Skip to main content

Fatal Throne by M. T. Anderson, Jennifer Donnelly, Candace Fleming, Stephanie Hemphill, Deborah Hopkinson, Linda Sue Park, Lisa Ann Sandell: A Book Review

Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All
Authors: M. T. Anderson, Jennifer Donnelly, Candace Fleming, Stephanie Hemphill, Deborah Hopkinson, Linda Sue Park, Lisa Ann Sandell
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade
Release Date: May 1, 2018
Pages: 388
Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: Perfect for anyone fascinated by the Royal Wedding, Netflix's The Crown, or Wolf Hall, this is a pitch-perfect reimagining of the romance and tragedy of Henry VIII and his six wives, told from multiple points of view by some of your favorite authors.

     If you were one of King Henry VIII's six wives, who would you be? Would you be Anne Boleyn, who literally lost her head? Would you be the subject of rumor and scandal like Catherine Howard? Or would you get away and survive like Anna of Cleves?

     Meet them and Henry's other queens--each bound for divorce or death--in this epic and thrilling novel that reads like fantasy but really happened. Watch spellbound as each of these women attempts to survive their unpredictable king as he grows more and more obsessed with producing a male heir. And discover how the power-hungry court fanned the flames of Henry's passions . . . and his most horrible impulses.

     Whether you're a huge fan of all things Tudor or new to this jaw-dropping saga, you won't be able to get the unique voices of Henry and his wives--all brought to life by seven award-winning and bestselling authors--out of your head. 

     This is an intimate look at the royals during one of the most treacherous times in history. Who will you root for and who will you love to hate?
  
      My Review: Fatal Throne reimagines the wives of Henry VIII. Each queen tells their side of the story of what it was like to be the wife of Henry VIII. Most of these queens met a tragic fate. Only two of his queens outlived him. Two of his queens were beheaded. One died in abandonment, the other died in childbirth. 

    As big fan of anything Tudor, I was drawn to this young adult novel. There have not been many books that focus on each of Henry VIII’s six wives. The only author who has taken upon this burdensome task is Alison Weir. Thus, while I was waiting for the next novel in the Six Tudor Queens series, I was thrilled to hear that there is a young adult novel that covered the lives of these queens.

     Fatal Throne had everything that I had craved in a Tudor novel. It stayed mostly faithful to history. It also portrayed these queens in a sympathetic light. Each of them is a victim under Henry VIII. Some of them had a feminist twist to their stories. One example is Anne of Cleves. Anne claims that the reason why she displeased Henry was not because she was ugly, but because she saw his true self. I also thought that it was cool and quite snarky that after each wife told their tale, Henry gave his own impression about what he thought of his wife. He tells us his motivation about why he gave a few of his wives a bad ending.

     Overall, Fatal Throne is a fun retelling of Henry VIII’s wives. The story that I thought was the most well-written is Anne of Cleves. Her story is portrayed as the victor rather than the victim. The story I did not like as well as the others was Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn was an undeveloped character. My favorite tale was Catherine of Aragon that chronicles the long years of being married to Henry. Still, it was a short and fast-paced read! I highly recommend this to any Tudor fan who is looking for a bit of light reading!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) by Lucinda Riley: A Book Review

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) Author: Lucinda Riley Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Publisher: Atria Release Date: 2015 Pages: 463 Source: My State Public Library Synopsis: Maia D’Apliese and her five sisters gather together at their childhood home, “Atlantis”—a fabulous, secluded castle situated on the shores of Lake Geneva—having been told that their beloved father, who adopted them all as babies, has died. Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue to her true heritage—a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of her story and its beginnings. Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to

Blog Tour: Clarissa: A Clean and Wholesome American Historical Romance by Jean Jacobsen

  Book Details: Book Title :   Clarissa: A Clean & Wholesome American Historical Romance by Jean Jacobsen Category :  Adult Fiction (18+) ,  324 pages Genre :  Historical Romance Publisher :  Jean Jacobsen Release date:    Feb 2020 Content Rating :  G: Wholesome Book Description:      Tragedy brings them together. Will love tear them apart?      New York City, 1832. Clarissa Tanner is carefree and lighthearted until the sudden death of her parents. Forced to pay off family debts or lose her horse farm, she's given one choice: auction off her beloved horses or reluctantly enter 1830s New York Society social season to face the dreaded marriage market.      Nicholas is a man on a mission, searching for his missing brother. Fearing Liam may be the victim of foul play, Nicholas needs to keep a low-profile while conducting his search. He takes a position as a dance instructor, providing refresher lessons to the beautiful but distracted Clarissa.      ​Clarissa and Nicholas find a con

Katharine Parr: The Sixth Wife (Six Tudor Queens #6) by Alison Weir: A Book Review

Kath arine Parr: The Sixth Wife (Six Tudor Queens #6) Author: Alison Weir Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Ballantine Books Release Date: 2021 Pages: 544 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis : Bestselling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir brings her Tudor Queens series to a close with the remarkable story of Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife, who manages to survive him and remarry, only to be thrown into a romantic intrigue that threatens the very throne of England.      Having sent his much-beloved but deceitful young wife Katheryn Howard to her beheading, King Henry fixes his lonely eyes on a more mature woman, thirty-year-old, twice-widowed Katharine Parr. She, however, is in love with Sir Thomas Seymour, brother to the late Queen Jane. Aware of his rival, Henry sends him abroad, leaving Katharine no choice but to become Henry’s sixth queen in 1543. The king is no longer in any condition to father a child, but Katharine is content to mo