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A Dangerous Inheritance
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A Dangerous Inheritance
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A Dangerous Inheritance
Audiobook25 hours

A Dangerous Inheritance

Written by Alison Weir

Narrated by Maggie Mash

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

The year is 1562. Lady Catherine Grey, cousin of Elizabeth I, has just been arrested along with her husband Edward. Their crime is to have secretly married and produced a child who might threaten the Queen's title. Alone in her chamber at the Tower of London, Catherine hears ghostly voices; echoes, she thinks, of a crime committed in the same room where she is imprisoned…
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 1, 2012
ISBN9781471204630
Unavailable
A Dangerous Inheritance

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Reviews for A Dangerous Inheritance

Rating: 3.6125828079470197 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Oh dear, another cover with a headless torso (almost headless) in Tudor dress. That should have warned me. This was not as engaging or interesting as "An Innocent Traitor", Ms. Weir's exemplary work on Jane Grey. In fact, it was a CW episode of whatever teen soap opera is popular. The premise was very interesting but I soon grew bored and was half-expecting KPattz to show up with red eye and glitter. I did enjoy Ms. Weir's portrayal of Richard III - Shakespearean and delightful - and I'm a Ricardian. Others may like this book. I did not.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Having loved all of the books I've read by Alison Weir to date, I was excited to read this novel. I did end up liking it, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I expected. It's definitely not my favorite Alison Weir novel. I had a hard time maintaining my interest throughout the first half of the novel, which seemed slow paced to me. However, once the plot started to pick up, I did find myself getting engrossed. This novel tells the stories of Katherine Plantagenet and Katherine Grey, two women both close to the throne but separated by roughly 80 years. Katherine Plantagenet was the daughter of Richard III, and her story is told in third person narrative. Katherine Grey was the sister of Jane Grey, and her story is told in first person. I was wondering whether having two protagonists with the same name would be confusing, but in my opinion Ms. Weir did a fantastic job of separating the two stories well enough. This is partly due to the fact that she decided to refer to one of the women as Katherine and the other as Kate. She also made sure to precede every section with a corresponding date and location. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. My only criticism would be that it was too long. Some of the slow sections could have been easily shortened, which would have improved the overall flow. That being said, I would still recommend A Dangerous Inheritance for fans of Tudor/War of the Roses novels.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a tale of two Katherines; both close to the throne, both loving badly, both searching for answers about "the princes in the tower" and both ending badly. The twist is they are separated in time by almost 100 years - one Plantagenet, one Tudor. Little is known of Kate Plantagenet, the illegitimate daughter of Richard III so most of what Ms. Weir writes here is fiction but that doesn't make it any less interesting. I'm sure she would have been interested in finding out what happened to those two poor little boys. Katherine Grey was doomed by association - poor Jane Grey being almost forced to the throne by factions trying to take over Elizabeth had to do what she could to consolidate her power base.The book was very interesting - I love Ms. Weir's writing style - but it did take some getting used to the back and forth in history. Plus the two Katherines didn't help. Calling one Kate and the other Katherine was a wonderful way to keep them separate. I enjoyed reading and learning a bit more about these two almost forgotten women of history.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love historical fiction. I also love Alison Weir. So when I found out I won a copy of A Dangerous Inheritance, I was super excited. I had high expectations for this book and I was not let down.The plot was very interesting. I just wanted to keep reading so I could find out what was going to happen next. I couldn’t read fast enough. Even though it is a pretty big book, the plot and Weirs writing make it seem a lot shorter than it really is. I flew right through it.The characters are well-developed and you actually care about them and what they are going through. I really liked Kate Plantagenet, but I loved Katherine Grey.Overall, this book was amazing. It wasn’t the best I’ve read, but it is definitely up there. I think the only reason I’m not giving this book five stars, is because of how horrible weir made Queen Elizabeth seem compared to Queen Mary. I know she wasn’t perfect but I do look up to her and I think she was the best Queen.If you’re in to historical fiction, you should give this book a read. If you’ve never read anything by Alison Weir before, you are missing out.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    England's Tower of London was the terrifying last stop for generations of English political prisoners. A Dangerous Inheritance weaves together the lives and fates of four of its youngest and most blameless: Lady Katherine Grey, Lady Jane's younger sister; Kate Plantagenet, an English princess who lived nearly a century before her; and Edward and Richard, the boy princes imprisoned by their ruthless uncle, Richard III, never to be heard from again. Across the years, these four young royals shared the same small rooms in their dark prison, as all four shared the unfortunate role of being perceived as threats to the reigning monarch.My Thoughts:This is the story of two Katherines, Lady Katherine Grey, sister to Lady Jane Grey and Katherine ‘Kate’ Plantagenet. Both of these ladies I knew nothing about so it was a refreshing change to read about someone different other than my beloved Henry VIII and his wives.The story flits between the two ladies and at times to be honest I had to stop and think which Katherine was I reading about. Katherine Plantaganet was called Kate in the story which did distinguish between the two. Both ladies had lives which were very similar although they lived years apart and to bind the two together they both had a interest in the ‘Princes in the Tower’. Kate because her father Richard III was supposed to have had them killed and Katherine because she is intrigued with the mystery surrounding them. I did enjoy reading about Katherine Grey slightly more than Kate Plantagenet. This book is full of historical detail and with Alison Weir being an historian you can see why. It is a fascinating read that held my interest till the very end. It doesn’t have the boddice ripping like some historical novels but it dosen’t need it either. Books that are well written like this do bring history to life and it was a pleasure to read it. My only negative is that towards the end it did focus on the missing princes a little too much and it could have had the same effect and just as good if the story was slightly shorter but as I say it is only a small negative.Overall a really good historical read and I found it was clever how AW found two Katherines in history and combined there very similar lives together.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This story showed great promise -- good characters, an interesting historical plot -- but ultimately suffered from being too long, too wordy and, at times, too confusing. The 2 main characters both had the same name (Kate and Katherine), and the plot jumps from the story of one to the story of the other, 100 years apart, making it difficult to keep each "K" straight. The first 150 pages were a huge drag, full of endless description and lacking in action. The plot picked up a bit after that, but it was ultimately a long, dreary read that I couldn't wait to finish. Not recommended.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Historical fiction about two royal Katherines: Richard III's baseborn daughter Katherine Plantagenet, and Henry VIII's grand-niece Katherine Grey. They lived several generations apart, yet there are similarities between them. Weir creates even more, inventing a love affair for Katherine Plantagenet to match Katherine Grey's idiotic passion for Edward Seymour and giving each of them an interest in the princes in the tower.

    Katherine Grey has always been one of my least favorites: she doesn't seem to have been brilliant like her older sister Jane or her cousin(ish) Queen Elizabeth, and she was astoundingly awful at understanding court politics. At least Mary queen of Scots had moments of audacity--Katherine Grey seems to have continually stumbled from one poorly-understood ploy to the next. Like, check this: after watching Mary execute multiple family members for messing with the succession, she's still stupid enough to switch her religion multiple times in obvious hopes of being more attractive to various factions. Then Elizabeth takes the throne, and Katherine conspires with the Spanish. Then she secretly marries a dude even after being reminded a million times by everyone that she can't marry without permission from the queen. She has sex with him all the time and gets pregnant. She keeps her pregnancy secret for like 8 months, at which point she confides in Lord Robert Dudley, literally the worst person in the world to tell this kind of secret to. Naturally, Dudley tattles and Elizabeth sends her to the Tower, where it turns out that Katherine was *so* secret about her marriage that it's the easiest thing in the world for Elizabeth and her ministers to pretend no marriage ever took place, and that Katherine is a fornicator and her child a bastard. Then, like the genius that Katherine is, she sneaks her husband into the Tower and she gets pregnanta again, never bothering to clear up whether she's truly married or, for that matter, getting married a second time to ensure this second child is clearly legitimate. Katherine then spends the rest of her life in captivity and eventually dies of what was probably tuberculosis. Her numbskullery is difficult to read in history books--when we're embedded in her thought process in a fictional story that strives to make her a sympethetic character, it's even more annoying.

    Katherine Plantagenet is a bit more controlled. She seems blind in regards to her father, but given her youth and their relationship in this book it was understandable (if a bit frustrating). Very little is actually known about Katherine, however: not her birthdate, not her mother's identity, not whether she had children or when she died. Guesses to her birthdate can be made, in that it has to be somewhere between her father's birthdate and her own marriage, and her mother might have been one of several women her father gave grants to. All that we really know about Katherine is that she married William Herbert in May 1484, her father Richard III granted them several manors and cash, and that she was dead by 1487, when her husband was described as a widower. Weir makes up everything else about Katherine, and although she comes across as pretty well-rounded, it's annoying to know that it's all just guess-work, especially since Katherine Grey's section is well-founded in fact. Even some of Katherine Grey's words are exactly as she wrote them!

    Also annoying is the connection Weir invents between the Katherines: she has Katherine Grey repeatedly visited by ghosts, or glimpsing or feeling Katherine's presence. It added a layer of falsity to an already strained story. When Weir is working with historical fact, her storytelling style is on much firmer ground. I wish she would go back to writing histories instead of historical fiction, but at least it's better than Phillipa Gregory's work.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I thought I had lost interest in yet more historical fiction related to the Plantagenets and Tudors. But there I was checking out A Dangerous Inheritance at the library after book group a couple weeks ago. I had to renew it but once I started reading, I really couldn't stop. Part of it was the format: short vignettes that moved between the two main characters, Richard III's illegitimate daughter Katherine, and Lady Katherine Grey, the sister of Lady Jane Grey. Alison Weir masterfully weaves together the stories of these two women, connecting them through the always intriguing story of the princes in the tower.While much is known about Grey, Weir was able to be a bit freer with Katherine Plantagenet, since less is known about her life. (She doesn't even has a Wikipedia page: here is the best source.) Weir imagines what it must have been like to have been the daughter, baseborn or not, of Richard III, hated in his lifetime and ever after as the man who killed his nephews. Weir shows the very dangerous paths navigated by England's ruling classes as they try to survive the shift in leadership and religious imperatives.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love historical fiction. I also love Alison Weir. So when I found out I won a copy of A Dangerous Inheritance, I was super excited. I had high expectations for this book and I was not let down.The plot was very interesting. I just wanted to keep reading so I could find out what was going to happen next. I couldn’t read fast enough. Even though it is a pretty big book, the plot and Weirs writing make it seem a lot shorter than it really is. I flew right through it.The characters are well-developed and you actually care about them and what they are going through. I really liked Kate Plantagenet, but I loved Katherine Grey.Overall, this book was amazing. It wasn’t the best I’ve read, but it is definitely up there. I think the only reason I’m not giving this book five stars, is because of how horrible weir made Queen Elizabeth seem compared to Queen Mary. I know she wasn’t perfect but I do look up to her and I think she was the best Queen.If you’re in to historical fiction, you should give this book a read. If you’ve never read anything by Alison Weir before, you are missing out.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Contrasting between two Katherines separated by about 100 years, their stories were told in such a way as to the keep mystery and suspense alive even though, historically, you know the outcome of both lives.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have long been a fan of Alison Weir's non-fiction books on English history. So, when I saw that she was coming out with a novel set during the 15th and 16th centuries, I jumped on it! (Somehow, I'd missed that she has written other novels). I couldn't wait to start this novel was very happy to receive it as an ARC. Having been a fan of her non-fiction work, it took me a few chapters to adjust to her "fiction" writing style. It is much simpler than her non-fiction (my guess it to reach a wider audience).

    I liked the beginning of A Dangerous Inheritance (once I adapted to her new writing style)...I abhorred the middle (too long and drawn out)...and I LOVED the end. It is actually the last one pages or so that lifted my rating of this novel from 3 stars to 4 stars. Alison did an amazing job at tying everything together in the last few chapters. So many authors don't seem to know how to end their novels and everything just gets thrown into a big pot of words...but the ending of this novel made it all worth it. In addition to the novel, there is an extra "chapter" that goes into the research and real life stories of the characters in Dangerous Inheritance. I found this very interesting.

    I think if there is one thing (well, maybe two) negatives that I found for this particular novel it is that it was very confusing at times with the chapter switching between the two main protagonists. Yes, they went by different names (Katherine vs Kate) and yes, they lived in different time periods, but....they lived in the same area and although each protagonist had her own set of supporting characters, it was very frustrating since many of the names were the same, ie. Earl of Lincoln, Duke of Buckinghame, five billion different Elizabeths (well maybe that's a tiny exaggeration). Oh, and that second negative...it just seemed too long for what I was wanting and expecting...

    All that being said, I definitely recommend A Dangerous Inheritance for any lovers of historical fiction.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    “A Dangerous Inheritance” covers two periods of English history that are at times linked together. One narrative, covering the period of 1483-87, focuses on Richard III’s baseborn daughter, Katherine Plantagenet, referred to as Kate. The other narrative, covering the period of 1553-1568, is told by Katherine Grey, whose sister Jane is known as “The nine-day queen”, though she never had chance to rule, nor was she officially a queen at all, for that role was undertaken by (Bloody) Mary Tudor. Jane and Katherine Grey’s mother was daughter of Henry VIII’s sister, thus the famous Tudor king’s blood flowed through the young sisters’ veins. Alison Weir does a great job of swapping between these narratives, of which Kate’s is written in third person past tense, while Katherine’s is in first person present tense. Both heroines walk the fine line between royal greatness and eternal disgrace. Each girl let’s their heart rule their head and this proves to be their undoing. The inheritance of regal blood is indeed a danger. To quote from narrative: “Tangling with princes rarely brought anyone anything but ill-fortune and grief.”One would have to possess a hard heart not to sympathise with these two heroines, both of whom I took a shine to, especially King Richard’s loyal daughter.Although I’m quite familiar with aspects of English history during the times covered in this novel, I knew little of Kate Plantagenet's life and wasn’t even aware of Katherine Grey’s existence. Thus I found these stories – despite (and because of) the obvious fictional passages the author used to fill in the gaps – most interesting.The princes in the tower make an interesting subplot. Kate believes that her father had nothing to do with her cousins’ deaths – assuming they *were* killed and not taken somewhere safe – and she writes down her theories, which Katherine discovers years later and becomes fascinated by the tragedy. She in turn wants to discover the truth. I believe that a good book should be engaging throughout, while a great one should be continually engrossing – this novel fits the latter category for me.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I had a really hard time getting into this book. I have always loved Alison Weir's non-fiction and was excited to see that she was writing fiction. This is my first attempt to get into her fiction. it was really hard to get into the characters. It just felt very stilted to me and I found myself having a hard time concentrating on it. I think my problem was that I just couldn't get into the characters and the flow of the story. i am looking forward to trying one of her other fictional pieces though.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've thoroughly enjoyed reading Alison Weir's other historical novels so was a little disappointed with this one. The intertwining stories of Katherine Grey and Kate Plantagenet were interesting but the structure felt a little contrived. It was almost as if Weir was forcing a connection between the two women when really it would have been enough to focus either of them separately. I did enjoy Weir's portrayal of some of the supporting "characters" such as Katherine Grey's mother and obviously, Kate's father, Richard III and reading this while the tests were being done on the skeleton in Leicester made it even more interesting to see this portrayal of him! Overall, I liked the book but I wouldn't say that is was one of Weir's best historical novels.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Tower of London is a dark and sinister place. Katherine Grey is happily married alongside her sister, Jane, at the beginning of Jane's short reign. Jane's fall brings the end of Katherine's marriage, as no one wants to be married to a traitor's sister. Katherine's heartbreak is mended a bit after she is brought to Elizabeth's court as the unofficial heir to the throne.Katherine's story runs parallel to Kate Plantagenet's story. The bastard daughter of Richard III, Kate is loved by her father, stepfather and cousin. Her father takes the throne, and vicious rumors spread about how exactly he obtained the throne. Kate watches helplessly as her father changes from a gentle loving father to a ruthless and suspicious king. Desiring to clear her father's name and her conscience, Kate tries to find the true fate of her cousins that were held in the Tower.Katherine Grey finds herself in the Tower after marrying without Elizabeth's permission. With a child on the way, untrusting Elizabeth knows she poses a threat. Kate's questions over the fate of the Princes, as well as her correspondence with the traitorous Earl of Lincoln, her one time lover, lead her to the Tower of London. There not even her husband will support her.Both women soon learn that Royal Blood doesn't guarantee safety.While I have several of Weir's novels on my TBR shelf, this is the first of her novels I've read. Set during the reigns of Richard III and Elizabeth I, this novelties the lives of two girls together. Though I am familiar with Katherine Grey, Kate was a new character that I had never even thought of. Both girls are undeserving of their fate. Katherine is a girl who wants to do right by her family. Though her family has fallen on hard times, Katherine still believes she will be crowned Queen after Elizabeth. Katherine is unlucky in love and languishes in the Tower, though her lover is close. Kate, however, seems to have it worse. Daughter of a Traitor, she is married to a man who desired to be close to the Throne. Never loving Kate, his cruelty increases after Kate has lost her royal connections. Abandoned, she gambles with her conscience, her father's reputation and her life. In the end, both girls have a lot in common. Weir leaves the Tower shrouded in mystery, but spins an amazing story of two girls lost to history. Very highly recommended.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book was a slow read for me. I couldn't exactly say why because it was well written, well researched and interesting enough, but I couldn't get over the feeling that there should be two books instead of one. Ms. Weir tried to tie the two stories together, but it didn't work well. Similarities were present, but it just got confusing after awhile. While I realize that this is and ARC and changes may be made before being published. The lack of chapter numbers and the epsisodes being divided only by two similar names (Kate and Katherine) caused the book to drag for me. Still it was good and I would read it again.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is a fictional work by Alison Weir. I have read & enjoyed most of her non-fiction work so I was looking forward to this novel. It is two stories, one about Katherine Grey, younger sister of ill fated Jane Grey and Katherine Plantagenent, illegitimate daughter of Richard III. It compares their lives as pawns of monarchs. Neither is free to marry where they will, both end up suffering for their closeness to the throne & both become obsessed with the mystery of the princes in the tower & Richard's role in their disappearance. Neither woman has a happy ending to their lives as so often happens with real lives in this time period.I found it a bit disjointed, as if the author couldn't quite manage a whole book about either woman so she found a way to combine them. They both died relatively young and spend many years locked away, which makes an entire novel about either a challenge I would imagine. But it just doesn't flow well for me. And the bits of supernatural, the ghost of a young woman Kate sees and voices of the princes Katherine hears, seem out of place with the narrative & don't add as much.It is very well researched & well written, as all of the author's books are. But this one just falls a bit flat for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Unlike many of Alison Weir's works, this is a novel that focuses on Katherine Grey (a younger sister of Lady Jane Grey, the "nine days" queen), and Katherine Plantagenet, the illegitimate daughter of Richard III. It was an enjoyable read, although the style of moving back and forth between the two narrators was a bit distracting, especially since they had the same name, although the novel does refer to Richard's daughter as Kate. There were also some supernatural elements to the story that I found odd; perhaps simply because I'd not expected this from Weir, or perhaps they truly seemed out of place. Weir does a good job showing the parallels between the two Katherine's lives, using the mystery of the "princes in the Tower" as a link, and the perils of being close to the throne in those times. An enjoyable read, with a detailed note at the end to help clarify which portions of the story are truly fictional. Thanks for the Early Reviewers copy!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I’ve had a deep love for historical fiction for many years, and just this year I’ve made an effort to read more about the years leading up to Tudor England, particularly about the house of York and the end of the Plantagenet house. Any read into this time frame will lead you to the question of the Princes in the Tower, and the tumultuous reign of Richard III. This book leads us through the life of Katherine Plantagenet (known as Kate in the novel) before her father ascends to the throne, and then into the life of Katherine Grey a couple of generations later.The focus of Kate’s story is mostly on her trying to figure out what has happened to her cousins, Edward V and Richard of York. At the beginning of the novel, Edward IV is still king and Richard III is just the Duke of Gloucester, so we see him in a more sympathetic light as simply husband and father. Kate was born out of wedlock, but is taken care of by Richard and his wife, Anne, as though she were their own. As events unfold, we watch how all of their lives change after the death of Edward IV and the eventual rise of Richard III.Kate desires above all to clear her father of the rumors and suspicion about the fate of the princes. The novel essentially draws the conclusion that Richard III ordered the deaths of the princes in order to secure his claim on the throne, something that I have mixed feelings about. This is undoubtedly a mystery that will go unsolved for a long time to come, assuming we can ever find the real answer anyway, but I think the history of this question is rather clouded and it’s difficult for me to accept that Richard was a total villain. Even so, the novel does present a compelling story about what may have happened. And regardless of whether you’re for or against Richard, something definitely happened to those little boys, and that in itself is a sad story.We alternate between Kate’s story and that of Katherine Grey, which I found to be very sympathetic. It seems to me that the Grey children had to pay a very large price for the ambitions of their parents, as Jane never seemed terribly interested in being Queen, and Katherine is forever under suspicion simply because she is a princess of the blood. In laymens terms, that essentially means she is related closely to the royal family in power. This novel made me wonder just how different Katherine’s life would have been if her family hadn’t been so eager for the crown early on. The course of history could have been changed, and Katherine may have been able to live a happy life had things just gone a little differently.Given the details we read through the course of the novel, it seems a bit like Queen Elizabeth I overreacted when it came to Katherine’s life and marriage. That being said, Katherine did outright defy her Queen and cousin, so while I’m not in favor of tossing the poor lady in the Tower, she’s got no one to blame but herself for the fact that she ended up there. Her story is still an interesting one, and I liked the way the author tied these stories together through the investigation of the disappearance of those princes.At times, this novel is a bit wordy. We spend a lot of time reading about Kate’s investigations into the princes, which ultimately gets her in trouble time and time again, and then Katherine’s obsession of the moment. I felt a lot of things were repeated, especially when it came to Kate either believing her father to be innocent or villainous depending on who she last spoke to. I understand there was a mystery she yearned to solve, but it got a bit tedious for me at times. I also found myself having to go back to the beginning of a chapter sometimes to see the date in order to figure out which lady we were reading about, but that’s really the fault of historical figures for naming so many children with the same name.On the whole, I enjoyed it and I thought it was a good read that covered the last bit of the Plantagenet’s and various parts of the Tudor reign. I’ve always found Alison Weir to be an interesting historical writer, so I appreciated her take on this part of English history.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Author: Alison WeirPublished By: HutchinsonAge Recommended: AdultReviewed By: Arlena DeanBlog For: GMTARating: 4Review:"A Dangerous Inheritance" by Alison Weir was a good historical fiction novel during the York/Tudor period. You will find two narrators in this novel: Kate Plantagenet, this story was told in third person and Lady Katherine Grey, who was the sister of Jane Grey and also cousin to Queen Elizabeth. This was told in first person. This maybe a little bit confusing if you don't keep up in the read but other than than I found this novel easy to understand even though the novel flips between the two Katherine's...separated by eighty years. I found each of these two stories that went well together...like each of the girls will be too close to the throne to ever find what they both wanted and that was safety and happiness. You will get captured up in the read that will keep you turning the pages to see what is going to happen next. This author Alison Weir did a wonderful good job in her writing and weaving these two (Katherine's)lives together. Both of these women will be "driven by love rather than their desire for power." All of the characters are well developed and this presents a good well written historical read from Lady Katherine Grey, Lady Jane's younger sister; Kate Plantagenet, Edward, Richard, Richard III to afew others that you can only get from picking up this good read. Be ready because there is a lots going on in this read and sometimes it seems somewhat a complicated history with are of its "turn of phrases and choices of scenes." However, if you are a lover of historical fiction...I would recommend this novel "A Dangerous Inheritance" to you as a good read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison Weir4/5 starsSource: NetgalleyI don’t care for an unsolved mystery; never have, never will. I generally find the answer to the mystery far more interesting than the allure of not ever knowing. (yep, you guessed it, I don’t like surprises either) With this being said, Alison Weir’s A Dangerous Inheritance is so entertaining I was able to forget my great dislike for unsolved mysteries. A Dangerous Inheritance is a sweeping historical fiction novel dealing with the still-unsolved mystery of the fate of the two young princes in the tower of London. Rather than simply telling the princes story from their perspective (which would have been difficult since they were only children when they disappeared) Weir connects two generations of royal women who tell the story of the boys as it related to their own lives. Here’s the skinny:Kate Plantagenet is the bastard daughter of King Richard III, England’s last Plantagenet king and the man in power when the young princes went missing. Though a bastard by birth, Kate is favored by her father and when he takes the throne, Kate’s status throughout the kingdom is decidedly elevated. For the entirety of her life, Kate has adored her father, a man who is gentle, kind and caring to both his legitimate and illegitimate children. Once in power the man Kate has known her whole life becomes someone very different and it is hard for Kate to reconcile the two disparate natures of her own father. Furthermore, Kate finds it hard to imagine he is anything like the rumors she is hearing about him: did he really take the throne by force thus becoming known as the Usurper? Is he really capable of all the betrayal and double-dealing that is constantly talked about? Could he really have killed the two young princes in order to remove any threat to his claim to the throne? For Kate the fate of the princes is tied to the image of her father and she becomes near-obsessed with finding out what really happened to them.Just a few generations following Kate Plantagenet’s death there is Katherine Grey, sister to Lady Jane Grey (the ultimately beheaded nine day Queen) and a young woman who is, by virtue of her birth, eligible to inherit the English throne much to the great displeasure of Elizabeth I. Katherine’s life is a constant series of questions: will she or won’t she be officially recognized as the heir to the throne? Should she remain Protestant as she was raised? Would it be better (read: safer) to convert to Catholicism? Will any of her constantly surveyed actions lead her straight to the Tower of London where she will meet the same fate as her sister? Like the two young princes generations before her, Katherine’s life is in constant turmoil because of her claim to the throne; that is, her very existence is a threat to the ruling monarch. When Katherine stumbles upon a portrait of Kate Plantagenet and a bundle of the girls’ letters and notes she, like her predecessor becomes obsessed with the fate of the young boys.The novel alternates from chapter to chapter between Kate and Katherine with Kate living through the making of the mystery and Katherine living a few generations later and finding parallels in her own life to that of both Kate Plantagenet and the young princes. Both women are products of their time and place and are often used as pawns in the games being played by the men in their lives. Like the princes before them, both young women were destined to live short and disturbingly sad lives because of their nearness to the throne. The bottom line: Although there are some very dry moments in this novel it is, overall a very interesting read and will certainly appeal to enthusiasts of the mystery of the princes and England’s Tudor age. Since both of the primary characters have (basically) the same name the shorter chapters can be a bit frustrating to remember which Kate and which age you are reading about. On the flip side, the longer chapters will draw you in and Weir’s writing style will allow you to become completely absorbed in both the time and the place. The last third of the novel moves very swiftly as each young woman’s story (and the prince’s story) reaches its inevitable end. While I can’t say I was rooting for either of the Kates I can certainly say was taken in by both women and consumed with wanting to know their respective fates. While this novel is certainly appropriate for a young adult reader I think, given the overall length and subject matter, it is more appropriate for an older crowd.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Without a doubt this book *is* a an ambitious effort. Two Katherines, separated in time by less than 100 years, both facing the challenge of being too close to the English throne and dealing with the results of the decisions they make in their public and private lives. The idea of having one Katherine go by the nickname "Kate" helps to avoid some confusion. Having one Katherine use third person and one use first was a clever idea. (In a book of this length *anything* that helps to distinguish characters is good... especially given the number of Katherines, Edwards, etc.)This really isn't a casual read unless you have some familiarity with the period. Chapters subjects alternate between the two Katherines, and this can be annoying (especially early on when one Katherine has long chapters and the other Katherine's merit a page or so), and the family trees only help so much. Both Katherines are very young, and both make decisions that they will regret. If you're looking for a "princess story" with a happy ending *this isn't it*.In general, I prefer Ms. Weir's non-fiction; I've always found her dialog to be weak. I'll admit to being bored in spots, and I believe that better dialog would have helped. The idea behind the main characters was good, and the parallels were done well, but the overall result wasn't as smooth or alluring as I'd hoped. I had fewer "what will happen next?" moments than "are we done yet?" ones. I didn't care as much about the characters as their stories should have compelled me to. The only comment that I can make about the "Princes in the Tower" mystery sub-plot is that it was a *tremendous anticlimax*. It really could have been dropped from the story... there was enough to bond the Katherines together without introducing it, and a lot of time (and text) was wasted on it.I've been flipping my rating between 3.5 and 4 stars, and ended up going with 3.5; the 4 stars reflected the amount of work that the author put into the book... the research and thought involved are plain to see. The 3.5 was mainly due to the dialog and the "Secret of the Tower" subplot. The latter left me muttering aloud, "Are you kidding?" A good effort, but not great. A 500+ page work by an experienced author familiar with the period should have been closer to spectacular.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I received a copy through the Early Reviewers list and loved it! I enjoying learning more about Katherine Grey and Katherine Plantagenet as there are many other major players during their times that receive much more attention. It was interesting to delve deeper into the characters and see more behind-the-scenes machinations of the times. Weir really does a fantastic job researching the periods and bringing them to life. Switching between the two women was a little confusing at first for me but once I got into the swing of things, it was an excellent read.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I loved all of Weir's previous books and thought I would love this one, Well I was wrong it took me 2 months to get through this book and trying to remember who is who wasa bit of challenge. It could have been the back and forth format that the author choose to write this book in that drove me crazy. Never the less i am sad to say that I did not care for this one!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a tale of two Katherines; both close to the throne, both loving badly, both searching for answers about "the princes in the tower" and both ending badly. The twist is they are separated in time by almost 100 years - one Plantagenet, one Tudor. Little is known of Kate Plantagenet, the illegitimate daughter of Richard III so most of what Ms. Weir writes here is fiction but that doesn't make it any less interesting. I'm sure she would have been interested in finding out what happened to those two poor little boys. Katherine Grey was doomed by association - poor Jane Grey being almost forced to the throne by factions trying to take over Elizabeth had to do what she could to consolidate her power base.The book was very interesting - I love Ms. Weir's writing style - but it did take some getting used to the back and forth in history. Plus the two Katherines didn't help. Calling one Kate and the other Katherine was a wonderful way to keep them separate. I enjoyed reading and learning a bit more about these two almost forgotten women of history.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    *I received this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.*Separated by nearly eighty years of history, the voices of Lady Katherine Grey and Richard III's illegitimate daughter Katherine Plantagenet emerge to tell their own stories and to delve into the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. The story of Katherine Grey, a Tudor princess who fell victim to the wrath of Queen Elizabeth due to a love match, is told in parallel to that of Katherine Plantagenet, Richard III's bastard daughter who struggles to accept the sharp reversals of fate that befall both her and her father during the tumultuous Wars of the Roses. An intriguing story, definitely recommended for fans of historical fiction.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Oh dear, another cover with a headless torso (almost headless) in Tudor dress. That should have warned me. This was not as engaging or interesting as "An Innocent Traitor", Ms. Weir's exemplary work on Jane Grey. In fact, it was a CW episode of whatever teen soap opera is popular. The premise was very interesting but I soon grew bored and was half-expecting KPattz to show up with red eye and glitter. I did enjoy Ms. Weir's portrayal of Richard III - Shakespearean and delightful - and I'm a Ricardian. Others may like this book. I did not.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed the different perspectives showcasing the life of the two Katherine's. In the beginning I had a hard time keeping track of the family tree, but eventually I sorted it all out (if only everyone didn't have the same name back then!). It was easy to forget, at times, that both these girls were teenagers. They had been through so much at such a young age. Though Katherine Grey was more headstrong and foolish, as befits a love-struck young girl. I enjoyed the pace of the story, and the short...chapters, if you will, switching from one Kat to the other, kept me eager to find out what was going on next. It wasn't until the end of the book where Queen Elizabeth was given some 'Interludes' to show her perspective that i thought it threw off the flow of the book. I didn't quite understand why Elizabeth needed these little snippets, as they didn't really illuminate the situation, nor did they make me want to embrace her point of view. They just seemed out of place.Overall it was a great, though somewhat tragic book (which seems on par for most historical fiction) and I enjoyed it very much.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the story of two Katherines: Katherine Planteganet, "Kate", the illegitimate daughter of Richard III, and Katherine Grey, the sister of Lady Jane Grey. The story switches between the two, and while each section is labeled, I sometimes had to really remind myself which girl I was reading about. Especially if I had just picked up the book for the first time that day.While most of the book is about the lives of the two young girls and the travails of arranged marriages and politics, the unifying story line is their search for the truth about the fate of the princes held captive by Richard III in the Tower of London. Both girls learn that being too closely related to the monarch can cause unhappiness, and ambition can really alter the people they love for the worst. "Kate" is motivated by clearing her father's name, she can't believe her father capable murdering his own nephews. Katherine Grey is motivated by curiosity, and the knowledge that innocent lives (like that of she and her sister) that are too close to the line of succession are often ruined by those grasping for power. She wants the rumors of the princes murders to be untrue because she would like to think that power doesn't always corrupt, and that some stories have a happy ending.Alison Weir's novels well researched and easy way to follow historical events. She always include notes about what is fact and what is speculation or fabrication.I enjoyed the book, as I have always enjoyed the mystery of what happened to the princes in the Tower. It is interesting to see what people of the time might have made of the rumors and the facts available to them. I was already familiar with the history, having read several historical novels about the War of the Roses and the Tudors, as well as Alison Weir's histories, including "The Princes in the Tower." I don't know if someone unfamiliar with the history would find the story harder to follow or not.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    As always I enjoyed her writing, it is always very clear and informative. This was a very familiar subject for me but I enjoyed the way she portrayed the characters and their stories. Really enjoyed getting to know more of the two Katherine's life since usually it is the Lady Jane Grey one reads about, not her sister Katherine. Same for Richard III, we usually don't hear much about his daughter. I also liked how she linked these two stories, even though they took place a century apart. Look forward to seeing which subject she tackles next.