Title- Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen
Author- Alison Weir
Publisher- Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine
Publish Date- May 15, 2018
Rating: 📖📖📖/5
// I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review //
I'm going to keep this one short as there isn't too much to say about it in my opinion. If you don't know the story of Jane Seymour, then I'll give you a quick overview. She was the third wife of Henry VIII of England and died after giving birth to Henry's only legitimate son. Little is known about her for sure. She was a pious woman and said to be Henry's favorite wife (probably because she was the only one to give him a son).
This is very clearly a historical fiction book. If you're looking for a biographical account, look elsewhere. As little is known about her life, I can see why the book is so heavy on the fiction side. Weir does a decent job of painting Seymour's world and filling in the gaps where the historical record is lacking. I only wish she didn't make Seymour so naive and borderline annoying. I don't believe that anyone was as clueless as she is painted to be in this story. Though I never really thought about reading a book about Jane Seymour, Weir made her a little more tolerable.
After reading reviews about Weir's book on Anne Boleyn, I was very skeptical about reading this book as Jane came after Anne. And I can see why people didn't like Weir's depiction of Anne. Almost every interaction and description of Anne in the book is negative and petty. I can't imagine every time Jane saw Anne it was horrible. And I mean EVERY TIME. It was annoying and frankly unnecessary. Anyway, if you are just looking for a book about Jane Seymour, then you can pick this one up for a good read. However, if you're looking to learn more about her in more of a research capacity, I would probably steer clear. Or just read the author's notes in the back of the book which honestly I found more interesting than most of the book.
#reading #netgalley #janeseymour #henryviii #alisonweir #ballantine #randomhouse #history
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