God was this a bore, I have to admit I couldn't finish it, and I'm known for not giving up books... ( )

Did this on Serial Reader for my classic for the year, and after I got used to the language, and once the plot was in full swing, I liked it a lot.
I kept wondering what Mark Twain’s purpose in writing it was as I read. Was it satirizing the ridiculous levels of deference and care with which a monarch was treated (at one point, the false prince/king was dressed by an assembly line of about 20 people) and contrasting it with the suffering of the masses? I think probably that was part of it. Then I wondered if his depiction of Edward as a kind and merciful monarch (both the fake and the real one) was historically accurate, and his book was a reimagining of how that came to be (he’d had a chance to see how the poor folk of the realm lived and had seen how unfair and harsh the laws were because he lived among them for a time). I don’t actually know how accurate that is—from the small amount of googling I’ve done, it seems like he was influenced by his protectors because he was so young—so maybe there’s more fancy in Twain’s depiction than anything else.
I will say it was an enjoyable story, especially towards the end, and I was clapping my hands at how it all turned out. ( )

Ambientada en el año 1547, cuenta la historia de dos niños de apariencia física idéntica: Tom Canty, un medigo que vive con su padre cruel en Offal Court, Londres, y el príncipe Eduardo, hijo de Enrique VIII de Inglaterra.

A premissa anedótica é simples. Tom Canty, um mendigo de Offal Court, em Londres, entra no palácio do rei e se encontra com o jovem príncipe Edward. Eles se parecem o suficiente para serem gêmeos trocam de lugar e a troca funciona muito bem.
O reinado de Eduardo VI da Inglaterra seria pouco lembrado se não fosse por esta história narrada por um americano, Mark Twain.
Eduardo Tudor ascendeu ao trono inglês em 1547, filho de Henrique VIII, e morreu seis anos depois, sem sequer atingir a maturidade. Seu reinado, tal como foi, se caracterizou por uma luta pelo poder entre várias facções de nobres. Esta história serve de contexto ou pano de fundo também nas que tratam de Young Bess e Lady Jane. Não houve final feliz para o jovem Tudor
À primeira vista, não parece possível que Samuel Langhorne Clemens, de Hannibal, Missouri, pudesse escrever um conto clássico sobre a Inglaterra medieval. Mas pensando bem, o pobre jovem Tom Canty de Offal Court será tão diferente assim de Huckleberry Finn? seu pai, um homem grosseiro e brutal, será tão diferente do pai de Huckleberry Finn?
Twain conhecia bem seus personagens e, se tivesse algum problema em pesquisar n Google, bastava ler Charles Dickens, que escrevera sobre essas pessoas uma geração antes. ( )

I knew I would like this book, I just didn't know how much.
The story is quite predictable, but the characters are good enough to make you interested in their misadventures anyways. I laughed quite a few times due to some of the situations the characters were in and their reactions to it. The story also has dark moments that show the differences between rich and poor and the injustice of the world. I enjoyed the small notes about historical events that were used on this book as well.
I really liked the main characters, Tom Canty and Edward. They were so different from each other but deep down they were both kind and merciful. Miles Hendon was ok and the scene with the hermit actually scared me.
It is the first book I've read by Mark Twain and makes me want to read others, but I'm not sure if I would enjoy them as much. ( )