Alison Weir is such a powerhouse when it comes to historical fiction and especially the Tudor era. If you've read her books before and enjoyed them, you're sure to enjoy this one, too.

3 1/2 stars


History is amazing. It’s the ultimate soap opera , reality show if you will, featuring impeccable heroes, devious scoundrels, dysfunctional families and egomaniacs hungry for power. Weir’s novel encompasses all that delivering a well-crafted story set during two of the most tumultuous times in England and featuring one of the most gruesome murders in its history.

Weir parallels two young ladies who are witnesses to their respective monarchy’s uncertain futures. Kate Plantagenet is the illegitimate daughter of Richard, Duke of Gloucester who ascends to the throne after imprisoning his two nephews in the Tower. Katherine Grey, a cousin of Elizabeth I sits in the precarious position of being the potential rival to the throne should Elizabeth I not marry and have children. Both are distantly related and both suffer tragically at the hands of their families and the political turmoil that they are unwittingly drawn into.

Rather than spell out how the story goes, I’ll explain how simply engrossing A Dangerous Inheritance is. Weir is an established historian and one of my favorite authors. (Yes, I did squeal like a little girl and do the happy dance when I received this ARC.) She has written extensively on the monarchy (I own many of her books) and her knowledge comes through very distinctly. Two of her books in particular came in handy for me as I read this book, The War of the Roses and The Princes In The Tower. Handy for me because I get geeky and like to research and look at genealogy charts.

What impressed me most was how Weir managed to make Richard III, one of the most reviled and ridiculed monarchs in English history, sympathetic through the eyes of his daughter Kate. She loves her father unconditionally and aims to disprove the malicious gossip at court surrounding her father’s unprecedented usurpation of the throne. Many years later and Katherine Grey is embroiled in a Spanish conspiracy to depose Elizabeth I and plant her on the throne to restore Catholicism. Both girls, young and impressionable, are pawns in a volatile politically charged arena.

Whether you’re a fan of history or simply like some mystery with your historical fiction, A Dangerous Inheritance will pull you in. Weir is a remarkable writer. No matter fiction or non-fiction, she has always drawn me into the worlds she creates and I'm glad to feel as if I'm in the thick of it, not just a bystander reading words on a page. It’s not necessary at all to have previous knowledge of the political background in order to appreciate the course of events as they unfold in A Dangerous Inheritance. Weir does an excellent job of explaining the relationships and political ties without getting bogged down in too much weary detail. However, if after reading this book, you feel so inclined to learn more about the of these families and the events mentioned, then I highly suggest her other two books I mentioned above.

Again I will preface this by saying that I am not a huge fan of Weir, however, I was interested to see how this would play out with three of the main characters (the Plantagenets: Kate, Edward, Richard) having lived and died long before Katherine Grey came on the scene. There are essentially three stories: Katherine Grey, Kate Plantagenet, and the Princes in the Tower.

So my thoughts. Unfortunately, I found it rather average. What appeared to me to be two potentially separate stories were merged together with the mystery of the princes binding them together in some strange manner. The different narratives - first person for Katherine, third for Kate - does not really work and was at times unclear in its direction. The addition of the "supernatural" element (supposedly binding both women together through history) merely creates a fog over the narrative and lends itself to confusion. Then Weir trots out her standard anti-Richard bias.

Did either of women embark on a search for the truth behind the "princes in the tower" mystery? Highly unlikely as I think both would have been more focused on their own survival in what were periods of great uncertainty. Her handling of the paranormal component was not done well - she could easily have left Kate Plantagenet out of it altogether, the story may have flowed a bit better. And I question whether Katherine Grey would have even considered that Richard was innocent of the crimes landed at his doorstep, if indeed she gave any thought to this at all.

I did like Weir's portrayal of Elizabeth's nastier side - people tend to forget that she was a jealous and vindictive woman, only seeing her as Gloriana. That was a refreshing change and the one upside.

So for me, this was average novel from Weir. Just because she has written much on the era does not make what she writes as the gospel truth or perfect, there is always a great deal of supposition and inference in her works. This was not her best work of fiction - and is really only one for the Tudor fans.

I’ve had Alison Weir’s A Dangerous Inheritance on my kindle since late 2012. A victim of the Tudor flood, I mentally shelved the novel for no other reason than I couldn’t fathom taking in another tale set in Henry VIII’s court. Truth be told, I’m still hesitant of such titles, but as I am making a serious effort to get through my older books this year, I bit the bullet and jumped in.
he obvious question here is how did I fare and I’m happy to report I wasn’t disappointed. I read two novels by Weir in 2011 and wasn’t impressed with either, but this story appealed to my tastes and kept my attention beginning to end.

The subject matter draws natural comparison to Elizabeth Freemantle’s Sisters of Treason, Karen Harper’s Mistress of Mourning, and Robin Maxwell’s To the Tower Born, but I felt Weir struck fresh ground with Katherine Plantagenet, the little chronicled illegitimate daughter of Richard III. The historical parallel Weir created between the Grey sisters and the Princes in the Tower tickled my imagination and I enjoyed the ideas it fostered.
That said, the story felt a little drawn out and I found the dialogue less mature than necessary, and while I’d have no trouble recommending A Dangerous Inheritance to fans of Tudor fiction, I feel it falls on the lighter side of the historical fiction spectrum and would likely direct those with meatier tastes elsewhere.

At the time I requested this title I intended to review, but was not enjoying it, and opted to DNF rather than posing a negative review.