From time to time I enjoy a book written primarily for children. They are usually fun, mostly written with a slight adult leaning that means the author doesn't think the child reading it is an idiot and are quite often written better than a lot of adult books I read.

This, however, wasn't really any of it. I enjoyed that it was mostly based on true people from the Elizabethan period, but other than that I found it absolutely abysmal. There were typos all over the shop, the story itself was rather dire and the characters I found unbelievable and quite flat.

I don't think I am expecting too much from a "children's book", because I have read plenty that are wonderful, magical and sublime. This one is not any of those things.