Laura Andersen

This disappointing alternate-history tale takes an intriguing idea but bogs it down with glacial pacing and ends with a cliff-hanger – an instant disqualification in my book, for any author.

Andersen’s basic idea is full of potential – suppose Anne Boleyn had eventually given Henry the son for which he had delegitimized his firstborn daughter, set aside his lawful wife, and broken the hold of the Catholic church on the crowned heads of Europe? How would the course of history have been changed, or would the ebb and flow of royal intrigue and military adventure have followed the same general path without the indomitable Elizabeth I on the British throne?

The novel begins as Anne Boleyn’s son, William, approaches his eighteenth birthday, ready to leave behind the regency that had guided him after Henry’s death, and become king in his own right. Much of the story is told through the eyes of Minuette, a young woman who shares William’s birthdate and who has been groomed from childhood for a place in court. The other players include names well-known to readers familiar with the historical Tudor court and its intrigues. There are Seymours and Howards aplenty, Lady Jane Grey, the disinherited Mary and the endless Catholic plots surging around her, Elizabeth, Robert Dudley, the sabre-rattling of France and Spain, and even Mary, Queen of Scots in a distant but acknowledged orbit.

The problem is that Andersen sets everything in motion, and then bogs the action down with a couple hundred pages in which not much happens except that the powers behind the throne move their pawns around the chessboard and young William removes himself from pawnhood with military victories and intricate diplomatic maneuvers.

Things only get interesting again when William ceases to think of Minuette as a childhood playmate and realizes she is a desirable young woman. Unfortunately, this creates a romantic triangle that also involves William’s lifelong companion, Dominic. Things get exciting in the last quarter of the book as Minuette is drawn into a dangerous game involving the search for a possibly-forged document that could incite Mary’s followers to open rebellion and as William privately declares his intention to make Minutette his queen, never mind that he has just been betrothed to a French princess.

And just as things seem to be drawing to a head, Andersen drops in another plot complication and abruptly ends this first entry in the Boleyn Trilogy. Sorry, but that just knocked the rest of this series right off my TBR list.… (meer)

To be fair, I really need to stop reading series out of order, because I'd likely enjoy them more. I've read parts of Laura Andersen's Boleyn and Tudor series, so I know the general concept of her alterative history world (which is very intriguing). This novel, the last in the series, does make for an interesting read centered around a reimagining of the Spanish Armada's attempted invasion of England. A fun concept and enjoyable reading, but I think I should have read all of the author's books in sequence to fully enjoy this one.… (meer)