My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows Review

Overall Review: 4.1/5 Stars

"With the fate of the kingdom at stake, our heroes will have to engage in some conspiring of their own. But can they pull off their plan before it’s off with their heads?" Goodreads

Non-Spoiler Section:

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows (also known as The Lady Janies) is the first in a trilogy. It is a Young Adult Historical Fiction novel. Each of the three novels follows a different Jane. This one focuses on Lady Jane Grey, the nine day Queen, (who was a real historical figure). While it does follow the outline of the real story and takes a lot of liberties, including strong fantasy aspects.

The results are...hilarious. It follows the 16 year old King of England, King Edward VI, who is dying. In order to save the lineage, the King's cousin, Jane (also 16 years old) is forced to marry and produce a male heir. The fantasy part? Her new husband is an E∂ian (eth-ee-uhn), someone who can change into an animal, sometimes without control. In his case, a horse. But not everyone is okay with the existence of E∂ians. Throw in a plot of betrayal and plans to kill the king, and a wild adventure ensues.

This is the first in the series, but the order in which you read them doesn't matter. The second book is My Plain Jane, which follows Jane Eyre. The third book is My Calamity Jane, which follows famous frontierswoman, Calamity Jane.

This is your SPOILER WARNING! If you haven’t read My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows and don’t want to be spoiled, Stop Reading Now! (Of course come back after you’ve read so we can discuss!!)

Plot (A):

This is the first book that I've read by The Lady Janies. The first thing that I noticed right away from the Prologue was how genuinely funny it was. It can be easier for a movie or TV Show to be funny, but in my experience, it's much harder for a book to make me laugh, but this one did it.

The plot is pretty straightforward. 16 year old King of England, Edward VI is sick and dying. His royal advisor suggests that Edward's cousin marries his son, Gifford and they produce a male heir who will inherit the throne. The problem is that Gifford (call him G) is an E∂ian who spends the nights as a man and the days as a horse, which he has no control over. This is kept a secret due to the prejudice that exists against E∂ians. We later find out that Edward is not sick at all, but the royal advisor, Lord John Dudley is having him poisoned so that he dies and his son, Gifford will become the King through his marriage to Jane (Gifford knows none of this).

I will say that John Dudley always struck me as off, so I wasn't surprised when it was revealed that he was the villain, but it was a good twist. I also thought it was really smart for Mary, Edward's evil sister, to turn out to be an E∂ian herself, when she was one of the ones who despised their existance.

Can we just talk about the narrators? Every time the 'narrators' broke in to say something about history getting it all wrong or to explain a situation, it was fantastic. You could really see the authors' personalities shone through here and I absolutely loved it.

Characters (A-):

Jane: Jane is not introduced until the second chapter. I found her perspective to be really interesting. For a fictional YA fantasy novel, the authors really did take a lot of true aspects from the real Lady Jane Grey's story, such as her love for books. I liked how Jane was a strong character, who fought for what she believed in, but also did whatever was best for those around her. She was sassy and witty. I also liked how although she loved to read, and always carried books with her wherever she went, and no matter how hard people would tease her for this, she didn't let her books and reading become her defining trait, she was so much more than her books.

Gifford: Gifford, well, G, was considered to be the black sheep of the family. His older brother, Stan is clearly the favorite. G spends his days, from sunrise to sunset as a horse. At first, we didn't get an overwhelming sense of his personality, but after being with Jane, for the majority of the novel, we did get to see his strong, bright, and funny personality. When it was revealed that Jane was an E∂ian, and that she was a ferret, it was hilarious to see G accidentally keep calling her a rat.

Edward: Edward wasn't always the brightest. As the reader, as soon as you realize that there is a plot to murder him, you want to smack Edward upside the head, and say hey, dummy, look! I did like how in the middle and towards the end of the novel, Edward had an actual purpose. He was also an E∂ian (I mean, who isn't at this point?), but like Jane, he didn't know it at first. His was a bird. I was happy that he didn't end up dying, and I was impressed with the character development of Edward. By the end of the novel, he realized that he was not the best suited for the role of King, and passed the crown to his not evil sister, Bess, who would do a much better job as a ruler.

Setting (B+):

I love books that take place in England. I think they're so fun. I think any time the story took place outside, the setting was great. The hills and grass and woods were all explained very clearly, which made it very easy to picture them.

The only thing about the setting that I wish we would have gotten more, would've been the interior of the castle. I think a lot could've been done within the castle walls. I mean, there had to be secret passageways that would've helped with their escape.

Aesthetic (A+):

I love the aesthetics of the whole series. I love when a series have covers and titles that match and go well together. One of my favorite parts of the covers is the arrows with different sayings depending on which Jane the book is about. This one reminds readers that "Sometimes history gets it all wrong," and "Off with her head!", signifying what happened to the real Lady Jane Grey. I like the color scheme of the cover, I think the red is a nice nod to the recurring theme of Jane's red hair.

I also love the title. It's short and simple, but also memorable and relevant. My favorite thing about the aesthetics of the series is that all three books in the series complement each other really well. They will all look really good on a bookshelf together, because of their uniformity.

Recommended!!!