I'm reading it right now! (I'm a little less than halfway through.) Gerbert is great!
-is it non-historical for Adelheid to be a mean/jealous mother-in-law? I actually am having fun watching Adelheid, especially knowing what comes next -- and, I mean, I can understand it; from Aspasia's point of view, even though she isn't sympathetic towards Adelheid specifically, we do see through her eyes some of how hard it is to be a woman in power. ...Though I can see how it might not be so fun if one was a big Adelheid fan.
-Did Otto II really send Adelheid to Burgundy like in the book? (This may have been one of the podcast things I missed.)
-Ooh, thank you for pointing out how knowledge has changed! I hadn't thought of how Aspasia going as well isn't likely.
-Wait, remind me, what do people now think of Byzantine Empress Theophano and the likelihood she arranged the murder of Emperor Nikopheros?
-I got the impression from the podcast that Otto the Great was less great than he was sort of going around making unforced errors but was also really, really lucky. Whereas this book seems to buy in to the "great" part.
-I also got the impression from the podcast that the odds were good Theophanu might have been sent back or sent to a convent or otherwise disposed of, and that she was likely to have been terrified, whereas this Theophanu is all "cool! I'm gonna be HRE!"
The novel itself, though, as a novel is very readable, and I suspect the Publisher's Weekly reviewer would have been fine had it been set among the Tudors or in another English history setting they were familiar with, instead of one that was new and requiring accordingly more attention.
That makes a lot of sense. I don't find it boring!
Eagle's Daughter
-is it non-historical for Adelheid to be a mean/jealous mother-in-law? I actually am having fun watching Adelheid, especially knowing what comes next -- and, I mean, I can understand it; from Aspasia's point of view, even though she isn't sympathetic towards Adelheid specifically, we do see through her eyes some of how hard it is to be a woman in power. ...Though I can see how it might not be so fun if one was a big Adelheid fan.
-Did Otto II really send Adelheid to Burgundy like in the book? (This may have been one of the podcast things I missed.)
-Ooh, thank you for pointing out how knowledge has changed! I hadn't thought of how Aspasia going as well isn't likely.
-Wait, remind me, what do people now think of Byzantine Empress Theophano and the likelihood she arranged the murder of Emperor Nikopheros?
-I got the impression from the podcast that Otto the Great was less great than he was sort of going around making unforced errors but was also really, really lucky. Whereas this book seems to buy in to the "great" part.
-I also got the impression from the podcast that the odds were good Theophanu might have been sent back or sent to a convent or otherwise disposed of, and that she was likely to have been terrified, whereas this Theophanu is all "cool! I'm gonna be HRE!"
The novel itself, though, as a novel is very readable, and I suspect the Publisher's Weekly reviewer would have been fine had it been set among the Tudors or in another English history setting they were familiar with, instead of one that was new and requiring accordingly more attention.
That makes a lot of sense. I don't find it boring!