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The Devil's Queen: A Novel of Catherine de Medici

by Jeanne Kalogridis

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5522943,103 (3.62)22
Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML:

Catherine de Medici is one of the most maligned monarchs in history: blamed for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in which hundreds of innocents died. What motivated this Renaissance woman who was born of Florence's most powerful family, and one day came to rule France?

In her latest historical fiction bestseller, Jeanne Kalogridis tells the story of Catherine, a tender young girl, destined to be a pawn in Machiavellian games. Left a fabulously rich heiress, imprisoned and threatened by her family's enemies, she was finally married off to a handsome prince of France.

Overshadowed by her husband's mistress, the conniving Diane de Poitiers, and now consort to a King, Catherine resorted to sorcery to win his love, enhance her fertility and foil her enemies. Against the lavish and decadent backdrop of the French court, and Catherine's visions induced by the black arts, Kalogoris reveals the great love and desire Catherine bore for her husband Henry, and her stark determination to keep her sons on the throne.

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» See also 22 mentions

English (28)  Dutch (1)  All languages (29)
Showing 1-5 of 28 (next | show all)
I love the historical stuff, but this one left my head feeling all dark and depressed afterwards. Also, I'm sure how accurate a lot of the facts were. ( )
  JenniferElizabeth2 | Aug 25, 2020 |
Note that this review is for the abridged audio. Catherine de Medici, in the mid-16th century, went from Italy to France to marry, and she later became queen. Her husband much preferred his mistress, who was old enough to be his mother, to Catherine.

Unfortunately, this book had a double whammy against it – audios don’t always hold my attention (though some, I have no problem with). And, just after I checked it out from the library, I happened to notice it was abridged. Sigh. Why…? Why bother making them abridged! Now, I have read a bit about Catherine de Medici, but not a lot, so it’s sometimes hard to remember the people and how they are related to each other. This can be harder to follow in an audio book, but even worse in an abridged audio where there are huge parts that seem to be skipped over (or, in the case of this historical fiction, huge chunks of time, anyway).

So, this is more a review of the abridged audio (not worthwhile), than of the book itself. Also, one of the “books” I’ve read about her was a trilogy. So, if one author had to write 3 books to cover her life… this is already narrowed down to one book, but not only that, the one book is abridged! I hate abridged. If I’d had another audio book lined up and ready to go, I might have switched. ( )
  LibraryCin | Apr 17, 2019 |
DNF page 201

I was just so bored..
  Elysianfield | Nov 16, 2016 |
Didn't like the way Catherine was portrayed. ( )
  winterslights | Jun 12, 2016 |
A tale of never-ending intrigue that becomes tiresome all too soon. While the author does create a plausible explanation for Catherine de Medici's actions as recorded in history, she also includes an incident which maligns her even more and one for which, there is no possible proof. I find this annoying. Admittedly, I know very little beyond the "encyclopedia version" of de Medici's life but is it really necessary to invent something that makes her even more horrible? ( )
  Oodles | Feb 16, 2016 |
Showing 1-5 of 28 (next | show all)
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Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML:

Catherine de Medici is one of the most maligned monarchs in history: blamed for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in which hundreds of innocents died. What motivated this Renaissance woman who was born of Florence's most powerful family, and one day came to rule France?

In her latest historical fiction bestseller, Jeanne Kalogridis tells the story of Catherine, a tender young girl, destined to be a pawn in Machiavellian games. Left a fabulously rich heiress, imprisoned and threatened by her family's enemies, she was finally married off to a handsome prince of France.

Overshadowed by her husband's mistress, the conniving Diane de Poitiers, and now consort to a King, Catherine resorted to sorcery to win his love, enhance her fertility and foil her enemies. Against the lavish and decadent backdrop of the French court, and Catherine's visions induced by the black arts, Kalogoris reveals the great love and desire Catherine bore for her husband Henry, and her stark determination to keep her sons on the throne.

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