I suppose, after being Tudored out, it would seem a bit odd that I would even bother to pick up a book about Elizabeth I. But, there were two reasons I did. One, it’s by Ann Rinaldi, whom I really like. And two, I actually like Elizabeth’s story. It’s her dad that drives me nuts.

Anyway, as far as Elizabeth books go, I think that this one’s okay. It pretty much skims across Elizabeth’s life from the time Henry VIII dies to the time she becomes queen. But, other than that, it’s lacking. I think Rinaldi tried to do too much, cover too much time. Only 208 pages for 16 years just doesn’t really work. I missed details, descriptions, conversations that could have been written about. Granted, then it would have probably become an adult novel. But, maybe even Elizabeth’s teenage years deserved that. She was never really a “teenager” after all.

Then there was Elizabeth herself. She was always saying how she thought of herself as a queen, carried herself as a queen, but I never got much of a sense of whom Elizabeth really was, or what she really wanted. She spent her time reacting to events rather than acting on her own. Perhaps that’s the way it was, but it doesn’t make for terribly engrossing reading. And her relationships with other people — even the ones she was supposed to be close to like Cat Ashley and Roger Ascham and Robin Dudley — lacked intimacy and connection. If I hadn’t been told over and over again that Elizabeth was in love with Robin, I never would have figured that out. Not a sign of a really good work of fiction.

As an introduction to Elizabeth’s life, this works just fine. But, I’ll wager, that it’ll leave readers longing to know more, and search out other books about Elizabeth. Maybe that’s what Rinaldi had in mind all along.