I know more about the British royal family than I would care to admit. No, not that current nonsense with Harry and Meghan. No, not Henry VIII. Well, maybe Henry VIII. But truly, his mother, his grandfather, and the Plantagenets before them.

So I picked this up as I was curious about other European royals of this time. The bits I know about Germans are those that married into the British and Russian royal families. Who knew Catherine the Great was German and Marie Antoinette was Austrian? Maybe a lot of you. I didn't.

This reads so smoothly and entertainingly I nearly thought it was a biography. As with all such things, parts were slow, but overall, I enjoyed myself, and I will do some research into the German and Austrian royal families at a later time. Message received.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

I started this book very engaged and interested. The characters are lively, the actual history is fascinating, the pairing of royal eccentrics is compelling. However I found myself getting tired of the machinations. I also found the level of fictionalization hard to determine as I’m not so familiar with the details of these figures. I put it down somewhat disappointed in the end.

My icon queen Sissy was not let down by this inlay fun book read to perfection by icon queen Jefferson May.

Okay—I’m still obsessed with Jac Jemc’s writing, but I’m just not all that interested in historical fiction. This is a failure of the reader, a size that didn’t quite fit me, even though the writing was phenomenal.

I received an ARC of this book by the publisher via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review.

Empty Theatre took me by surprise. I initially thought it was going to be a pop-history nonfiction that delved into the outrageous lives of two cousins, Empress Elisabeth of Austria (most famously known as Sisi) and King Ludwig II of Bavaria (the "mad king" who built the incredible Neuschwanstein castle). Both dealt with mental illness that was hereditary through their family and I hadn't made a connection before discovering this book that both were obsessed with beauty to an unhealthy degree. Sisi famously dealt with anorexia and OCD regarding her body and looks. I'd studied Sisi's life previously because I'd been toying with a book idea that her life inspired (hopefully I can get around to that one day). And I knew the bare minimum about Ludwig.

It took me a bit to realize that this wasn't a nonfiction but a fictional take on it. The gay sex scenes might have given it away lol. Empty Theatre has a very irreverent, dishy, and sardonic tone to it. Both Sisi and Ludwig led very scandalous and dramatic lives. I leave the book however not knowing where the line falls regarding historical accuracy. And I'm very curious as to what was inspired by real life or gossip at the time and what is from Jemc's imagination. I wish there had been an author's note explaining how many liberties were taken in the writing of the book. Because there are certain scenes in the book that are wild and I really want to know if they truly happened.

However, I enjoyed the experience of going through this book. I found the tone fun and I did learn a lot about Ludwig II's life. It's hard to pinpoint the exact way I'd describe the tone, but I'll settle with darkly humorous. If gay sex offends you then this isn't the book for you, although it's not as detailed as some novels are. But it's a known fact that Ludwig was gay.

I listened to the audiobook and I'd like the highlight Jefferson Mays' performance. He was incredible! He was engaging and humorous plus his accents were spot on. I believe he really uplifted the experience of reading/listening to the book. 4 out 5 stars for Empty Theatre and 5 stars for Mays.

This book retelling the story of King Ludwig and Empress Sisi was definitely worth the read and I really enjoyed it! The storytelling was entertaining and clever, educational without being boring, and an insightful despite somewhat fictional look into these historical figures lives.

I recommend this for anyone who likes history, dry humor, and unique stories.

I enjoyed listening to Empty Theater The narration I kept me entertained and hooked the whole time.
Thank you Netgalley for ARC in exchange of my honest feedback

Jac Jemc’s newest novel, Empty Theatre, is a fictional biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria and King Ludwig II, but that phrase fails to capture the true nature of the story. Indeed, that may be better portrayed by the extravagantly long subtitle: “Or The Lives Of King Ludwig II Of Bavaria And Empress Sisi Of Austria, Queen Of Hungary, Cousins, In Their Pursuit Of Connection And Beauty Despite The Expectations Placed On Them Because Of The Exceptional Good Fortune Of Their Status As Beloved National Figures. With Speculation Into The Mysterious Nature Of Their Deaths.” Empty Theatre is epic adventure, a love story, and a tragedy. Jefferson Mats’ narration of the audiobook successfully delivers both the sarcastic and sympathetic. It is a campy novel which has no reservations about portraying the good, the bad, and the absurd of monarchs in the 19th century.

The novel opens with a compressed version of the lives of Sisi and Ludwig. We are given an expedient rundown of two lives that will play out over the course of the next 400 pages, both of which will conclude with mysterious deaths. The reader is tantalized from the start with this enigma, but before they are allowed to read Jemc’s conclusions, they will be taken on a twisting ride through the fantasia of the lives of these monarchs. Ludwig’s Neuschwanstein castle was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s castle in Disneyland, but the further you descend into Empty Theatre, the less it looks like the happiest place on earth, and the more it appears a house of mirrors, where Ludwig and Sisi contort and distort themselves into who society wishes them to be.

Indeed, the strength of Empty Theatre is that it manages to acknowledge the lived experiences of Sisi and Ludwig without diminishing their intelligence, but also while pointing out how ridiculous it is. Jemc acknowledges both the pain and privilege that come with Sisi and Ludwig’s positions. Ludwig is forced into a job he neither likes nor is good at, and is unable to live truly as himself. On the other hand, his enormous wealth allows him to fritter his money away by sponsoring operas which take a suspiciously long time to complete, and grandiose palaces which won't be completed in his lifetime. Sisi is isolated, with few true friends. Her overbearing mother-in-law isolated her from her children. Her true passions are horseback riding and Hungary. She is known for her beauty, and as a result goes to extreme means to keep up appearances and conform to traditional beauty standards. She also pushes her husband away and ignores her children when they truly need her.

The more I write, the more I feel I can't accurately capture Empty Theatre in my own words, it is just something you have to read for yourself. The audiobook is perfect for anyone who might traditionally shy away from historical fiction or long books, because it makes Jemc's loquacious writing incredibly digestible. It is a novel that is fun, but will also make you think deeply about art, the monarchy, and the construction of the self.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Empress Sisi of Austria are both historical figures I did not know much about before reading/listing to this novel. The satirical take on these historical figures made learning about them much more enjoyable and fascinating than just researching them. It's an interesting way to get into an era. like Hamilton, Six, and Reign, it provides a great stepping stone for, long as you remember to take it all with a grain of salt. It's such a light-hearted perspective on a time period that is considerably darker.
I ended up reading along to the audiobook. The passing of the book was perfect for me but without the voices, it became very dull to read, and listing became confusing with the many, MANY characters. The two parallel stories do make it harder to follow along than just one would have, but they are so intertwined and share similar themes, that removing one would have removed the other.
Additionally for the audiobook, specifically Jefferson Mays NAILS narrating this.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free ARC copy of the audiobook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fictional retelling of the lives of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Sisi (Elizabeth), Empress of Austria. These royal cousins shared many relatives and also shared some common traits. They both held an appreciation for beauty, music and arts, and also a desire for escaping their royal responsibilities. Ludwig and Sisi each also experienced tragedies and were in unhappy or unsatisfying personal, family, and romantic relationships. The audiobook was narrated well and would recommend this to anyone that enjoys this time period. Although this is a work of fiction, it is based on facts and actual events.

I really enjoyed this one. It was a fun and engaging take on this story. I am happy I got to read this one.

I like the tone and premise of this novel, but it didn't really capture me the way that I had hoped!

This is a really, really difficult book to follow along to via audiobook format. This is no fault of the narrator, and just a consequence of so many characters being introduced into the book. I was not a fan of this because it was impossible for me to keep track who was who without a relationship diagram.

I eventually gave up and just listened to the story without really understanding the relationships between people. I don’t think it was necessary to have so many characters, and it could have been a much better book by sticking to just 1 or 2 main ones.

I would suggest that people read the physical book instead of listening to it, as it will likely be infinitely easier to follow along. Because of this, I have to dock at least one star. Another star is for how unnecessarily long this book was. This is another book that I felt was way too dense and required a lot of focus. Definitely not a light read.

I think it had a lot of potential to be a good book, but when you can’t even follow along with all the characters, it’s automatically going to end poorly.

Huge thanks to Netgalley for this audiobook. This is a fictionalized and satire account of the life of the empress Elizabeth “Sissi” of Bavaria and her cousin Ludwig, their eccentricities, their hardships and their life in the Royalty.
I’ve always been interested in Sissi and her very sad life. Married at 16 to emperor Franz Joseph who choses her over her older sister, she is forced to fit in the very strict protocol of the royalty. Her first child is taken from her to be raised by her mother in law, she is neglected by her husband over politics and she slowly falls into anxiety and obsession with youth and beauty.
I loved the narrator’s voice and pacing, it adds to the drama even more.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria and his cousin, Empress Sisi of Austria, were the rock stars of the nineteenth century. If they lived today, we'd undoubtedly follow their everyday life watching reality TV. Unable to do it, I'm thrilled that Jac Jemc took on an ambitious project bringing those two to life in a fictionalized biography, "Empty Theatre."

When Ludwig was a child, he refused to eat and turned away whenever he found the servant not beautiful. Later, his life as the King of Bavaria was not so much about ruling the country as searching for unattainable beauty. Building the new castles, each unfinished and more extravagant than the previous one, he saw the world as the stage, with him as the only spectator. It was even symbolically reflected in reality when he attended the performances, where there was no audience, just the actors and the King applauding loudly, the sound of his clapping echoing in the empty hall. The situation was grotesque and satirical but also emphasized the tragedy of his life. Having everything, he was an incredibly lonely man.

At the same time, Sisi, his cousin, experienced another kind of loneliness: the loneliness of a woman whose only purpose in life was to produce an heir to the throne. She realized she was the portal between the generations of emperors and tried to distract herself by traveling to distant places. A beautiful woman with long hair, she became a friend of Ludwig and understood his peculiarities and his search for beauty in life. She was terrified of aging and followed strange beauty regimens, such as putting raw veal and strawberries on her face.

I loved this book. It's formatted as short chapters, moving back and forth from Ludwig to Sisi, which kept me interested, like putting an intricate puzzle together. I was constantly surprised by Ludwig's antics and touched by Sisi's tries to be a good mother: it was difficult, as her children were taken from her often (as a queen, she wasn't allowed to nurse them and even spent more time with them.) I also loved the slightly tongue-in-cheek humor, especially evident in the audiobook by a great narrator, Jefferson Mays. One of the examples was when Ludwig went for a romantic boat ride with his fiancée, which ended up with his companion falling in the water and being rescued, not by the handsome King but by a servant summoned by Ludwig who wasn't about to save her. Once more, the idea of poetry and beauty in his life was confronted with reality, sometimes tragic, other times hilarious.

Larger than life, plagued by mental illnesses, Ludwig's suppressed homosexuality, and Sisi's unhappy life as a woman who was briskly taken from her happy horse rides to a palace, those two are as lively today as they were in the late nineteenth century.

It's important to note that I listened to the audiobook version of Empty Theatre. The first half had me captivated! The Crown meets Real Housewives laced with coy satire. I was overwhelmingly entertained! However, about halfway through, there were more characters than I could even try to remember and keep straight. This only became more confusing with the jumping back and forth between Ludwig and SiSi since there weren't key transitions on the audiobook.

I imagine someone who reads this book would have a very different experience so I'm hesitant to speak broadly about the book since many of my qualms with it come from listening to it.

Overall, the characters were incredibly developed, perfectly extravagant, and balanced both being relatable to everyone and so entirely unrelatable it was comical.

As always, I'm appreciative to NetGalley for a copy of this book and look forward to recommending it to a few of my friends who this would be just up their alley!

This was an interesting juxtaposition of cousins, Empress Elisabeth of Austria and King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Though both have gone down in history for some of their eccentricities, such as King Ludwig's Neuschwanstein Castle, which was the inspiration for the Disney castle, and Empress Elisabeth's stringent skincare routine. The cousins both shared similar melancholic temperaments due to the constraints that royalty dealt them. Ludwig was a spoiled, coddled child who repressed his sexual orientation due to social constructs. Sisi, as she was know to her family and friends, grew up free in the Bavarian countryside and was not meant to be Empress. Franz fell in love with her and that was how she ended up in the role that her sister had been groomed to take. Sisi was not ready for the pressure of the position nor the influence of her mother-in-law. She was not allowed to raise her children and struggled with eating disorder throughout her whole life at court. Eventually both met untimely deaths in unusual circumstances. Sisi murdered by an anarchist and Ludwig drowning in a lake after an attempt to depose him for not being fit to rule. They spent their lives searching for approval while commiserating in the similar issues that they faced. This was an interesting listen.

This book was absolutely fantastic, and I loved every minute of it! It filled that gaping hole in my chest as I waited for season 3 of "The Great" to be announced.

Despite being a royal biography, the author has infused every page with so much life it feels as if these historical figures were still alive and (un)well. I know this book is written on a satirical note, but it feels so real, so alive, that I could entirely believe every bit of it. The most impressive part, however, was how the author captured mental illness, as Sissy and Ludwig battle depression and generational trauma while surrounded by everything they could possibly want - except lives of their own. It draws such an interesting line and I keep annoying my friends by trying to draw them into discussions about it.

The book was made even better by the voice acting of the audiobook narrator. All I can say is - they NAILED it. The little pompous air fit so perfectly. Count me thoroughly impressed!

This fictionalized account of Ludwig II and Sisi is one to be lauded. The absolute truth of celebrity's tendency to breed feelings of stifling confinement was an overarching theme. Despite this, though, Jac Jemc depicts two deeply flawed characters whose flagrant profligacy and selfish ignorance take the reader through a rollercoaster ride of sympathy -- sometimes they need to catch a break, and sometimes they need a dose of reality. I think the subtitle of this novel says it all -- the reason this novel is a tragedy, as the author points out to us from the beginning, is that they pursue connection and beauty, and neither one has the depth and maturity to reach them. Woven deftly through the lives of these two major political and historical figures are resonant themes and relatable feelings, if not circumstances.

I was given a NetGalley widget for this one a year ago and I just got around to reading it and dangit it was so good. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have consumed this wildly relevant fictional tale, which felt not at all fictional, more like historical fiction, due to the times. The cover initially was what drew me in, but I'm so thankful to have stuck with it because the outcome was magical. I always love listening to audiobooks and when they sweep me off my feet, I'm just utterly captivated! I always really enjoy multi-cultural fiction, for I embark on a journey through a land unknown to me, while still getting excited.