Author: C. W. Gortner
First Published: February 2011 (2004, under different title)
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Series: The Spymaster Chronicles #1
352 pages (hardcover)
Before I talk about what I thought about this book, there’s two things that you might like to know. The first is that this book was originally published under a completely different title — The Secret Lion — in 2004. As far as I know, that is the exact same book as The Tudor Secret. Secondly, the last page of the story (excluding author’s notes, reading group discussion questions and that stuff) is approximately 324 pages. HOWEVER, if you go to page 280 of this edition, you will notice the page jumps from 280 to 313! The story flows normally, just the page numbers are messed up! This doesn’t really have any impact on the novel, I just wanted to point out this book is not as long as it seems.
This book was a gift given to me by my sister. She knows I like reading royal fiction which is why she got me this. However, I usually am not that interested in reading royal fiction with a fictional main character … if that makes any sense. I like my historical fiction to have all the real historical figures and the real story in a fictionalized format.
Anyway, I bring this up because this book has a fictional main character — Brendan Prescott. He is a foundling, or an orphan, found and reared by the powerful Dudley household, during the reign of King Edward VI of England. Brendan, now 20, is sent to court to squire for Robert Dudley. As soon as he arrives, Brendan finds himself whisked deep into the secrets of the court. He finds himself working as a secret spy for William Cecil, who in turn appears to work for the Lady Elizabeth. As Brendan attempts to play double agent, his own life is at risk: someone wants him out of the picture because they know who he really is and how his birth is related to the Tudors.
I actually really liked the book even though initially I was a little put off by the completely fictional character. With totally fictional characters come totally fictional events, and there were lots in this book, but you know what? After reading so many Tudor novels, it was actually a breath of fresh air to read about the Tudors (yet again) in a new light. Brendan’s character highlighted the secrets of the court and how the court operated. Brendan is an outsider to everything, and not brought up as a noble, which brings a different perspective to the oh-so-familiar story of Edward’s death and Elizabeth and Mary’s ascensions to the throne. I surprised myself — I actually ended up really enjoying the creativity and exciting new drama that a fictional character can bring to an accustomed story.
Also compared to other Tudor novels I have read, this one focuses a lot more on spying and counter-spying. Fast paced espionage! This is probably the first Tudor novel I’ve read which can be described as action-packed. It is thrilling and hard to put down at times.
My only complaints is that some of the fictional events in this book begged my imagination to stretch a little further than I was okay with. These fictional events definitely felt more “Hollywood” than historical. However, this is a much more fictionalized story than usual, so I tried to frame my mind differently while reading this book. My other complaint is that the characterization was a bit lackluster. I think some of the character could have been given more depth. Brendan was okay though, in my opinion, if only because he was presented in first-person so I got to know all his thoughts.
I’m happy I read this book. Even though it is different from what I am used to regarding Tudor novels, it was a refreshing new take! I look forward to reading more about Brendan in book two!
My Rating: 4/5
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