Sisi: Empress on Her Own

by Allison Pataki

"In imperial Vienna, where the court halls buzzed with waltzes and champagne, as well as temptation, rivals, and cutthroat intrigue, the intensely personal tale of Empress Sisi unraveled. Infamously beautiful, a mother of four, and wife of Emperor Franz Joseph - whom she unintentionally stole away from her sister - Sisi's reign was anything but simple. Against the backdrop of a rich, romantic, and volatile time period--marked by pivotal events such as the opening of the Suez Canal, Vienna's World Exhibition, and the lead up to WWI--Sisi, the beloved "Fairy Queen," was a woman well ahead of her time during a true Golden Age in European history"--

• ISBN10: 0812989058
• ISBN13: 9780812989052
• Publish Date: 8 March 2016
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Imprint: Dial Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[Veronica 🦦]

Okay, I'm posting this a year and five months after I read the book, but my views still stand.

Allison Pataki's Sisi books are atrocities. Her portrayal of Sisi and company is horrendous. I get it. It's historical fiction and creative license is a thing. But Pataki essentially ran over history, pooped over the corpse, and then burned it before running over the ashes. You don't get points for tossing in sprinkles of research while making a mess of the story. Listing your sources doesn't suddenly make the book better, nor does it mean the information suddenly and magically translate into the writing. I had this problem back with the first one and Pataki never bothered to improve.

I mean, what can I expect from the writer who had Sisi who was repulsed by sex and thought sex was a waste of time, have sex with Gyula Andrassy aka one of her best friends. You know? It's possible for men and women to love each other without sex.

Was this book any better than the first? Sure, but only by a little.

Sisi is still reduced to this THING. She's not respected at all. Hell, no one is treated with respect, but ESPECIALLY Sisi. Sisi wasn't perfect. She had her flaws -- and oh boy they were PLENTY. However, Pataki's Sisi continues to be a laughing stock, a desperate, pathetic housewife whose entire existence was shattered because her husband didn't pay enough attention to her. Again, Sisi wasn't perfect, but she also wasn't this one dimensional, pathetic housewife pouting because no man would pay attention to her.

This book (and it's prequel) are poorly written and just terrible. This book deserves zero stars.