Book Review of "The Queen's Own Fool"
Book Review of "The Queen's Own Fool"
“I think, Majesty, that all uncles have some things in common, whether they are nobles, priests, or showmen.”
“And what is that, my Jardinière?” asked the queen.
“They do not like girls who talk too much.”
“But that is exactly why I want you here,” she said, lifting one finger. “To talk and talk and talk as much as you please.”
“Even if it is all nonsense?”
“Especially then.”
Throw together a fool, a queen, and a lot of sneaky citizens, and what do you end up with? An amazing story that makes a book I just can’t put down! Luckily for me Jane Yolen and Robert Harris decided to write it, and it is called Queen’s Own Fool.
Queen’s Own Fool is a wonderful work of historical fiction. Set in the time of Mary, Queen of Scots, the plot tells of a traveling jester girl named Nicola who gets recruited to be the “queen’s fool” to Queen Mary herself. The Queen tells Nicola that her job is to always tell the truth to the Queen. Then the story takes the Queen and Nicola from England to Scotland, where they get into various skirmishes with angry Scots, angry religious fanatics, angry royal advisors, and a few friendly people. Most of the time, Queen Mary respects Nicola and listens to what she has to say, but there are times in the book when I wondered if Nicola was going to be the next one beheaded. And of course, I can’t give away the ending.
In just under 400 pages, the authors of this book had plenty of time to develop a plot, add description, and bore me to death. When I originally chose this book off the shelf I was worried that that might happen. But the amazing thing is that this book is interesting the whole way through. The snippets of detail that gave me information without forcing me to skim were just what I love to find in a book. Instead of a single problem and solution, the authors took me on a continuous journey- as soon as I thought I knew the answer, a new antagonist showed up on the scene, trying to turn the world upside down. The characters’ intentions and wishes were shown clearly, not through tedious pages of lengthy description, but through their words and actions. I didn’t notice the authors using many metaphors or other special...