Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir is a book that should be good but isn't.

A lot of my usual readers probably know I love history, and in particular the Tudor period. I absolutely hoover up information in regards to this era, but I tend to be wary of books like these. Much like Phillipa Gregory books, Innocent Traitor sounds interesting, starts off interesting, but somewhere along the line completely loses its thread.

The book is about Lady Jane Grey, a young girl falsely accused of being a traitor and beheaded after the death of Edward VI. It starts from her birth, and leads on towards her death.

JANE GREY

A big problem I have with these historical books are the main characters themselves. They're usually arrogant, irritating, and infuriatingly pious. Jane is all of these things. She's literally the worst one I've ever read.

This kid is painful. She is constantly portrayed as the victim in every single scenario, portrayed like some kind of saint who always forgives and never makes mistakes.

She's so full of herself, proclaiming Protestantism is the one true religion, looking down on everyone who doesn't share her views. This girl judges everyone who isn't Protestant as a heathen, and completely judges them for it. Meanwhile she proclaims herself as being chosen by God because she of course is oh so special and pious.

Her parents are stupid abusive cliche parents, and Jane has this infuriating superiority complex to them. Everybody who ever meets this girl (except for her parents) proclaim her as the most intelligent, beautiful, lovely kind girl ever. When she eventually gets married, it's to this abusive one dimensional idiot who abuses her and we of course feel oh so sorry for Jane, because her literal whole life has just been people abusing her but she's such a positive perfect girl who knows that things will get better uwu.

Then she gets executed, and one critic's review, as shown on the cover, says that a reader must have a heart of stone not to cry.

Dude, I don't cry for Mary Sues.

OTHER SHIT

From reading Weir's other book about Elizabeth 1st, I wasn't surprised that she again shoves in rumours, gossip and theories like they're proven fact.

There are several things, such as Elizabeth having an affair with an older man at the age of fifteen, or Jane being witness to an execution of heretics at a young age, that are simply historical theories and nothing more, yet the author presents them like they're fact.

It annoys me when people take real people and destroy them. Once upon a time, no matter how long ago it was, Lady Jane Grey was once a real girl, a living, breathing girl. She was a young girl like any other, with hopes and dreams and fears and faults, and to see an author turn her into such an infuriating Mary Sue is honestly almost heartbreaking.

I give this book -10/5.