I just finished reading My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows. It is a five hundred pages long book, but does not take very long to get through. This review will contain spoilers, but I also write spoiler-free reviews on my Goodreads page!
To read the spoiler-free review, click here.
I am going to jump right into it. This book is about real events with a lot of fiction to it. We follow King Edward VI, his cousin-once-removed Lady Jane Grey and her husband Lord Gifford Dudley. They are all in their twenties, which is around my age as well, so I think the book is aimed for people in that age span. Every other chapter we change between the perspectives of these three characters, though Jane is the main character and even in the two male character's chapters the story mostly revolves around her.
Do you know anything about Lady Jane Grey? I did not. I had never heard of her before I read this book and I was a bit confused whether this was all fiction or had some history to it. As it seems, there are quite a bit of true facts here, which I found out after researching a bit after finishing it. The people are real, the events are somewhat real, but no one really knows what happened for sure. It takes place in the year when Jane Grey was the Queen of England, 1553. The reason you probably never heard of her rule is because she was only queen for nine days, after which the well-known Queen Elizabeth I took over.
Though the book is historic in some aspects, it relies on magic that surely was not present at all. There are Verities and Eძians - normal humans and humans that could turn into animals. It is a big part of the story and I think it was a nice addition. Some of the tasks the characters needed to do could not have been done without turning into an animal. Luckily, no one turns into the same as the other, so there's really an animal for every situation. The main Eძian, Gifford, is a horse, which for the most part of the story is an inconvenience. Though in his horse form he can still think and understand humans, so we can still follow his train of thought. Other animals are a dog, ferret, kestrel, skunk, fox, there's a mention of a lion and a small appearance of a donkey (which in the book they refer to as an 'ass').
Do you know anything about Lady Jane Grey? I did not. I had never heard of her before I read this book and I was a bit confused whether this was all fiction or had some history to it. As it seems, there are quite a bit of true facts here, which I found out after researching a bit after finishing it. The people are real, the events are somewhat real, but no one really knows what happened for sure. It takes place in the year when Jane Grey was the Queen of England, 1553. The reason you probably never heard of her rule is because she was only queen for nine days, after which the well-known Queen Elizabeth I took over.
Though the book is historic in some aspects, it relies on magic that surely was not present at all. There are Verities and Eძians - normal humans and humans that could turn into animals. It is a big part of the story and I think it was a nice addition. Some of the tasks the characters needed to do could not have been done without turning into an animal. Luckily, no one turns into the same as the other, so there's really an animal for every situation. The main Eძian, Gifford, is a horse, which for the most part of the story is an inconvenience. Though in his horse form he can still think and understand humans, so we can still follow his train of thought. Other animals are a dog, ferret, kestrel, skunk, fox, there's a mention of a lion and a small appearance of a donkey (which in the book they refer to as an 'ass').
Most of the book is slow in a cosy kind of way. Cuddle up in the sofa, hide under a blanket, bring a cup of hot chocolate or tea and you are all set. This book will keep you reading for a while! The chapters are short enough for a before-going-to-sleep reading session, which is the best kind of chapters. Strangely enough, the edge of the pages are designed with a rough texture to, I assume, make it look old. This is a nice look, but it makes it a bit difficult to turn the pages. Apart from that the hardback is pretty light to carry around.
If you are interested in this book, Amazon has a free read of the first chapter (plus a few pages of the second).
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