Mary Boleyn

Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been wanting to read this for quite a while, and was finally able to sit down and spend the time to read.

Mary Boleyn has always fascinated me, mostly because she is usually portrayed so badly - as a whore, or as someone a little slow-witted and unwilling to stand up for herself.

Weir's book is I believe, the first full length biography on Mary. I especially enjoyed reading about Mary's early years at French court, something I don't know a whole heck of a lot about, but certainly reads like a soap opera! There's a lot of background information about the era Mary lives in as well (most of which I already was familiar with).

Because there is not a lot of factual information about Mary Boleyn, there is a certain amount of text devoted to her family, other families who lived near them, etc., but I feel it does serve to help balance out what otherwise might be too short of a book.

I did have to rate the book 4 stars because there is a lot of repetition in the book, especially on issues (to me) that are minor - for example, a good 20 pages on whether Anne or Mary is the elder - does this really matter at all?

All in all, this book is good, just not a great read.



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