Book Review: The Lady Elizabeth

The Lady Elizabeth is the second novel by English Historian-slash-writer Alison Weir. The first, Innocent Traitor, will be reviewed at a later date. ;D

The book covers the life of the future Queen Elizabeth I, starting when she is about three and ending when she finally ascends to the throne. The book is divided into three sections, each representing a different "chapter" in Elizabeth's life. The section entitled "The King's Daughter" covers the turbulent period of Elizabeth's life as the daughter of Henry VIII, from her being a princess to just a lady of high standing and the unsure state of being in the King's favor, as well as the experience of having four new step-mothers. The next section, "The King's Sister", covers the reign of Elizabeth's brother, Edward, and contains one of the larges scandals of Elizabeth's life, that with the Lord High Admiral Thomas Seymour. The final section, "The Queen's Sister", covers the dangerous period of Elizabeth's life when Queen Mary was on the throne, in which Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower of London and repeatedly suspected of treasonous plots, none of which she was actively a part of, but connected with against her will.

Alison Weir's historical knowledge and expertise on the subject really bring the book to life. Elizabeth's actual life story contains so much drama and intrigue that one might think artistic license is unnecessary or even too over the top, but Alison Weir throws in a "what if?" situation that many people gossiped about even in Elizabeth's own lifetime. Though Weir maintains that the rumors are unfounded and false, in a bit of artistic license she uses the rumors about Elizabeth's involvement with Thomas Seymour to provide more reason for why Elizabeth swears never to get married.

One of the rumors surrounding the scandal with Elizabeth and Seymour was that Elizabeth became pregnant with his child, and that he brought a blindfolded midwife to deliver the baby in an isolated country estate and then disposed of it. Though Weir as a historian holds these rumors to be just that, Weir as an author includes it in a surprisingly not-too-dramatic plot twist. Elizabeth in the novel experiences a miscarriage four months into her pregnancy and becomes considerably more cautious in her dealings with men (though she still enjoys a flirtation here and there).It is this episode in her past, as well as the fates of her mother, Anne Boleyn, and Jane Seymour, the woman Henry VII married after Anne's execution, that cause Elizabeth to fiercely avow that she will never marry in order to escape dying from childbirth or other complications of marriage.

The book is told mainly from Elizabeth's point of view but also contains some brief passages told by Mary, her sister; Kat Ashley, her nurse and primary caretaker; and various other people who played an important role in Elizabeth's life. The book is extremely well written and makes Elizabeth's life very accessible to modern-day readers, and the artistic liberties taken do not detract from the overall story, but present an extremely interesting and plausible "what if?" situation. Alison Weir's expertise as a historian and biographer of Elizabeth really shine in this novel, which is every bit as good as her first.

I give The Lady Elizabeth four and a half stars out of five.

If you enjoy The Lady Elizabeth, also check out Alison Weir's other novel, Innocent Traitor, and her non-fiction book, The Children of Henry VIII. All will eventually be reviewed here.

Album Review: The Real McKenzies 10,000 Shots

The Real McKenzies is a Scottish Punk-Folk Band from, I believe, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Now you may be wondering, "what on earth is folk punk?" Well, the best analogy I can give you, which I saw online somewhere, is: It's like taking The Sex Pistols and throwing in a bagpipe. That's right. A BAGPIPE. The Real McKenzies have been around for thirteen or so years, give or take. They have, I believe five or six albums, all of which are mixes between traditional Scottish music and original compositions. My favorites off the albums are their revamped versions of the traditional Scottish songs, complete with the good ol' bagpipe and punk styled guitars and vocals.

10,000 Shots is my favorite album by the band, one that, for me, is a real treat to sit down and listen to start to finish. It was released in 2008, their second to last album released to day, and, to me, it really shows how far the band has come, and in a sense, how much the band has "matured" since they debuted with their eponymous album.

Starting off with Smokin' Bowl (a song about war) and Best Day Until Tomorrow (which to the best of my ear-knowledge contains no bagpipes, but wonderful vocals on the chorus), the album starts off in an almost upbeat manner. Then we get the first of our traditional songs, Will Ye No Come Back Again?, a song written in the mid-to-late 1700s after the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Stuart, grandson of King James II of England) and his later escape to the Isle of Skye. As could be expected, bagpipes are in full force here, and the song expresses the wishing of the Scottish People for their true heir to the English Throne to return. Along with the bagpipes, the vocals and the guitar "solos" in between verses, specifically around the 1 minute park, are very good. As those who know their history know, Charlie never did return to Scotland or England and the Stuart rule in England was ended (the Hanoverian Dynasty began soon after).

The next song, Pour Descisions, is about the singer's life in Canada and about the choices he made in his life. The song is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and sort of takes a look at a musician's life, how it's "not that cute at 53" (the singer's age, really) but how "you still wish you were me". The next track, I Hate My Band, is more of the same, in a sense: tongue-in-cheek humor about how the singer hates his bands for what they've done to his life, but how they're "good lads at heart". This song is also lacking in bagpipes but features a nice guitar solo about halfway through.

The next track is another traditional song, Farewell to Nova Scotia. As you can guess, this song is a sailor's farewell to his home, Nova Scotia. The bagpipes are back (as I am led to believe they are often in Nova Scotia...) and in all, the song has a very melancholy feeling to it, but the music itself sounds more upbeat and lively. It's an interesting combination to a very memorable tune, possibly one of my favorites on the album. Following this is another traditional song, Bugger Off, which is about telling the audience of a show and patrons of a bar to get the hell out. It's more of the somewhat sarcastic humor that it is apparent in many of the songs on the album.

10,000 Shots is a song about how after 10,000 shots, everyone looks the same. It's sort of a humorous song about what happens from drinking. 13, the next track on the album, is another biographical song about the band's thirteen years together. The Skeleton and the Tailor is about a rather cynical Tailor, bound to a wheelchair, who accepts a dare to spend the night in a supposedly haunted cemetery. As he sits and mends clothes in the graveyard, a skeleton appears and tries to kill him, which causes the tailor to regain the use of his legs forevermore.

Comin' Thro' the Rye is a song based off a Robert Burns poem, and I think most are familiar with it as a children's song (at least that is where I first heard it). I won't even pretend to know what it's about, seeing as I can't even decipher the lyrics to save my life. It's traditional and it's Scottish and you ought to enjoy it just for that. The Ale is Dear is the usual instrumental piece that showcases the band's bagpiper's ability, and the final song on the album is The Catalpa, a ballad about the escape of Irish prisoners in the then British penal colony of Perth due to a regatta that was going on that day.

This album is enjoyable and really shows how far the band has come since its first CD. I five 10,000 Shots Four and a Half stars out of Five.

For more information about the traditional songs:
Will Ye No Come Back Again?
Farewell to Nova Scotia
The Catalpa

Book Review 1: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I bet that everyone in the world (well, maybe mostly everyone) has heard about Pride and Prejudice, the timeless Jane Austen classic, be it through the 1995 movie with Colin Firth, the 2005 (? I think) movie with Kiera Knightly, or, of course, the book itself. And now, fans of Jane Austen can stimulate their brain (and eat it too) with this new "edition" of the beloved classic, now with "ultraviolent zombie mayhem".

The premise is simple: Take Pride and Prejudice, throw in some Zombies, and maybe one or two subtle sexual references (or maybe that was just me?). But the result is, actually, a very fluid, very smooth read. Of course, the scenes of zombie mayhem do seem somewhat forced, but on the whole, they don't actually seem that out of place. Bear with me.

The humor of this book, and what, in my opinion, made it one of the New York Times's best sellers, is that the inserted scenes are written in perfect Regency language. The author[s] transition wonderfully, in my opinion, from the story of Pride and Prejudice to the descriptions of zombies attacking and Lizzy and her sisters using their Shaolin skills to defeat them.

Another thing that makes this book worth your while is that the book actually maintains the class, and other, conflicts that are contained in Pride and Prejudice. In Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the class conflicts are now conveyed through Lady de Bourgh's mockery of Chinese Shaolin, which the Bennet Sisters have learned, as opposed to the Japanese style of fighting zombies, which is more pricey to learn due to the cost of traveling to the islands. Still present, too, are Lizzy and Darcy's initials dislike and prejudices and Lydia's obsession with officers. Mr. Collins is as obsequious as always, and Mrs. Bennet's nerves are still paining her (no thanks to the threat of zombies). In short, many of the familiar aspects are in P&P+Z, though some are conveyed in a manner more easily accessible to the modern reader.

The book has received generally good reviews, rating four and a half stars on the Facebook ap weRead. I would recommend this book to any fan of Jane Austen with a sense of humor who can take their classics with a grain of salt, and also to those who may have read Pride and Prejudice and can only look back on it with intense dislike. It is a surprisingly easy read, but actually quite engaging (and it even has literary circle questions in the back!) and very funny, especially to fans of Jane Austen.

I give Pride and Prejudice and Zombies four stars out of five.

Post script: THIS BOOK HAS PICTURES! 8D

Being an Introduction to the Nature of the Blog

This is my blog! It is shiny and new. It will be used to review books, movies, music, and more. It will not be a blog that will chronicle my daily life and trials and tribulations though it may comment upon my upcoming college classes.

Books that will be reviewed will include works from Classical Literature (such as Austen, Bronte, Dickens, &c), works from Contemporary Literature (works by modern authors, from the 1980s to the present), works for Children (such as Harry Potter) and works for Students (such as all those books I will have to read for my Foundation Year Programme at King's).

Music that will be reviewed will range all over the spectrum that is music, including but not limited to Classical, Celtic punk, Gregorian chant, Techno, and Alternative, but will generally not include Rap.

All posts shall strive to be insightful and honest, thoughtfully written and without bias but this cannot always be guaranteed. Hopefully there will be a book review once every two weeks, and a music review every week, though of course this will fluctuate with unforeseen changes in the great big thing called life.