Not So Happily Ever After: The Life of King Ludwig II Paperback – July 3, 2012

Sometimes when picking up a biography, I am concerned that it will read like a textbook -- boring and stale. This was an easy read with just the right amount of detail. It's probably written for a younger reader -- not the 55-year-old that I am. I know enough now that I can pick and choose whether or not to research The Fairytale King, or facets of his life, in greater detail.

The book is well researched and an easy read. We read it before visiting Neuschwanstein.

Quite a saga of one man and history.

I very much enjoyed reading this book. I thought that the author was quirky and fun and I enjoyed the history lesson wrapped into a fairy tale. Her description of Kind Ludwig's castles was point on. Reading her description of Neuschwanstein made me feel as thought I was there again. This is an enjoyable book and a must read for anyone that will be traveling to Bavaria and making a visit to any of King Ludwigs's castles.

The read was easy--- too easy sometimes. I often wondered if I had purchased a book for adults or children: there was an overuse of exclamation points and no parenthetical citations for sources, so I wasn't sure what exactly the tone or quality of the research. It's an easy read and enjoyable--especially on the train from Munich to Füssen on they way to see two of the castles, but it's like reading a children's book.

Interesting topic, it didn’t go too in depth so you would get confused but just enough to cover everything. Also helped with the pronunciation of some of the more confusing words

I finished your book on King Ludwig II last night. It was so moving. Even though I was familiar with the story and knew the ending, a tear was still brought to my eye when he was found. I learned things I didn't know and your epilogue was perfect. I fell more in love with him throughout the book. I think part of it was that I had lived in Germany and was familiar with the area and his castles as I had been fortunate enough to visit a couple of them. However, your book was so well written that I believe anyone reading it would be able to see Germany and the castles through their mind's eye just by your descriptive word. Kudos to you. I look forward to reading more from you, especially if it is on King Ludwig II or Germany/Europe.

After completing a jigsaw puzzle of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany, I bought the book to find out the story of King Ludwig. Now my husband and I want to visit the castle. This is a great book, and an easy read.

Recommend for the Neuschwanstein castle lovers! Wonderful story and tells history the best it can be told. Must read but yes there are others on the must read for this particular castle and it king

I read this after visiting Neuschwanstein and the Residenz during a holiday in Bavaria and found the book interesting and informative. It may seem fanciful in places but seems to reflect other accounts of the 'Fairy Tale' king. I have grown to like him and think he was an eccentric but creative genius who would have got on very well with Walt Disney whom his castle inspired. Very readable biography.

Great book with all the necessary details about Ludwig II's life. As a scholar of German History (B.A. and M.A.), I can say that this is a great place to start when exploring the deep and rich history of Bavaria. Just start with Ludwig II (an easy and exciting place to start!) and move on back to see how things progressed to get to his story. This is written very simply and is a quick and easy read!

Helps clarify a bit more if he comitted suicide or he had a personality problem or if he was an unhappy personthat when he had everything it wasn't what he wanted.

A good and useful biography of the subject.