I read the novel Eyes of the Queen by Oliver Clements because it was selected as the book of the month for the Tudor History Lovers group on Goodreads. It deals with espionage and a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England. This period became known as the English Renaissance because of the flowering of English literature and theater. It's portrayed as peaceful and prosperous, but there was a great deal of conflict over whether England would remain Protestant. So the imprisoned Catholic Mary Queen of Scots was a focus of those who sought to overthrow or murder England's reigning Protestant Queen.
I was interested in the likelihood that Mary Queen of Scots had a condition called porphyria. Relatives of the Stuart Queen also suffered from it. I read an article about royals with porphyria here and discovered that the current Prince William had been diagnosed with the disease.
The highly eroticized portrayal of Mary Queen of Scots was criticized in a number of reviews. I didn't really care that much. It was just a plot cul de sac of very little relevance. I suppose that the author wanted to draw an audience interested in such content in addition to those attracted to historical espionage thrillers.
I had more doubts about Clements' anxiety ridden Elizabeth. It seemed to me that the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, both strong and determined individuals, would be unlikely to be continually apprehensive. She would be much more sure of herself, and her ability to overcome any challenges to her authority.
Elizabeth's future spymaster, Francis Walsingham, is prominent in The Eyes of the Queen . I read that he feared the Spanish would burn London. Why would they? In the alternate history Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove, the Spanish conquered England and made it a part of their empire. London was not burned. In that fictional continuity, Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Some people called this novel suspenseful. I didn't think there was very much suspense at all. I knew that Elizabeth wasn't assassinated or overthrown. This novel isn't called an alternate history. So it had to conform to established facts of actual history.
Nevertheless, I did enjoy reading a novel in which the scientist/philosopher/occultist John Dee is a major protagonist. I would like to read more about John Dee in either fiction or non-fiction.
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