Rival to the Queen

This post first published June 7, 2012.

Author: Carolly Erickson
First Published: September 2010
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
320 pages (hardcover)
 
Continuing my recent obsession with historical royalty fiction, I just finished reading Rival to the Queen, which is Erickson’s story about Lettie Knollys, Queen Elizabeth I’s cousin. As I mentioned in a previous review, I really am not very knowledgeable about British or European history of this time period (most of my historical knowledge lies with Ancient Rome) so I didn’t really know who Lettie was or what her rivalry with the Queen was. I read the story not really knowing what was fact or fiction, but tried to just enjoy the ride.

This story details the life of Lettie Knollys, from her time as a girl to when she becomes 96 years old. Lettie falls in love with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, but knows her feelings cannot be returned, for Queen Elizabeth I, Lettie’s cousin, is quite fond of Robert Dudley and many whisper that he may become King Robert one day. Robert himself is an ambitious man, said to have killed his own wife in order to be with Elizabeth. When Robert’s patience with Elizabeth runs out, he marries Lettie in secret, which infuriates the Queen.

I thought the book started off wonderfully. I was drawn into the story immediately and I like Lettie as the first person narrator, she’s easy to like and isn’t annoying, which is pretty important to me whenever I read first person novels. I thought the characters were well done in that they stayed consistent and were memorable. I have no idea if they are true to their historical counterparts, but the way they were written as characters in a novel were great (though I really ought to read another Queen Elizabeth I novel by someone other than Erickson, since she always portrays this Queen as a bit of a psycho, and I’d like to read another interpretation of her to see if it’s a common thing or what. Not that I mind Queen Elizabeth being a psycho, she’s quite a character haha). I also enjoyed the story as a whole, though not as much as I would have liked.

The actual plot is fine, in my opinion, filled with drama and scandals and gossip. However, the pacing was rather undesirable. It moved at a strange, choppy speed: sometimes fast and sometimes very slow. The way the chapters were divided were sometimes strange as well. For example, there was one chapter where Lettie and her brother see a drowning woman. Chapter ends, and the next one that begins was literally one page long and more or less said they saved her and discovered she was Marianna. I don’t understand why those few paragraphs couldn’t have been tacked onto the previous chapter; why did they need to have their own chapter? It was hardly a cliffhanger.

Another part of the novel that had a pretty bad transition from chapter to chapter was when Lettie married Dudley. The story was reaching an intense moment where Dudley and the Queen were arguing about why she won’t marry him and all of a sudden, the chapter ends and the next one begins with Lettie saying she married Dudley. What?! I really felt like I was gypped of a scene, like something was missing there. There should have been some sort of Dudley proposal scene, or something where Dudley talks with Lettie after his fight with the Queen. It made it look like Dudley said, “Well, fine! If you won’t marry me, I’ll marry Lettie!” and I know there is supposed to be more to it than that. I think that’s a key thing that was missing — the passionate love between Lettie and Dudley. It was just words on paper to me, I couldn’t feel it.

So, I feel this book has equal parts pros and cons. It definitely could be better, but I don’t think it’s as terrible as some other readers say.

My Rating: 2.5/5