Helpful Score: 2
I had a hard time getting into the book because the writing is very tedious (some sentences were a paragraph long). But towards the middle, I was glad I stuck it out. It was an interesting telling of a powerful historical period.
An average retelling of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Keri (TXGrobanite) reviewed Fatal Majesty: A Novel of Mary, Queen of Scots on + 270 more book reviews
Wonderful book, read like fiction. Great details about Mary Queen of Scots, some I had known, some I didn't know previously. Highly recommended!
Cathay S. (tulsateacher) reviewed Fatal Majesty: A Novel of Mary, Queen of Scots on + 8 more book reviews
Love, Politics, Murder, and Betrayal....the story of Mary Queen of Scots.....but this is no conventional retelling of a fascinating yet familiar tale.
Audrey P. (youngharris94) reviewed Fatal Majesty: A Novel of Mary, Queen of Scots on + 60 more book reviews
Well written with lots of detail.
Dense but enjoyable for Elizabethan era buffs.
Lorelie L. (artgal36) reviewed Fatal Majesty: A Novel of Mary, Queen of Scots on + 471 more book reviews
Love, Politics, Murder and Betrayal.
In Fatal Majesty, critically acclaimed novelist Reay Tannahill immerses readers in the tragedy of Mary, Queen of Scots-but this is not a conventional retelling of a fascinating yet familiar tale.
Eighteen-year-old Mary returns from the sophisticated French court to claim her throne in cold, backward Scotland. A gloomy reception proves least among the naive young monarch's challenges: her arrival provides the opportunity for smoldering vendettas to explode and for intricate conspiracies to form and then unravel. Intrigue besets her on every side. Mary's self-righteous brother, James, seeks to rule in her place; her brilliant Secretary of State, Lethington, dedicates his energies to placing the Stuarts on the throne of England; and her cousin, Elizabeth I, dazzling and unscrupulous, fears Mary as a threat to her crown and to her life.
Mingling a poet's passion with a historian's insight, Tannahill chronicles an era of easy violence, desperate action, and grand conspiracy. In this book, masterful characterization combines with lightning pace and classic plotting to deliver a tragic romantic saga with all the complexity of a major political thriller.
In Fatal Majesty, critically acclaimed novelist Reay Tannahill immerses readers in the tragedy of Mary, Queen of Scots-but this is not a conventional retelling of a fascinating yet familiar tale.
Eighteen-year-old Mary returns from the sophisticated French court to claim her throne in cold, backward Scotland. A gloomy reception proves least among the naive young monarch's challenges: her arrival provides the opportunity for smoldering vendettas to explode and for intricate conspiracies to form and then unravel. Intrigue besets her on every side. Mary's self-righteous brother, James, seeks to rule in her place; her brilliant Secretary of State, Lethington, dedicates his energies to placing the Stuarts on the throne of England; and her cousin, Elizabeth I, dazzling and unscrupulous, fears Mary as a threat to her crown and to her life.
Mingling a poet's passion with a historian's insight, Tannahill chronicles an era of easy violence, desperate action, and grand conspiracy. In this book, masterful characterization combines with lightning pace and classic plotting to deliver a tragic romantic saga with all the complexity of a major political thriller.
