This hilarious and irreverent start to a new trilogy by the trio of YA authors who created the Lady Janies series gives Mary, Queen of Scots, a much cheerier future than a beheading.
My Contrary Mary takes the true story of the young, ill-fated (weren't they all?) queen of Scotland and (oh-so-briefly) France and twists it into a thoroughly delightful pretzel of magic, intrigue and intentional anachronisms. Mid-16th-century Europe is divided in many ways, but authors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows insert yet another partition: the world that Mary inhabits is filled with Eðians and Verities. Eðians are shapeshifters, transforming themselves into their animal form on demand. Verities are "not amused" by Eðians, believing that "people should be people, period." Mary is on the verge of marrying Francis, the future king of France, a country that is officially and firmly in the Verity camp; the fact that Mary is secretly an Eðian, capable of becoming a very sneaky mouse, is a problem. Another issue: Mary's uncles, supposedly her biggest supporters, are always on the lookout to benefit themselves and their family. Killing off the king would help them immensely but would also propel Francis and Mary onto their thrones prematurely. It will take more than the potions and prognostications of Nostradamus, seer and spiritual adviser to the throne, and his daughter, Ari, to fix the mess in which the royal families and their hangers-on have found themselves.
My Contrary Mary is packed with sly jokes and references to contemporary culture. Ari, who sees herself as a failure as a prognosticator, actually foretells movies like Frozen, The Sixth Sense and Star Wars, although she is as mystified as anyone about what her visions of a man in black who breathes strangely can mean. Points of view alternate by chapter among Mary, Ari and Francis. Readers catch delicious glimpses into Francis's anxiety about the pressure to produce an heir with Mary, his lifelong pal and growing love interest; Ari's professional insecurity and raging--and reciprocated!--crush on one of Mary's ladies-in-waiting; and Mary's dawning understanding of what it really means to rule a country (or two, or three...). Like My Lady Jane, this inventive work of historical fiction (emphasis on fiction) is a tremendously entertaining feminist version of French Renaissance life. We are very amused. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor
Shelf Talker: This uproariously funny alternative history of the rapid throning and dethroning of Mary, Queen of Scots, has all the juicy elements of any royal intrigue, with a splash of the fantastic.