Review: The 48

The 48 by Donna Hosie
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'll read anything about the Tudors, so I was thrilled to see this YA novel at an ALA conference. While I kept reading to the end, I wasn't as impressed as I wanted to be. I loved the idea--twin brothers travel back to the Tudor court to try to keep Jane Seymour from marrying Henry VII. But things just didn't come together because I had a difficult time telling the two brothers apart. They each narrated parts of the novel, along with a fictional character Lady Margaret who was in Queen Anne's court, but their voices weren't distinct. They are part of a secret group called The 48, traveling back in time to fix history, which, of course, always causes trouble. It just felt like there was too much thrown into this. The plot needed streamlined and then fleshed out so that I could connect to the characters more.

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