Martínez-Belli paints a vivid portrait of Carlota, a woman thrust into a foreign court by political machinations. Her idealism curls into desperation as she fights to save her crumbling empire and sanity. The novel delves into the complexities of her character, raising questions about ambition, madness, and the oppressive expectations placed on women of her time.
The setting is detailed, and the multiple first-person narrative is well supported. Exposition via dialogue is interesting, but it is so impersonal despite the first-person narrative. It leads to long, unnatural (often mundane) monologues that distract the reader from the story. Small talk overload and repetitive statements also lead to distraction.
The historical take is interesting but did not connect with the style and meandering narrative.

I loved the writing style. It moves at a pace skin to a thriller not the usual historical narrative. An ambitious young women , married to appease, she as many young ladies with new found power finds herself caught in court intrigue and seeking a love outside her marriage bed. It has everything. As Carlotta struggles to keep her life in her control, she learns there are few she can and should trust.

A beautiful hauntingly tragic story of the downfall of the Mexican Empire. I enjoyed it greatly. Thank you for the review copy

It was very interesting, historical and i enjoyed the cover as well.
It was not super amazing, but very enjoyable and a little dry here and there.

2.5 "a variable historical melodrama that was still somewhat alluring" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and translator, as well as Amazon Crossing. This was originally published in 2017 in Spanish and released in English in December 2020.

This might have been an incredibly effective and entertaining historical melodrama about the life of Empress Charlotte of Mexico (nee Belgium). The author has done some careful research with a fair bit of embellishment. The author also lays out a logical and interesting frothy, soapy, over-the-top telling that paints a most fascinating story of European royalty and Mexican independence. The plot includes many intrigues, romances, betrayals and alliances. Women are front and centre in the unraveling of all the sticky threads.

What we have instead....

-superficial sketches of individuals whose emotional life is either mostly non-sensical or superficially vacillating. -not everyone at court can suffer from Histrionic Personality Disorder (think of a whole court full of Amber Heards)
-the writing ranges from some what interesting to totally ridiculous (from 1 to 3.5 star quality)...the shifts in quality are very jarring to say the least


Despite this....the book ranged from mildly alluring and interesting to plenty of eye rolling and some unintentional guffawing....

In general a two star book that I am upping to 2.5 stars as I never wanted to abandon the book and parts of this were like watching a telenovela with accents that you don't quite understand...

An interesting experience and quite difficult to review and put into words.

I've got to say, I was kinda dissapointed by this book. There was so much promise, and I love historica fiction, but I did feel like the only really relatable character was The Empress herself, and everyone else around her was just flat and not even a foil for what was happening really.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion.

The Empress tells the tragic story of Empress Charlotte (Carlota) of Mexico. The novel begins when the French have occupied Mexico. Emperor Napoleon III wants a European prince to rule Mexico. He has chosen Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, to be the new Emperor. Maximilian accepts and relinquishes his right to the throne. Once Maximilian and his wife, Carlota arrive in Mexico, they want to make their new home resemble the European palaces. However, Carlota becomes the unofficial ruler of Mexico, while her husband busies himself in the palace. As Carlota hopes to be a great empress to Mexico, she has no idea that there lies a conspiracy that plots to depose both her and her husband from the throne.

Carlota was truly a tragic empress. She was once a hopeful Belgium princess who was immediately smitten with Archduke Maximilian because he seemed sentimental and poetic. As soon as she married him, her delusions about him were shattered when she realized that he never loved her. Throughout her long marriage, Carlota yearned for his love but she never received it. She took her duty as Empress of Mexico very seriously and was a capable empress. Therefore, her descent into madness was truly tragic because Carlota went through so much and lost everything dear to her including her sanity. I sympathized with her very much and cried as I slowly watched her experience each personal blow. She had no one she could rely on, and she was truly a lonely empress.

Overall, this novel is about freedom, betrayal, and conspiracy. I thought Carlota was the only developed character in the novel, however. I did not like Constanza, Carlota’s lady-in-waiting, because she did not seem to have a will of her own and was mostly a witless pawn for Benito Juarez. I also thought Phillippe proved a useless character, and I did not know why there was a lot of focus on him. As for the other characters, they were bland and forgettable. The story is not chronological and makes random time jumps. I found these random time jumps to be very confusing and it took a few re-reads to understand what was going on. Therefore, the story would have worked better had it been told in a chronological order. Despite these flaws, The Empress read like a thriller as we watched Empress Carlota slowly descend into madness! The Empress tells the tale of a foreign empress who decided to take the throne of a country that never welcomed her and wanted her gone. I recommend this novel for fans of The Accidental Empress, Last Queen, and A Most English Princess!

This book would have read much better if it was written chronological. The close years switch back makes it difficult to follow. It tells the story of the political strife in 19th century Mexico. The book subject is Empress Carlota and the circumstances around her sad life.
#theempress #netgalley #lauramartinezbelli

This is a translation of a book about Empress Carlota of Mexico and captured my attention from the first page. She really put forth efforts to do her very best but was met with resistance and deception quite a lot. A corrupt political system and those who were out to derail her efforts stood in her way. This book was sometimes a bit slow, but that may be a result of the translation, not the original writing. Overall, I enjoyed this book and it's a region and time period I haven't read much about.

I have now bought this book like 3 different times because I love the story so much. I would definitely recommend it to historical fiction fans! It is sometimes dense but worth the read

The Empress is quite an interesting historical novel about the tragic reign of Empress Carlota of Mexico. In 1863, at the behest of some influential Mexicans, Napoleon III installs a foreign monarch in Mexico to squash the regime of Santa Anna. Maximilian von Habsburg of Austria accepts the emperor’s crown. But it is his wife, the brilliant and ambitious Princess Charlotte, who throws herself passionately into the role.

I didn’t know much about this period of 19th century Europe or about the politics of Mexico around this time, so this was quite an interesting read. I suspect the translation may not be as good as the original, and I found the reading a bit dry and dull in parts. Despite that, it was a very interesting read. Carlota’s love for Mexico, her efforts to do well by the people shine through, and make her betrayal by her closest aides and family all the more tragic. This novel also offers quite an in-depth perception of the women of the time, their views on Mexican and European politics, and an interesting glimpse their everyday lives.

If you enjoy historical fiction, give this one a go.

I received an e-ARC from the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I admit that it's been a while since I read this, and my notes weren't super detailed, so I apologise for this review being so short.

I was drawn to this book because it was about a part of history that I knew nothing about. I remember being surprised that I didn't know that Napoleon III installed a foreign monarch in Mexico, known as the Second Empire, so I was really excited to read a book that explored that time, especially through the eyes of Empress Carlotta (Charlotte).

This was a fascinating read, full of drama and forbidden romance and political intrigue. The writing swept me away, It had beautiful descriptions of Charlotte's life in Mexico - the food, the architecture, the landscapes.
I also really liked Charlotte, as a character. She's intelligent, and passionate, and loves her new land.

I struggled sometimes with the dual time line, going back and forth between past, and present. Whether or not this was partly a translation issue, I'm not sure.

I also want to make it clear that this definitely focuses a lot on the romance, so if that's not what you like in your historical fiction, then this book may not be for you.

Giving this a 3.5 stars out of 5.
This book caught my attention because of the history and the focus on a female character. Of course, there is fiction involved and it made the story of Empress Carlota much more intriguing. I’ll start with the good: learning about Carlota and the time period she came from was interesting. Reading how things could’ve been during 1860’s grabs my attention all the time, especially when it takes place in different countries. The diverse characters and their part to the story were also intriguing. Although there many characters, they were all tied down to Carlota’s story one way or another. These are some of the aspects that kept me enthralled in the story.
However, the story felt long and some parts could’ve been taken out. Let’s not forget the romance, ugh! I understand it was included to make Carlota human, but it was executed weirdly. Just not my cup of tea.
I recommend this to those who like historical books! Thank you Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Crossing for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.⁠
And because of that, I have to be honest with you guys; I was not expecting 'The Express" by Laura Martinez Belli to be so well researched, I didn't know or heard about half of the people mentioned, and some events were entirely new for me.

I appreciate the lengths the author went to explain the politics of the Second Mexican Empire through the eyes of the Empress herself: the Belgian princess, Charlotte of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. I always read A LOT about Maximilian and what he went through and how he felt while trying to take full control of the nation. His was a short reign, and reading about how capable and what kind of better ruler Carlota was, made me weep.

As always, women are cast aside. Men are given power just because they're born into that "privilege", power they can't handle, and more often than not, they don't even know how to recognize, appreciate and use their wives/partner's expertise and knowledge to change things or make them better.
Mexico here is another protagonist, probably the one I liked the most. And that was indeed a great decision because the book would have been so much duller without the people, the land, the atmosphere that created an altogether different story.

The problem, the most significant for me at least, is that the book is hard to follow, jumps around often, and in the end, I didn't feel any real connection to any of the characters. It's a must-read tho for any real history buff, it is well written, and most of it is historically accurate.

This novel had me at forbidden love and dangerous secrets! I loved how this story showed that even Empresses have problems and how sometimes you have to make hard choices to really get that happily ever after.

There are periods of history and figures in history that I return to time and again and, as a result, I’ve become familiar with them. Then there are those whose stories capture my attention and I am compelled to learn more. Charlotte of Belgium who became Carlota, Empress of Mexico for a few brief years, falls into the latter category. Her story and that of her husband, Maximilian, have crossed my path a few times (most frequently in the feeds of various history podcasts I enjoy). So, when I saw that there was a novel about Charlotte/Carlota being released, I jumped at the chance to read it. Having now finished Simon Bruni’s translation of Laura Martínez-Belli’s The Empress, I find my interest has shifted from the story being told to the process of translation itself. My proficiency in Spanish has improved as I’ve worked at it during the pandemic, but I’m nowhere near a point where I could compare the translation against the original Spanish novel. With such incredible material to work with, I found the novel to be a bit of a mess and as I worked through it, I was couldn’t help but wonder (and speculate) where that might be due to the translation, where it might carry over from the original novel and how much it might be intentional.

Ambitious and seeking more for herself and her marriage, Charlotte of Belgium throws herself into becoming Carlota, Empress of Mexico when Napoleon III presents the opportunity to her and her husband. But Carlota’s devotion to her new country and people is quickly tested when less than two years after their coronation she must flee to France to beg for further aid in order to sustain their Empire. Fears of poisoning and conspiracy drive Carlota to meander along the border between sanity and insanity, but her fears may well have been warranted. As the narration jumps back and forth in time as well as between Carlota, one of her ladies in waiting, Constanza, a soldier from her protective detail, Philippe, and a few others, the defining tragedies of Carlota’s life unfold for the reader.

This novel doesn’t make it easy to follow what’s going on. Without prior knowledge of some of the overarching background, I’m not sure I could have done so well as I managed. Aside from starting each section focused on Carlota as she flees Mexico and watches the Empire fail (and she descends further into her madness and suffering), I had a difficult time finding much pattern to the time and perspective jumps. Some of those jumps are likely from the original novel as they are addressed through date and location markers at the beginnings of chapters. Other switches feel more like they’re a symptom of the translation process. Perspective and focus shift mid-paragraph so that I was frequently confusing which character was thinking or feeling certain things. The choice to refer to her as Carlota throughout with a few exceptions in dialogue might also trip up some readers. Combined, these factors made it difficult to latch on to any of the characters or threads of plot in a way to compel me through the story.

The more I thought about how I would have enjoyed the novel more if it were told in a more linear fashion (and with greater focus placed on telling Carlota’s story solely through the perspectives of Constanza and Philippe), the more I wondered if the disorganization was more deliberate and purposeful. With so much of Carlota’s story — especially in her later years — focused on her supposed madness, I started to think the scattered telling was meant to reflect her own mix of paranoia and relationship to her experiences. It certainly reflects Carlota’s drive for a sense of purpose and the impossible contradictions of her position.

But ultimately, even if I can appreciate that kind of approach to the material (intentional or not), it still didn’t improve my enjoyment of the novel. I was much more compelled by the stories of Constanza and Philippe – especially the themes that Constanza’s story grow to focus on by the end – and those threads would have been better served by a different approach to the timeline and narrative structure.

It's 1863, and Princess Charlotte, called Empress Carlota by the people, is behind the scenes in Mexico running things for Napoleon III alongside her philandering, frivolous husband Maximilian von Habsburg of Austria. Carlota and Maximilian are meant to squash Juarez's Mexican regime on Napoleon's behalf and establish a stronghold of European rule.


Carlota is smart, savvy, hardworking, and she loves her adopted country of Mexico--the landscape, the language, the foods, the people, and the rhythm of life there. But men are maddeningly following their own whims and wielding the power here as they are everywhere in the world at this time, and Carlota keeps getting her legs swept out from beneath her by the foolish, proud, greedy males in charge.


The rulers and their doomed colonialism aren't welcome, and Carlota trusts those she shouldn't. Her brother in Belgium, her husband, her trusted ladies of the court--all are betraying her in one way or another, and one unmitigated disaster after another is beginning to snowball toward a horrific end to the Europeans' Mexican experiment.

Carlota and Maximilian each begin ill-advised, passionate affairs outside of their loveless marriage--thereby opening themselves up to enormous vulnerabilities, intertwining their own tenuous fates with the shaky future of the kingdom, and potentially laying the groundwork for the destruction of their many ambitious plans.

I think the shifting back and forth in time could have felt jumpy, but it worked well for the story's pacing. I didn't feel emotionally tied to the players, and each turn of events was more ill-fated and darker than the next, all barreling toward ruin and destruction. The story of tragic Carlota was interesting but tough to read because of the increasingly cataclysmal goings-on.

Martinez-Belli is a bestselling author in Mexico; this is her English-language debut.

I received a prepublication copy of this book through Amazon Crossing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love historical fiction and I get excited when I find a book about an era, person, country, or culture that I’m not very familiar with, so when given the chance to read The Empress, I was excited. This book was originally written in Spanish and is the author’s first work translated into English. Again, I was excited because I enjoy reading translated works.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like the way this story was laid out. I normally don’t mind a dual time line, and frankly, I’m not entirely sure this was a dual time line, but the story jumped around with every chapter, and just within a few years. One chapter we are in Europe before Carlota and Maximillian leave for Mexico, the next she’s talking to the Pope after Maximillian has been killed, the next they are in Mexico City, it was just too difficult to keep straight and I don’t think it leant anything to the story.

There were also a lot of characters that were introduced, and because of the story jumping around so much, I lost track of them as well. And another thing, which is kind of silly, but so many characters names started with C. And the author jumped around between the Spanish Carlota and German Charlotte for the Empress’ name, sometimes in the same paragraph.

In the end, it is a very intriguing story and I want to learn more about Charlotte, but the style was a detractor for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author and translator for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I love historical fiction and this beautiful book focused on a woman I knew almost nothing about - Carlota, Empress of Mexico. Hers is a tragic story - married at a young age to Macmillan, a man who'll never love her - but I loved the relationship between her and her lady-of-honor, Constanza and all of the court intrigue. I truly enjoyed learning about Carlota - a strong woman who was born to rule - and Mexican history,

One of the most tragic and compelling figures from royal history, Empress Carlota of Mexico lived a life that brought her to the heights of power—and the depths of tragedy. But regular history often can't convey the deep emotions that underpinned Carlota's descent into grief and madness. This new historical novel from Laura Martínez-Belli allows us to get closer to the woman beneath the royal surface. It's a compelling piece of fiction that anyone interested in sweeping sagas of love and tragedy will thoroughly enjoy.