My Lady Jane (Lady Janies, #1)

by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton

Edward is the King of England. He's also dying, which is inconvenient, as he's only sixteen and he'd rather be planning his first kiss than who will inherit his crown. Jane, Edward's cousin, is far more interested in books than romance. Unfortunately, Edward has arranged to marry her off to Gifford secure the line of succession. And Gifford is, well, a horse. That is, he an Eðian (eth-y-un, for the uninitiated) who becomes a chestnut steed every morning, but wakes as a man at dusk, with a mouthful of hay. Very undignified. The plot thickens as the three are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy, and have to engage in some conspiring of their own. But can they pull off their plan before it's off with their heads?

• ISBN10: 0062391747
• ISBN13: 9780062391742
• Publish Date: 7 June 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 512
• Language: English

Reviews

[Katie King]

I was intrigued by My Lady Jane when it first came out. Of course it has a pretty cover, but the plot grasped me as well. When I got a copy in the monthly subscription box Owlcrate, I immediately dove in.

I didn't know the story of Jane Grey, but I feel as though I have a better picture of it now. I like that this book taught me a but of real history. And being that I watch Reign, the TV show about Mary Queen of Scots, I could also link some of that to the book. It gave the plot some sense of historical legitimacy.

Beyond historical legitimacy, the book also doesn't take itself too seriously. Dialogue and narration were often interspersed with modern language and commentary from the authors. This struck a nice balance between being too historical (and possibly boring) and too contemporary (and generic, imo).

The other pieces of the book - characters, romance, etc - were all a smashing hit. I loved it. But the one drawback here is pacing.

I felt as though we moved glacially through the first 300 pages (which is fine), but then the last 190 pages covered several days. We were in France for a short bit, we snuck into the tower for a short bit, we confronted Mary for a short bit. It's as though the authors wrote the book how they wanted, initially, but then saw they were running out of pages so they jammed everything else into it. It's very disjointed, and maybe representative of how authoring duties were divided?

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

Initial reaction:



Humor is not my genre. I will totally admit that I usually hate funny books. I don't generally like books that try to be witty and make me laugh. But somehow, somehow My Lady Jane managed to sneak past my defenses and into my comedy-hating heart.

My Lady Jane is a retelling of Jane Grey, who was the queen of England for 9 days after the death of King Edward IV. I found this subject matter particularly interesting as someone with a casual interest in the Tudors. No, I've never done any research on it, but I did read Phillipa Gregory's Tudor books and own The Tudors complete series on blu ray, so I do greatly appreciate the entertainment value the family has provided. I didn't know much about Lady Jane, though, so I was really interested in her story. This one is unlike any other. Right from the start the narrator tells you that some facts have been changed rather drastically...

"And for England. We’re really sorry for what we’re about to do to your history.”

There were so many things I loved about this book, that I don't even know where to start! But since I usually start with characters, I guess I'll begin there. I loved everyone in this book, including the villains. A friend asked me who my favorite was and I didn't know! I found Lady Jane Grey herself to be endearing and relatable as a fellow bookworm. I loved her spunk! I also really enjoyed Gifford (G), Jane's husband, and Edward, her cousin! The male leads were hilariously clueless and lovable. There was substantial character growth throughout this story, which made me enjoy it even more. I love it when characters learn and grow.

But I mentioned that there were changes made to the history and that was honestly the best part, I think! The biggest tweak is magic, because of course there has to be magic in any retelling of Tudor England. This particular brand of magic is certainly unique. In this version of history, instead of Catholics and Protestants, we have Verities and Eðians. Eðians (pronounced Ethians) have the ability to change into an animal form and Verities believe this to be a work of the devil! (Gasp!) I bet you can guess which side the Princess Mary falls to... I really liked this addition to the story and, while it was obviously ridiculous, I found it to be hilarious and somehow perfect!

This is also not your typical 16th century society! My Lady Jane goes to great lengths to make fun of the misogynistic time period. Jane is extremely well educated despite what anyone thinks of her and prefers to read all day and never be married at all! The men who try to confine Jane to her ladylike box are made to look like buffoons on most occasions, although the men who treat the women of the story like humans instead of pawns are dealt with much more fairly. That is to say, this is not a book that makes all men look bad in favor of showcasing powerful women. Instead, all of the main characters are on equal footing, as it should be.

Despite what you might expect, this story doesn't all take place inside of castles. Instead, the characters have opportunity to visit many locations and make long treks through the country, which gave the authors a chance to build a gorgeous world. At least, I think it's amazing considering I've never actually been to England... It was so well done that I almost felt like I was watching a movie. I could picture it all so easily that I wanted to step into the book!

My Lady Jane is a fantastic story that I never expected to love! The plot is totally absurd and the entire thing reads like one big joke, but it works incredibly well! No, this isn't amazing, deep literature, but it's a light historical retelling that will probably give you the warm fuzzies and have you laughing out loud. I'm not sure who to recommend this for since I thought I was going to hate it going in, so I'm just going to say that everyone should read it and see for themselves!

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

This book was like sitting down and eating a big bowl of jelly beans. Or maybe gummy bears. Yes, I think gummy bears. Without the calories!



My Lady Jane is a light-hearted, fun-filled, rollicking good time. It’s billed as YA…fantasy? Alternate history? To me it feels most like humorous alternate history, complete with shapeshifting. Bwhahahaha. Such a refreshing turn on the whole Protestant/Roman Catholic problem. I loved that they took the very gloomy story of Lady Jane Grey and turned it into something so much fun. Note: no one dies in this version. Except…well. Anyway.

Something that always struck me the hardest about Jane’s story is how freaking young all the main players were. Pawns on a chessboard to their scheming, conniving elders. Well, they’re most definitely given their voices here! I was laughing before I got to the end of the second chapter, as the young King Edward is lamenting his death sentence:

There was so much he wanted to do with his life. First of, he wanted to kiss a girl, a pretty girl, the right girl, possibly with tongue.

And then Jane! I had always suspected, but now I am quite sure, that Jane Grey was a girl after my own heart.

She delighted in the smell of ink, the rough feel of the paper between her fingers, the rustle of sweet pages, the shapes of the letters before her eyes. And most of all, she loved the way that books could transport her from her otherwise mundane and stifling life and offer the experiences of a hundred other lives.

This book does not take itself or its topic too seriously – but, seriously enough to include the facts (and note deviations from them), even down to how Lady Jane’s name came to be carved in the Beauchamp Tower. Alongside that, however, are not-so-subtly-veiled nods to popular culture references that, in context, had me rolling in my chair and my husband wondering if I’d truly lost my marbles. Jane is bookish and nerdy but also a spunky little spitfire, and I love her.

“Who are you calling beef-witted?” she laughed at him. “Your mother was a hamster, and your father stank of elderberries!”

10 points if you can name the original source.

“I might not be able to beat a weapons master, but I can easily best an old, top-heavy, pusillanimous, two-faced, paltry, odious excuse for a man.” He pushed his sword forward until it was against his father’s coat. “Drop your sword.”

Do I even need to explain why it took me 5 minutes to stop laughing enough to continue reading? I’m sure there are probably other references in the book, to other movies/stories, but I’m not the most up on pop culture myself so I might have missed some.

[Stephanie]

This was a super clever, quite funny, devilishly entertaining surprise from my subscription book box. I really loved it.

OMG. That was just so fun and clever. Absolutely brilliant. Love, love, LOVE! Of course, how could I not love a book that references Monty Python and the Holy Grail, only the greatest movie known to man (TRY TO DISAGREE, I DARE YOU!).
Full review to come.

[girlinthepages]

Well. That certainly was NOT what I was expecting.

I am a huge Tudor history buff, and I used to read about them like nobody's business (Philippa Gregory was a high school staple for me). So when the lovely ladies at the EpicReads tent at YALLWest were hosting a signing for My Lady Jane ARCs, I was like I absolutely need one. While this novel is quite unlike any other historical fiction book that I've read, it's uniqueness is not one that I'll ever forget. While at times it's absurdity became a bit much for me, I'm thrilled that it's bringing historical fiction back into the spotlight (can we just agree to make historical fiction the next big thing in YA? Please?)

Top Ten Takeaways from My Lady Jane

Historical fiction can be as creative as you want

I thought I'd know the inevitable ending to this book *historical spoiler alert...Jane died IRL* and while it really, completely deviated from history in its second half, it was pretty fun to see the authors choose a whole new fate for many of the characters, while still keeping the overall happenings somewhat consistent with history (such as who eventually ends up on the throne).

Non-fiction bookworms can be just as passionate

Jane is a HUGE bibliophile, but she is addicted to non-fiction books. Books about religion, animals, policy, history...she's read them all. And has the most random wealth of knowledge because of it. Jane also seemed like a genuine book lover, and it literally came second to everything else in life for her. It was a true part of her essence, rather than a shallow character element to make her more relatable to readers.

Multiple POVs CAN work

Told from the perspectives of Jane, King Edward, and Jane's husband Gifford, the POV switches had distinct voices but all had the same overall feel, which made the narrative feel cohesive rather than disjointed.

The art of the metaphor is alive and well

A major plot point in this novel is the rising tension between the Edians (humans who can turn into animals) and the Verities (humans who cannot and believe turning into animals is wrong). While it sounds (and is) absurd, I loved how this entire concept was a play on the Catholic/Anglican split in England at the time thanks to King Henry's multiple marriages. The authors managed to circumvent explicitly bringing in religion itself, but still portray how it divided the country.

The fourth wall is meant to be broken

Oftentimes throughout the novel the narrators will address the reader directly with hilarious asides and historical annotations (namely about how they are going to entirely rewrite history). Again, it sounds bizarre but it really works. This sort of book could really set off an entirely new genre of its own.

Research, however, was not thrown out the window

While admittedly this book takes great, giant liberties with Tudor history, it's apparent that the authors did do their research at least before making such dire changes. I've been to many of the sites in London that appear in the book, especially the Tower of London, and they do a great job bringing the details of those settings through, and I could perfectly picture where the characters were!

Don't take history, or yourself, too seriously.

This is perhaps the key to reading this book. Only if you let go of the notion of how things SHOULD go can you really enjoy it.This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages

[Ashley]

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

So much love for this story, these romances, and basically everything.

The characters definitely dominated my love for My Lady Jane. They were all so different and fabulous in their own ways. And c'mon, what book lover isn't going to adore a main character who is... wait for it... a book lover.

History.
Romances. Yes, plural.
Magic.
Betrayal.
Humour.
Swoon.

It's almost hard to believe there could be so much awesome in one book.

I want to be a ferret.