I was afraid this book would be tiresome and full of unnecessary details. Personally, I found it interesting and easy to read. The book tells the life of Empress Elisabeth or Sissi, from different perspectives. She is seen as a wife, as a mother, as a horseback rider, as a poet... I had read reviews saying that the author was very judgemental and biased. Personally, I did not feel like that. In one hand, she does show many traits of the self-centered personality of Sissi, but she also highlights her intelligence, her (liberal) vision and she gives many reasons why the Empress behave like she did (for instance, because of her unhappiness with her marriage, her exclusion from politics and her spiritual personality).

The book does not follow a chronological sequence. It does start with the way Sissi and Franz Joseph met and it does end with Sissi's death but many of the chapters in between overlap with each other and often repeat themselves but just enough to lay the context for the chapter's topic. The book is incredibly well researched and it includes all the references.

In summary, I enjoyed the book a lot. I recommend it wholeheartedly to get to know Elisabeth's story in an entertaining but very well informed way.