CYNTHIAJODIBRODI??? Why am I like this?? Why does this kill me so much? Why can't I get past these things??
I am meltinggggg into a puddle of self-loathing because my sense of humor has gone south for the winter
I also can't read the name G for 500 pages. G and the bloody anachronistic opera finished me off....more
Loading...
