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Book Review
Dec. 7th, 2006 08:49 pmVirgin: Prelude to the Throne
by Robin Maxwell
The title's a bit melodramatic, but this book was pretty good. It's about Elizabeth I, covering her dangerous infatuation/flirtation with Thomas Seymour. Elizabeth was in her early teens at the time, but was very intelligent and astute. However, she still fell into the snare of Seymour, a cold, ambitious, manipulative, yet overwhelmingly charismatic man.
Maxwell does a great job with portraying the ambitions of the Tudor nobility and the courtly intrigue they engaged in. She's also terrific at making Elizabeth young and naive and at the same time keen-witted and strong so that the reader can really see how Elizabeth became the kind of ruler she was. That, combined with the snappy pacing and smart prose, made this a very enjoyable historical novel.
by Robin Maxwell
The title's a bit melodramatic, but this book was pretty good. It's about Elizabeth I, covering her dangerous infatuation/flirtation with Thomas Seymour. Elizabeth was in her early teens at the time, but was very intelligent and astute. However, she still fell into the snare of Seymour, a cold, ambitious, manipulative, yet overwhelmingly charismatic man.
Maxwell does a great job with portraying the ambitions of the Tudor nobility and the courtly intrigue they engaged in. She's also terrific at making Elizabeth young and naive and at the same time keen-witted and strong so that the reader can really see how Elizabeth became the kind of ruler she was. That, combined with the snappy pacing and smart prose, made this a very enjoyable historical novel.
