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Rating: 
Summary: For True Lovers Of Historical Biographies Only
Review: --Because this book, for the most part, except when the author decides to basically abandon a person or issue in it, is loaded with details. If you are interested in the life and times of Henry VIII, his relatives, friends and enemies, then you will likely forgive the author's apologist attitudes toward him (and her seemingly hyper-critical eye, in my view, of his sisters). If you are relatively thick-skinned about writers who do that, weaving their own opinions through the story they are telling, while supposedly presenting historical fact, you will find this book very interesting and fairly absorbing. There are a lot of minute details about banquets, clothes and social behavior, which are a lot of fun to read and know about, again, if you're interested in the first place. Which I am, so I liked this book.
Rating: 
Summary: An unfortunate snooze
Review: As an avid fan of Henrician history, I was so looking forward to reading this work and finding out more about the Tudor king's royal sisters. However, what I found out was a lot of mind-numbing detail about period finances, wardrobe and travel itineraries and very little about the actual personalities of these women.
The only part of this dense little book that comes alive relates to their famous brother's well known escapades, so therefore offers very little new or enlightening information. I'd recommend it for diehard Tudor-philes, only.
Rating:
Summary: I Didn't Even Finish It
Review: I didn't know much at all about either of Henry's sisters and I felt that this book provided some interesting details. I suspect that the author was unable to go deeper into her subjects, a criticism made here by others, simply because the historical record doesn't exist. I found the book reasonably satisfying (although I felt it did end somewhat abruptly with little discussion of the sisters' later years -- again, probably a result of the scarcity of historical information).
Rating:
Summary: Lost the plot
Review: I was deeply disappointed with this book. The subject is fascinating,but one cannot ignore the fact that there is not much recorded information about those two queens. The author really tried, but her best efforts only managed to produce an account of all the cloth of gold used in state events. This gold doesn't illuminate the true faces of the shadowed queens.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing
Review: I was very interested to read this book about the sisters of Henry VIII having become interested in them when reading Jean Plaidy's stories about them. I was very disappointed. The book really is about Henry VIII and a general history of that period. Mostly the author stresses that one does not know the reactions of either Mary or Margaret to certain events. But things are known about them. For instance, Mary's husband Charles, married right after she died. To whom? The book does not mention this. Also, he was not a faithful husband. Why not mention this? Margaret had small pox and was greatly disfigured but where was this fact in the book??
Rating: 
Summary: Very enjoyable and detailed History
Review: Perry writes about the lesser known subject of Henry VIII's two sisters, Margaret and Mary who became Queen of Scotland and Queen of France respectively. It's really a review of his whole family, which shows that his sisters, even as political pawns were much more involved in events than wife focused biographies and legends would generally show. There is some early discussion of their parents, Henry VII and his Queen, Elizabeth of York, which shows how they inherited the royal propensity for pagentry and how, Perry's descriptions are sumptuous, the emphasis on sartorial wealth and jewels was really the political rhetoric of the day. More than that, it seems also have been a business, and many conflicts and wars can be explained by the need for the Tudors to pay for all their nice clothes and jewels--even, or especially, they owed money--so that they can keep being royals. Perry is as assiduous about the financial details as she is avid about the fashion details, and even if you aren't quite sure what the numbers mean the story is always readable, imaginative and intriguing, leaving its share of Historical what-ifs. (What if Mary's long-term youthful betrothal to Charles V of Spain had been honored, for example?) As one might expect Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn get their fair share of mention, but the context of their tribulations seems at once more mundane and more majestic.
Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable and detailed History
Review: Perry writes about the lesser known subject of Henry VIII's two sisters, Margaret and Mary who became Queen of Scotland and Queen of France respectively. It's really a review of his whole family, which shows that his sisters, even as political pawns were much more involved in events than wife focused biographies and legends would generally show. There is some early discussion of their parents, Henry VII and his Queen, Elizabeth of York, which shows how they inherited the royal propensity for pagentry and how, Perry's descriptions are sumptuous, the emphasis on sartorial wealth and jewels was really the political rhetoric of the day. More than that, it seems also have been a business, and many conflicts and wars can be explained by the need for the Tudors to pay for all their nice clothes and jewels--even, or especially, they owed money--so that they can keep being royals. Perry is as assiduous about the financial details as she is avid about the fashion details, and even if you aren't quite sure what the numbers mean the story is always readable, imaginative and intriguing, leaving its share of Historical what-ifs. (What if Mary's long-term youthful betrothal to Charles V of Spain had been honored, for example?) As one might expect Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn get their fair share of mention, but the context of their tribulations seems at once more mundane and more majestic.
Rating:
Summary: A very interesting book
Review: This was a book I really liked. I found it facinating to read about another two members of the Tudor family. Maybe the most interesting thing about the Tudor family is how they managed to rule, or simply survive, in a time when cruelty, power struggles and dominance over women were common.In this book Maria Perry tells us about the sisters' childhood and family background, as well as about their adult lives. In both cases the sisters had to marry a king as part of their father's attempt to keep or make allies, and not for love. The eldest sister Margaret soon ended up as my favourite. She came across as a strong and couragious woman. In a time when women had no power, she fought to take control over her own life. When she was widowed and still pregnant, her brother tried to arrange a wedding for her. But Margaret wanted to marry based on her own choice, something her brother Henry VIII disliked. Later on she had to fight in order to keep her children, since they as heirs to the throne could be used as tools to rule the country by scroupulous men.
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