I love the historical stuff, but this one left my head feeling all dark and depressed afterwards. Also, I'm sure how accurate a lot of the facts were. ( )

Note that this review is for the abridged audio. Catherine de Medici, in the mid-16th century, went from Italy to France to marry, and she later became queen. Her husband much preferred his mistress, who was old enough to be his mother, to Catherine.

Unfortunately, this book had a double whammy against it – audios don’t always hold my attention (though some, I have no problem with). And, just after I checked it out from the library, I happened to notice it was abridged. Sigh. Why…? Why bother making them abridged! Now, I have read a bit about Catherine de Medici, but not a lot, so it’s sometimes hard to remember the people and how they are related to each other. This can be harder to follow in an audio book, but even worse in an abridged audio where there are huge parts that seem to be skipped over (or, in the case of this historical fiction, huge chunks of time, anyway).

So, this is more a review of the abridged audio (not worthwhile), than of the book itself. Also, one of the “books” I’ve read about her was a trilogy. So, if one author had to write 3 books to cover her life… this is already narrowed down to one book, but not only that, the one book is abridged! I hate abridged. If I’d had another audio book lined up and ready to go, I might have switched. ( )

DNF page 201

I was just so bored..

Didn't like the way Catherine was portrayed. ( )

A tale of never-ending intrigue that becomes tiresome all too soon. While the author does create a plausible explanation for Catherine de Medici's actions as recorded in history, she also includes an incident which maligns her even more and one for which, there is no possible proof. I find this annoying. Admittedly, I know very little beyond the "encyclopedia version" of de Medici's life but is it really necessary to invent something that makes her even more horrible? ( )