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My Lady Viper Tales from the Tudor Court E Knight Books

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My Lady Viper Tales from the Tudor Court E Knight Books

It is always interesting when a writer picks a historical “villain” as a protagonist because the writer must balance between humanizing the character just enough so the reader doesn’t throw the book across the room in disgust, yet avoid making the character so cuddly that it is clear they have been “misunderstand all this time.” That cuddliness results in a story that makes no historical sense.

For the most part, I bought into the idea that Lady Anne Seymour, wife of Edward Seymour, was a tad misunderstood, because Wright made her case with a totally fictional horrible miscarriage of justice during Anne’s teens that explains a lot of her bitterness toward not only Surrey but her own parents. While it bothers me that an actual historical figure is so used in this manner, at the same time, Surrey was, by all accounts, arrogant and in his own words in his poems, his relationship with Anne was not your conventional love affair. Surrey shows great hostility to Anne, calling her a “wolf” (which with his knowledge of Roman literature was a sexual slur of the worse kind.) So, I can live with that. E. Knight makes her point.

What I disagree with is the writers’ need to have Anne repeatedly feeling remorse toward her victims. Anne was a product of her environment and her environment was the amoral court of Henry Tudor, a place and time filled with mendacity, moral corruption and compromise. Few in the inner circle of Henry VIII (with possibly the exception of Charles Brandon, the Earl of Sussex) were capable of an honest emotion lasting much longer than the dessert course. Loyalty was a commodity to be traded. These are people who baited bears for fun and threw their own virgin daughters at the King. I would much rather have seen Anne honestly revel in her abuse of her victims, or attempt to justify herself as skillfully as Hilary Mantel's Cromwell justifies his actions. E. Knight is a good writer but she’s stumbled a few times with this technique. She didn’t blow it, but she did stumble.

In fact, Knight admits in her postscript that she changed King Henry’s famous response to the midwife’s announcement that she couldn’t save both mother and child. E. Knight felt it made Henry more human. Sadly, the whole point of Henry Tudor’s life is the fact that he had no real empathy with anyone. He was a monster, charming sometimes, but still a monster. She should have stuck with the truth in that scene.

Please note that E. Knight is a writer of romance novels. This is a matter of taste which I happen to not share, but if you do, I suppose she handles this well.

A couple of historical inaccuracies bother me. The character kept eating food that just wasn’t available in England at that time. One example is the hot squash soup that made Anne sick that hot summer afternoon. Squash is from the New World, and even if introduced into Spain by that time, it couldn’t grow in England. If she’d has squash soup that summer, it would have been an imported delicacy and if I’d written the book, I would have make a point to call it rare and imported so someone couldn’t call me on it.

Another problem was the mention of the court of Versailles. This palace was the center of political power in France from 1682. The center of the French government during the Tudor period was the Louvre not Versailles. A small point but it bothered me.
All in all, this book is good and frankly not nearly as offensive as the utter nonsense put out by Philippa Gregory.


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My Lady Viper Tales from the Tudor Court E Knight Books Reviews

My Lady Viper by E. Knight
Book #1 Tales from the Tudor Court
Source Purchase
My Rating 4/5 stars
My Review

The death of Anne Boleyn turned the court of King Henry VIII on its head and sent shockwaves out through every level of the country. Those most closely related to the throne and the King knew, with absolute certainty Henry was desperate for a male heir and willing to topple families in pursuit of his goal.

Lady Anne Seymour is constantly attended by several companions, most notably guilt, fear, and extreme aspirations for herself and her family. On the morning of Anne Boleyn’s execution, Lady Anne stood among those gathered and watched, watched what could so easily be her fate if she isn’t always several steps ahead of everyone else. As a Seymour by marriage, Lady Anne is now the sister-in-law to England’s next queen which makes her place in the world both lofty and precarious. In order to ensure her safety and that of her family, Lady Anne must play a very dangerous game at court.

From the moment the Seymour’s realize Henry has his eye on their Jane, the intrigues, plots, and planning begin. Lady Anne is an ever-present member of court life and serves as one of Jane’s most trusted ladies. From this position, Lady Anne is able to keep an eye on other courtiers and gather information which will most certainly be used at an appropriate time and place. Anne doesn’t just gather information, she wields it like a weapon and often shares what she has learned with her husband, Edward Seymour, one of King Henry’s most trusted advisors. Between the two of them, there is little to nothing that happens at court that they don’t know about and use to their advantage.

As if the information gathering isn’t enough, Lady Anne also has to be attentive to the young Queen and her situation. It is clear Henry adores Jane Seymour, but as everyone knows, he also adored Anne Boleyn. From the beginning, Anne helps Jane navigate life as both a married woman and a Queen. Anne is a master manipulator and helps Jane understand what it is she needs to do to keep her husband in her bed, conceive an heir, and advance the Seymour family. Though her plans don’t always go precisely as planned, Anne is generally successful and within months she and her family are reaping the benefits of being the Queen’s closest relations. Titles, land, homes, and preferred rooms at court are claimed by the Seymour’s but those rewards come with a price.

At every turn, Lady Anne has to be cautious of her actions and her words. From the moment she wakes to the moment she falls into bed each day, Anne has to be on guard for trusting the wrong person, acting in the wrong way, or simply saying the wrong thing could cost her, her head. Though she is married to a strong, capable, and trusted man, that man is nearly always gone doing the King’s bidding which leaves Anne to fend for herself. To do so, Anne has cultivated a circle of allies and always stands her ground when confronted. As a result, her reputation is that of a formidable woman who should not be crossed. As with everything else in her life, this reputation comes with a price.

The Bottom Line Knight doesn’t have to do any real world building in this read as history has done that for her. She does, however have to bring that world alive and she does so through the life of Lady Anne Seymour. When you think of the court of King Henry VIII, Lady Anne Seymour isn’t the first name that comes to mind and that is one of the things I very much enjoyed about this read. Knight has taken the liberty of choosing a lesser known historical figure and telling a well-known story through her eyes and from her perspective which affords the reader a new view of old characters. It is, quite frankly, refreshing to have such a different view of the famous Tudor court. From the moment the read begins to the moment it ends, Lady Anne is at work for herself and her family and it is fascinating to see how diligent she must be in her pursuits. Lady Anne’s machinations are dangerous which creates a pervasive tension throughout the read as plots and plans are constantly being hatched and executed. As a reader, you always feel that tension which is certainly laced with a healthy dose of fear and that will keep you moving through the pages. My only complaints about this read are related to the extreme amount of detail and the ending. I’m not a huge fan of copious amounts of detail and at 450+ pages, My Lady Viper is full of detail, most of which I skipped as the story moved forward. As to the ending, My Lady Viper just sort of stops and I didn’t feel like there was any real explanation regarding the fate of Lady Anne and her family. Aside from those two things, My Lady Viper is an interesting read that takes a familiar time and place and works it from a different angle.

P.S. I did find out what happened to Lady Anne and some of her family at the beginning of the second Tales from the Tudor Court book, Prisoner of the Queen.
Anne Stanhope Seymour has a reputation as a cold, calculating woman in the Tudor world, so a fictional account of her life should be a good, juicy read. That was my hope, anyway, as I started this book. Turns out the story was nothing more than the Tudor court turned into one big high school. The characters were one dimensional and gave us no reason to care about them. Anne, herself, spent much of the time whining about the men in her life the one who wronged her, the one who loved her, and her husband. All that was missing was her popping her gum and twirling her hair around her finger before going out to cheerleading practice! Every time a gentleman of the court threw a lady against a wall, all I could see was it happening against the lockers. What a disappointment!
I must applaud E. Knight for finding a new subject to pursue related to the Tudor Dynasty, and SOME new information about the characters and details of that era. I have, I suppose, a morbid interest in this narrow time in history, which led to my purchase of the book, and, I'll admit I will probably buy the sequel just because Knight's approach is so different and the story is interesting. The book, however, is simply a good story told very simply. The author's vocabulary leaves much to be desired (perhaps fourth-grade level), and the characters possess little or no complexity. I was particularly dismayed at the obligatory and formulaic sex scenes which served no purpose other than an appeal to the puerile. If you like soap operas, you'll be enthralled with this book. If you want something the least bit thought-provoking, look elsewhere; there are many choices available.
It is always interesting when a writer picks a historical “villain” as a protagonist because the writer must balance between humanizing the character just enough so the reader doesn’t throw the book across the room in disgust, yet avoid making the character so cuddly that it is clear they have been “misunderstand all this time.” That cuddliness results in a story that makes no historical sense.

For the most part, I bought into the idea that Lady Anne Seymour, wife of Edward Seymour, was a tad misunderstood, because Wright made her case with a totally fictional horrible miscarriage of justice during Anne’s teens that explains a lot of her bitterness toward not only Surrey but her own parents. While it bothers me that an actual historical figure is so used in this manner, at the same time, Surrey was, by all accounts, arrogant and in his own words in his poems, his relationship with Anne was not your conventional love affair. Surrey shows great hostility to Anne, calling her a “wolf” (which with his knowledge of Roman literature was a sexual slur of the worse kind.) So, I can live with that. E. Knight makes her point.

What I disagree with is the writers’ need to have Anne repeatedly feeling remorse toward her victims. Anne was a product of her environment and her environment was the amoral court of Henry Tudor, a place and time filled with mendacity, moral corruption and compromise. Few in the inner circle of Henry VIII (with possibly the exception of Charles Brandon, the Earl of Sussex) were capable of an honest emotion lasting much longer than the dessert course. Loyalty was a commodity to be traded. These are people who baited bears for fun and threw their own virgin daughters at the King. I would much rather have seen Anne honestly revel in her abuse of her victims, or attempt to justify herself as skillfully as Hilary Mantel's Cromwell justifies his actions. E. Knight is a good writer but she’s stumbled a few times with this technique. She didn’t blow it, but she did stumble.

In fact, Knight admits in her postscript that she changed King Henry’s famous response to the midwife’s announcement that she couldn’t save both mother and child. E. Knight felt it made Henry more human. Sadly, the whole point of Henry Tudor’s life is the fact that he had no real empathy with anyone. He was a monster, charming sometimes, but still a monster. She should have stuck with the truth in that scene.

Please note that E. Knight is a writer of romance novels. This is a matter of taste which I happen to not share, but if you do, I suppose she handles this well.

A couple of historical inaccuracies bother me. The character kept eating food that just wasn’t available in England at that time. One example is the hot squash soup that made Anne sick that hot summer afternoon. Squash is from the New World, and even if introduced into Spain by that time, it couldn’t grow in England. If she’d has squash soup that summer, it would have been an imported delicacy and if I’d written the book, I would have make a point to call it rare and imported so someone couldn’t call me on it.

Another problem was the mention of the court of Versailles. This palace was the center of political power in France from 1682. The center of the French government during the Tudor period was the Louvre not Versailles. A small point but it bothered me.
All in all, this book is good and frankly not nearly as offensive as the utter nonsense put out by Philippa Gregory.