The Reader's Shire - Book Reviews

Book Review: My Lady Jane.

Title: My Lady Jane
Authors: Cynthia Hand, Brody Ashton and Jodi Meadows.
Series: -
Genres: Historical Fiction, Retelling.
Format: eBook
Length: 491 pages.
Publication date: June 7, 2016
Publisher: HarperCollins
Goodreads Avg. Rating: 4.18 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

This review is rated S  for spoilers. Read at your own risk.

"I would still fight for equality. Not dominance. Dominance leads to tyranny."

Let me just begin by saying that I came into this knowing nothing apart from the fact that people loved it. I'm not really a history geek so I didn't know much about Lady Jane Grey's story and execution. I haven't read the Incarnate,Unearthly and Everneath series and haven'tshelve them as priorities (this has to change!) so I had neutral, if not low, expectations. However, My Lady Jane was snagging most of the bookstagram feeds and it was huge and pretty and purple, so I thought, "why not?".

Positives ✔✔✔

Firstly, the writing was very rich, elegant and smooth. I really enjoyed reading about the alternative and not-so-accurate version of England, the supernatural beings, the diverse culture - the cousin marriages, the unfortunate sexism, the dislike for Ginger hair. I obviously frown upon those aspects but it was very realistic as this book was set in the 1500s.

I liked how the authors made fun of the country's ridiculous laws and rituals without causing offense. The infamous Tudors and the royalty were immensely entertaining and silly - the clueless and blackberry-loving Edward, the fierce and bookish Jane, the gold-digging and arrogant Lady Frances, the sassy and poetry-loving G, the intelligent and graceful Bess, the "bloody" and psychotic Mary and we even had Miss Badass Grandma!  

The magical aspect was intriguing too - a world divided by the ethians - that is, people who can turn into animals - and the verities - folks who want to rid their kingdom of the former. At first, I found them unoriginal because they sounded a lot like the animagi from the Harry Potter series but they turned out to be very different. For starters, they couldn't control their ability, faced a lot of prejudices, were feared and hunted soley for their existence and under the rule of Queen Mary - their existence was not to be tolerated and any Ethian would be burned alive. Whilst the idea was quite similar, the details were completely different compared to the shapeshifters from the Harry Potter books.

"Through books she could see the world".

Please excuse me while I make a shitload of gifs with this quote.

G climbed down. "Wait here," he told Jane.
Apparently, "wait here" meant "hurry along" to Jane, for she scrambled down the carriage before G had taken one step.

Jane was such a charming, witty and stubborn character. She really reminded me of Hermione Granger - bookaholic, women's rights advocate, bossy, narrow-minded at times. I liked her immediately - her directness, her healing skills, her sass. I liked how she just didn't give a rat's fart about not being the "ideal" lady according to British standards and how gracefully she dealt with everyone's taunts about her love for reading. Her passion for books was on point and way too relatable. Imagine every bookish thing you've done or everything non-bookish people have ever said to you. Whatever it is, Jane is the epitome of everything we, bookaholics endure for our sin for being avid readers. If I had to write the ideal heroine, she'd probably be something like Jane. She's one of the best written heroines I've ever encountered.

"He wanted to tell her she'd have more room if she'd just get rid of her books, but he supposed that in her case, it would be like telling a mother she'd have more room if she threw out her children."

Enter Gifford Dudley. Compassionate, dashing and at times, rude, G was the passionate poet in a world full of sword-fighting princes. I couldn't help but fall for him. He really knew how to catch the eye of a book geek and a feminist and I loved how accepting and impressed he was of Jane's love for books in a time where a girl's thirst for knowledge was disapproved.

"And . . . the funding of higher education for women!" G said.
That seemed to satisfy his lady for the time being. 

Smooth.

Only second to those two, I liked Edward. He was absolutely honest, hilarious and bizarre. His sexism was inevitable but he really developed as a character and grew up when the excuse "she can't because she's a girl" no longer appealed to him.

"Dearest Jane, Sorry I made you marry a horse. Your father-in-law is trying to kill me. Send help".

Ha! Brilliant. Edward should write haikus.

G sighed loudly and sank onto a sofa.
"What, exactly, have I done to you? Besides the offensive act of existing, and being forced to marry you?"

I liked the evolving romance, especially G and Jane's relationship. It was cute and balanced. I liked the adorable fights, the torturous tension, the funny "give and take" rule, the horse jokes, the jealousy and how they had two weddings - one arranged and one self-arranged. All arranged marriages should be like that. I was dreading insta-love - Jane and G falling for each other after their first meeting but there wasn't! They didn't even kiss until the end.

"I love you more than I love my books".

Gasp. Shriek. Jane...that's sweet but that's too much love!!!

Negatives ❌❌❌

So, the dialogue was very natural and I found the narrating style very unique and quirky. (We're not the type of narrators who kill dogs. ) However, there were hardly any deaths. Okay...that sounded despicable. Let me rephrase that. What I meant was, authors have to make sacrifices to make things more interesting but no one died in this book. I was expecting some deaths, of minor or major characters, since the war between the ethians and the verities was one of the major elements of this book and a battle occurred too but nope, no deaths.

Apart from that, the only thing which made me dock off an entire star was the portrayal of the villains and the plot twists/climax.  I felt like they were a bit rushed plus predictable. For the record, I knew Edward was being poisoned by Dudley. It was obvious because there was no legitimate reason as to why he got ill in the first place. And sometimes, you don't expect a twist but even then, it doesn't evoke much feeling in you and you just go like, "Oh. That's really nice and interesting but can we move on, please?". That's how I felt when Jane, Pet and Mary became ethians. Those twists didn't shock me much as much as they should have.

The antagonists didn't seem very...villainy either. Queen Mary was acceptable but Duke Dudley wasn't. I truly felt like he lacked ambition. I didn't think very much about his motives and how quickly he gave up. I suppose after five books of reading about Queen Levana's tyranny, you expect every villain to be just as desperate and power-hungry.

To sum up, despite it's flaws, this was a very engaging, amusing and fanciful read. The characterization alone was dazzling. Fans of light, fluffy and historical comedies plus retellings will adore this. Recommended.

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This review can also be found on my blog, Goodreads and Leafmarks. (Links in bio.)