[4GF]∎ Descargar Gratis Shadow on the Crown A Novel Patricia Bracewell 9780670026395 Books

Shadow on the Crown A Novel Patricia Bracewell 9780670026395 Books

Download As PDF : Shadow on the Crown A Novel Patricia Bracewell 9780670026395 Books

Shadow on the Crown A Novel Patricia Bracewell 9780670026395 Books

I am so tired of buying a kindle book and finding it to be only half a book! Shadow on the Crown is a well written book but it ends in the middle of the story and you have to buy book 2 to finish it. This ploy to make more money is wearing thin.


Tags : Shadow on the Crown: A Novel [Patricia Bracewell] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>A rich tale of power and forbidden love revolving around a young medieval queen</b> In 1002,Patricia Bracewell,Shadow on the Crown: A Novel,Viking,0670026395,Great Britain;History;Ethelred II, 979-1016;Fiction.,Normans;Great Britain;Fiction.,Queens;Great Britain;Fiction.,England,Ethelred II, 979-1016,FICTION Historical General,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,Fiction Historical,Fiction-Coming of Age,Fiction-Historical,GENERAL,General Adult,Great Britain,Great BritainBritish Isles,Historical - General,History,Normans,Queens,United States

Shadow on the Crown A Novel Patricia Bracewell 9780670026395 Books Reviews

Ms. Bracewell has done a wonderful job with her first novel. The plot is captivating, the characters are vivid and complex and the time period is portrayed so starkly real that I could see, taste, smell and feel everything that our central protagonist, Emma, did. It was brilliant from start to finish.
Emma of Normandy is mostly known for her role as the mother of Edward the Confessor and also for her second marriage to Cnut the Great, when she became the Queen of England once more. This novel however focuses upon the little known early years when she came to England as a young bride to become the second wife of Ethelred--"The Unready". The author admits in her author's note at the end that almost nothing is known about Emma's life during this time and therefore she was able to create a story around Emma that she felt most fitting. This is not to say however that the author threw history out of the window, not at all, rather she used the known version of historical events (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) as the framework for Emma's story.
And what a remarkable story it is. Not only did Ms. Bracewell do an excellent job of creating the character of Emma herself--strong, determined, intelligent and quick-witted--but it was Emma's well-written storyline that truly made her come to life. Through the adversity she faced in this first novel of the trilogy I cannot wait to read of the woman that she will become in the next two novels. I have very high hopes for this trilogy.
Emma of Normandy figured in various novels I have read this year always as a secondary character. I was therefore so pleased to find this story , with Emma as the principal personality.
Unfortunately as very little is known about Emma during her early years
we are at the mercy of the speculation of the author .Up to a point her interpretation is credible . In her
observations at the end of the novel
the author confesses she just could not resist dreaming up a trivial affair between Emma and the eldest son of Ethelred , Emma's grumpy husband.
How I wish she had resisted the temptation . This unnecessary rather clumsy padding seemed out of place and out of character .
Disappointing and insulting to the memory of a very noble lady.
Being the second of only two novels written about Emma of Normandy so far, it's difficult not to compare this to the first, Helen Hollick's The Forever Queen. Hollick's novel is one of my favorites and so it would be difficult to stand up against in my eyes.

It tells a tale of a strong young woman well groomed for queenship who finds herself a near prisoner of a husband who does not trust her. Her fate is in the hands of her brother, who will most likely put her in jeopardy by breaking his agreement with the English king - an agreement that was sealed with Emma's marriage. And her attempts to make friends at court are rejected by her eldest wary stepsons and sabotaged by a jealous rival. Her position will be secured and protected if she bears a son but this is also the very thing that threatens her stepson's positions as heirs. It's told in third person, from the four points of view of Emma, King Æthelred, his son Æthelstan, and Elgiva (Ælfgifu of Northampton), the daughter of an Ealdorman.

It's very well written but I don't think the characters were quite as well done as Hollick's. The antagonists were pretty one dimensional and I felt like the romance between Emma and Æthelstan was very sudden and unexpected. I don't fully understand what prompted Æthelstan to give Emma a chance and I felt like he did a very quick 180.

I felt like Bracewell took a lot more liberties with the unknown than Hollick did. It worked well for the story but it did make it feel less likely to have really happened. I don't mind authors taking a creative license though, as long as it works and makes sense, which it did, and there is a lot unknown about Emma which the author had to work with.

There's no denying this was a well written and well crafted story that was very enjoyable. Though it's the first in a trilogy whereas Hollick's novel on Emma is stand alone (there is a sequel but it does not strongly feature Emma), I'd say being split into shorter novels makes it easier to read and maybe more appealing to the mainstream. I'd still rank Forever Queen higher but I am looking forward to the next in this trilogy from Bracewell.
This book is the first of the eventual trilogy about Emma, Queen of Great Britain, during the period just prior to the Danish kings. It's a good introduction to how young royal women (really girls) were used as political barter during the Middle Ages to secure kingdoms. I found it interesting historically, and Emma is a character whom I had come upon glancingly in another book that really focused on her more famous sisters--who were also traded by their powerful brother for land and security to various kings. It was a pleasure to see a minor character in another book more fully realized in this one. Let's just get this straight, people. This is not history. It's fiction. It's fun. Enjoy!!
I am so tired of buying a kindle book and finding it to be only half a book! Shadow on the Crown is a well written book but it ends in the middle of the story and you have to buy book 2 to finish it. This ploy to make more money is wearing thin.