Reviews for Mary Tudor

The average rating for Mary Tudor based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-06-16 00:00:00 Cory Seeseequon Truly the case of a victim (of sorts) being made out to be the blood-thirsty "bad guy", Mary Tudor unfortunately has a bad reputation. Although this viewpoint has been more than avidly blamed on Elizabethan propaganda, the image remains. Linda Porter dives past the traditional stereotypes and bad blood (pun intended); to present Mary's reasoning behind her actions and her remaining scars from childhood of much pain. In terms of biographies, this is a rather inclusive portrait of Mary Tudor and wonderful for those seeking a book with more detail on her versus just an overview. Much overshadowed by younger half-sister Elizabeth, it is time for Mary to shine. I mean, she WAS England FIRST queen regnant. Although at times Porter seems to beg for pity, Mary true personality still shines through and one finally understands her convictions and actions. Mary is a strong and passionate female who could teach a thing or two to today's modern youth. Her zeal is beyond what an average child today can even try to encompass. Smooth, easy-flowing, and filled with factual information over opinions and speculation, Linda Porter's work is intended to demyth Marian oppositions. Certainly recommended for those who merely root for Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth but wanting to see a clearer picture.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-08-23 00:00:00 Tim Amandio This review can be found on my blog! Another awkward review of a book I put in my top ten of this year. Whoops. Apparently I can’t choose them well? The title really drew me in. I wanted to see how Porter would refute all the things that are attributed to Queen Mary I. But, she couldn’t deny them. She accepted that they happened, but put them in the context of Mary’s beliefs and the times, along with kind of looking at how her father was. But, that, literally, was about 5-10 pages that she did that in. And this book is over 400 pages. See the issue? This book was too long for the topic by a whole lot. It didn’t help that Porter didn’t focus on the subject matter for most of it. Over 200 pages of this book set the stage, yet they really revolve around telling me about what other people did/said. So, her mother, her father, Anne Boleyn, the birth of her brother, the series of wives following Anne, etc. It didn’t even focus on the friendships she had, which was a shame since she was close with two of her father’s wives, Anne of Cleves (who actually converted to Catholicism) and Katherine Parr. Basically, I didn’t learn anything about Mary as a person — which I think would have gone towards dispelling the “Bloody Mary” myth. It glossed over humanizing her. To me, you have to come into this book already having a sympathetic look towards Mary (which I do) and already know some about her life (again, I do). So, I wouldn’t suggest it to beginners. Even when Mary starts ruling, the book awkwardly glances its focus around to other people and things. I can honestly say that I learned nothing new about Mary through this book that I had known from previous books where her reign was discussed or even TV shows. In other words, I just can’t picture myself recommending this book to anyone because I know there’s a wealth of information about her. The book just didn’t draw upon it for some reason and I can’t understand why not. I loved reading little snippets of things she wrote. Why not capitalize on it? I’m out a book on Mary I, sadly, and I’m going to have to scour to find something to fill it.