I was intrigued by the idea of an alternative history of the late Tudor reign, so I was looking forward to reading this book. I thought Meconis' illustrations were really striking (especially the facial expressions of the characters), and it was a fun read, but I was expecting a little more depth to the story. I also felt like it tried to appeal to both middle-grade and YA readers but didn't have a firm foothold with either age group. (Our library cataloged it as YA, but it felt a little more middle-grade based on the way Meconis told the story.)