I liked "A People's History of the Vampire Uprising", right until the end. I hope there's going to be a sequel, because otherwise the ending ruined the whole book for me. It made no sense. A dead body turns up in New Mexico, and then vanishes from the coroner's office, apparently having reanimated and walked away. A researcher from the CDC is called out to investigate the new "virus". Things start happening pretty fast: the vampires, or "Gloamings", as they prefer to be called, insist that they deserve special accommodations under the ADA and everyone's debating on whether what they have is a disease that needs a cure or not, and how much should companies accommodate them when they chose to become unable to come out in daylight? Due to their heightened strength and senses, law enforcement is having to scramble to come up with ways to catch Gloaming law breakers. It raised a lot of interesting questions and then...just ended. Disappointing.
I enjoyed Weir's take on Queen Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife. Jane is always portrayed (in all the nonfiction and fiction I've read) as having been a pawn in her ambitious family's plans. They basically disregarded Jane's wishes and threw her in Henry's path and encouraged her to lead him on. Weir pictures it a little differently: Jane served Queen Katherine of Aragon and saw the King bewitched by Anne Boleyn. She is dismayed when the King leaves his lawful wife for "The Lady" (or "The Concubine", as less charitable people called her). Jane was a devout, gracious Catholic lady who was loyal and devoted to Katherine, and having to leave her service to serve Anne after she's proclaimed Queen is torture, but she bears it well, knowing her duty is to her family. Henry is more and more aggrieved by Anne's behavior, and finds Jane a welcoming, comforting distraction. She doesn't pick fights and harp at him like Anne does, and Jane finds herself falling in love with the sweet man who has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
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