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The Marriage Game

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The Marriage Game

By: Alison Weir
Narrated by: Julia Franklin
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Their affair is the scandal of Europe…
Queen Elizabeth cannot resist her dashing but married Master of Horse, Lord Robert Dudley. Many believe them to be lovers. The formidable young Queen is regarded by most as a bastard and a heretic, yet many seek her hand in marriage. Desperately insecure, Elizabeth embarks on a perilous balancing act, using sex and high-powered diplomacy to play what becomes known as 'the Marriage Game'.©2014 Alison Weir (P)2014 W.F.Howes Ltd Fiction Historical Fiction Women's Fiction Royalty
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I really enjoyed this story- having listened to many Tudor/Plantagenet historical fiction stories in my time, I always have high expectations and I this one didn't disappoint. At first I was unsure of the narration, but it did not take long to adapt to, and enjoy the voices and intonation of the narrator.
The plot is often fast moving and lively, keeping the listener engaged and I felt a great deal of empathy and emotions for some characters (Elizabeth, Robert & Cecil) which is a sign of a good writer. I definitely recommend this :)

A good, engaging story- some funny and frustrating moments!

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Well narrated, interesting story line . Loved to learn more about Elizabeth 1 , the Tudor life and intrigues .

Interesting listening

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Normally I like Alison Weir's books but not this one. I stuck with it till the end hoping it might improve but sadly, for me, it didn't.

Historical accurate to a good extent with the back ground things it kinda lost it all in the portrayal of Elizabeth her self with. added irritation of that silly girly type voice the narrator chose for her.

Elizabeth was not a 20th Century character and even with her liking of pushing boundaries here and there it was still the 1500's so a lot of the embellishment using known rumours as fact and then adding to it didn't, for me. work.

Maybe the problem with me is I do know history and therefore know Elizabeth was not a silly teenager who grew up to be a silly woman. Elizabeth knew she had enemies who would happily see her beheaded from a young age. Had she been the Elizabeth in this book she would not have survived to become queen.

Not the Best

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Alison Weir's strengths as a popular historian are the very same things which, in a novelist, are weaknesses - in particular, the clear explanation and repetition of what happened, the reiteration of things that you might not have caught the first time, the clarification of who is who and what their relationships to one another are. The result is stilted conversation that reads like bad radio drama. The characters are constantly (and unconvincingly) explaining their actions, or cramming historical facts into dialogue in a very unlikely way. It's obviously hard to build suspense or characterisation in any story where all the readers already know what happened; but it can be done, as the best books of Philippa Gregory or Hilary Mantel show us. The reader does her best here, but the storytelling is unsophisticated and predictable.

Great historian, underwhelming novelist

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Full cast brilliant stories
Very exciting marvellous acting
The sound is perfect on my phone Dolby Atmos makes it even better
I never tire of immersing myself in these Scandinavian dramas

Fantastic gripping dramas

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