brooke stanton

Horribly written, atrociously voiced by AI

Revisado: 05-05-25

AI voice is THE WORST! Not only does “she” have any emotion (beheading and celebrations have the exact same tone) but no one checked her pronunciation. Years are sometimes read as they should be, sometimes as “one thousand, five-hundred”. When referring to poetic form, “she” says ABBA like the rock band. Petrarch is pronounced “Pete Arc”. Aside from the annoying AI blunders, the writing is repetitive, uninspiring, and somehow manages to make one of the most fascinating lives of Elizabethan England into a complete bore.

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Atrocious

Revisado: 02-19-25

So poorly written, filled with historical inaccuracies, and repetitive. Don’t waste your time unless you like being angry at inept “historical” accounts.

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Well told story of the life of a fascinating woman

Revisado: 08-30-24

Beautiful writing & gorgeous voice of the narrator makes this a relaxing & interesting story to listen to.

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Paints too rosy a picture

Revisado: 07-06-24

Told like a classic fairytale in which a scrappy young Mongol, faced with hard times, overcame adversity and ruled the world. Could not finish it, so perhaps there's a reality check of his ruthlessness by the end, but I doubt it.

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So snarky & true!

Revisado: 07-01-24

Superbly written. A pleasure to listen to (I’ve played it through twice & laughed both times!)

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Kick-ass history!

Revisado: 09-01-21

Finally! A kick-ass history about an amazingly strong, intelligent woman who gave zero fucks about what men thought she should be doing. Brilliantly & irreverently told in a way that makes Roman history fun & exciting!

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Lacking cultural insight

Revisado: 05-03-21

With the exception of the final chapter, the bulk of this tome is basically a chronological listing of the battles of the Crusades from a white male Christian perspective. Exceedingly dull and lacking in insight into all of the diversity of the rich cultures that dominated this area and time, the author fails to mention examples of the MANY linguistic, scientific, and culinary innovations the Western Crusaders adopted during their travels throughout & occupation of the Holy Land. The Jewish population’s contributions (and existence) is BARELY mentioned. If you’re looking for a blow by blow account of the battles from a biased Western perspective, this is the book for you.

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Dry & uninspired writing

Revisado: 11-15-20

Should be titled “the importance of taxation in medieval Europe”. Overarching & grandiose language. Barely touches on any artistic achievements (only literature & briefly architecture). Zero mentions of the massive technological advancements made, other than the 1 obvious: the printing press.

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Bad audio quality, poorly written book.

Revisado: 10-22-20

Poorly written. Horrible pronunciation (joust, banal, & several other regular English words mangled). Multiple audio production errors: whole sections skipped or sentences repeated.

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Scattered

Revisado: 08-29-18

Ms. Norton's conceit of organizing the book around Shakespeare's 7 stages of man would have worked better had she limited her stories to fewer women. Following the lives of say four women (a noble, a middle class woman, a peasant, and a nun, for example) experiencing each one of these stages would have made for an easier to follow story line. Instead, she lists various examples in each chapter, which is as scintillatingly told as a police register. On top of that, the reader's phrasing is completely off- she pauses in all the wrong places so that the sentences do not have a natural cadence. Factually, there are several errors, the most glaring one being her assertion that Catherine Parr was the first woman in England to publish a book using her own name. That honor went to Julian of Norwich in 1395.

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