Spoiler: Mary gets it in the end ( )

I would have finished this if it weren't so incredibly long and there weren't so many other books in the world. I must say that it's a relief to finally put it down.

Not that I don't like doorstoppers, but this one felt too long in some areas. It was a good book, well-written, and with an interesting cast of characters, but there were many points where it felt more like a history textbook than a novel. I suppose it was supposed to catalogue Mary's entire life, but it seriously dragged sometimes.

The level of detail involved was also something I wasn't impressed by. Riccio's rape by Henry Darley and Knox's sex scene with his wife probably didn't need to be elaborated on so much. What was the purpose of the latter anyway? To prove early Protestants didn't think female orgasm was a possibility? I don't know. Also, apparently Lord Henry had a foot? fetish. Way too much information for me.

It wasn't a boring book, but it was too long in some areas and some of it reads more like a textbook than a novel. I enjoyed Margaret George's book on Henry VIII much more. ( )

As usual with Ms. George this book is very detailed. At times I thought I might give up but so glad I didn’t. Fascinating depiction of Mary and at times Elizabeth as well as Walsingham, the founder of what is now known as the British Secret Service.

I read this in preparation for the new movie on Mary but when I found out that in the movie Mary and Elizabeth met face to face I decided to skip it since that never happened.

Great read and glad I finished ( )

Whew! I finally finished last night. It is an excellent book, as all Margaret George's books seem to be. It is laden with descriptive detail and this made it a bit slower going for me, more like the pace of a non-fiction book.
I have always wondered about Mary Stuart's supposed intelligence. How could her contemporaries have believed she was smart as well as beautiful, when her choices were so poor? This book makes it very clear that she let her heart-and her hormones-rule her head. She should have paid more attention to her cousin Elizabeth Tudor, who was the antithesis of Mary. Less trusting and willing to give her heart entirely away(of course her upbringing was entirely different from Mary's, actually quite bizarre)she was more successful in living her life and ruling her country. It's a sad story. A definite recommend for this book, but be prepared to take your time with reading. It's worth it. ( )