The Crown

I ordered this in advance; had I reviewed in a store, I would not have bought it. The first volume was WONDERFUL, full of background on personae in the series, ample photographs, extensive context for events, consideration of relevant side issues, a timeline of the UK history during the years of the series. This book has none of that; it has a few pages of breezy chatter that summarizes the episodes (and not entirely well). The first book, covering the first series, was over 300 pages long; this one, with much larger print font, is shorter – and it covers series two and three! I read it in less than a day, and was very disappointed.

I was so excited to get this book but sorely let down after reading it. First of all, its season 2 and 3 in one book, which would be just fine if it was twice as thick as volume 1, but its not. Also the type face is so big compared to volume 1 that Id say at best its 2/3 the size in terms of pages compared to volume 1. There was one particular episode I was interested in, season 2, Dear Mrs. Kennedy, and there was not even a sentence dedicated to the events involving the Queen and the Kennedys. It was all about her trip to Ghana, which was fine but there were two stories in that episode. As well, that chapter was only 10 pages long in large type so you can imagine how little information there actually was. Volume 1 was a truly great book with lots of pictures and a wealth of good information. Volume 2 took 2 years to come out with about 2 minutes of effort in my opinion. Such a let down.

So disappointed in the lack of photos. The first volume had so many photos from both the series and real life, and the photos greatly enhanced the text of the book. I loved the comparison of real vs how the series portrayed the family. This Volume 2 Companion has only a couple photos from the tv series. Very disappointed.

Not as good as the first book because was more political detailed and less interesting. Also this book felt rushed particularly at the end to get the book published as quick as possible for the release of season 3. Recent events mentioned like the 2019 birth of Megan and Harry’s baby Archie as a comparison event. Season 2 portion of book was definitely not a companion book for series when it was originally released because this was released after Season 3 came out. Not a good time to combine seasons since a totally different cast played the characters except for John Lithrow as Winston Churchill.
Overall seemed like some episodes were not talked about but the political backstory instead. Seemed more like a modern history book and not about The Crown itself of both the show nor Royalty. Skimmed a lot at the end because it was boring and again rushed to get book off to the publisher.

I do really like this book. I think that it is done well. It was worth the purchase. It is a great companion to have for the series. Volume two covers seasons 2 and 3, It is detailed but maybe not as detailed as the first book. With this book being just under 300 pages and it is detailing two seasons you would think the page count would be larger. There is a lot of information here, but you would expect there would be longer chapters and photos.
The first book was so well done, that it was a hard act to follow. So when Mr. Lacey puts together vol. 3, I hope that its delivery is as good as vol. 1.

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