Daniel Diehl

I enjoyed this book so much that I bought the sequel and am waiting for the third. I only give it 3 stars because of two reasons. One, a sex scene that was unnecessarily graphic between the two kids helping Merlin. That scene made me not be able to share the book with my kids (unless I somehow figure out how to censure that part on Kindle). The other is that the author did tend to go a little overboard with archeological minutia. On the other hand, Merlin as a character was absolutely show more adorable, lovable, and formidable! Morgana we everything I ever wanted to hate in her! I loved the premise, the plot, and the twists. I can't wait for the third book to come out! show less

I'm a massive history fan, particularly British history, but I often find that history books can be a bit dry and too detailed for the armchair enthusiast.

This one is the opposite - well written stories about former prisoners of the Tower of London which includes Queens, Traitors, Spies and many more.

I loved the fact that it concentrated on the lives of the people who spent time in it's confines rather than the history of the Tower itself and that it included interesting background details show more for each of the prisoners without just being a list of names and dates

Well worth 5 stars show less

The Tower of London. Famous for its Beefeaters, its ravens, and for hosting the Crown's jewels (attracting each year several thousands of visitors) the whole building, imposing and proud symbol now turned museum, embodies a fascinating past, reflecting about a millennium of English history.

Daniel Diehl and Mark P. Donnelly aren't retellings such history here, though -it has been done an hundred times over and over again. They aren't bothered with its architectural, military, or even show more touristic value either -it too, done an hundreds times over and over again. What they do is in fact more original and instructive. Focusing on the tower as a prison only (for it also served as a royal residence and, even, a menagerie!) they dress the portraits of some of its more famous and infamous inmates, each addressed in specially dedicated chapters. The approach allows to get a feel of the past terror such prison inspired, while being an express journey through centuries of history.

There are the celebrities (Wat Tyler, the princes Edward V and Richard, the Queen Katherine Howard, Guy Fawkes, Sir Roger Casement...). There are, also, the few unknowns, yet those lives and fate were as surprising and extraordinary (from the Colonel Thomas Blood, thief who tried to steal the Crown Jewels back in 1671, to the incredible Lady Nithsdale, who, in 1716, had organised the evasion of her husband by crossdressing him!).

Here's a very good read, but I had two issues. First, I was left quite perplex as to the choice of prisoners (not a word on Anne Boleyn, William Wallace, Rudolf Hess!). Then, even if the Tower is, of course, omnipresent, we nevertheless feel like reading a short romp through English history rather than an insight on such an emblematic prison. Considering the angle taken by the authors, maybe such flaw was inevitable. Nevertheless, to me it felt like reading the wrong book. If you love history, though, it remains a nice read. show less

This is a book I started off not liking much. A little too dry and lacking in drama, and badly proofread in places, but gradually it grew on me. Like the best political fiction it seeks to show why and how something came about rather than concentrating of the characters - more Hilary Mantel than Phillipa Gregory.

The author has set out to write a novel about King Henry’s Great Matter, ie Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and the politicking leading up to the dissolution of show more the monasteries. Rather than a novel of court life or court politics this novel is rather more about Henry’s lawyers and officials, the people who made it happen, rather than those who commanded, though of course both Wolsey and Cromwell have a major role in the tale

The author has clearly done his research and where possible paraphrases actual recorded transcripts and documents in the book. What beings to build is a picture of politics, expediency and drift, where one pragmatic decision on top of another gradually takes England to a place it did not expect to be - from a staunchly Catholic country to a strange heretical place beset by spies and plots, and always behind it all the sociopathic figure of Henry VIII.

None of the characters in this book emerge as particularly likable, instead they appear as a coterie of fundamentally weak men trying to make happen what Henry wanted to have happen, but in the process turning what was a relatively minor matter of engineering a royal succession into one of the most cataclysmic period in English history. show less