lyndamk

Chronicling my historical fiction fun reading isn’t something I ever imagined doing, but I also usually don’t read so many books in one month. Thanks Cannonball Read for the motivation!

Last week I read the The White Queen by Phillipa Gregory. It is the first in The Cousins’ War series that covers the lives of three women during the War of the Roses. I started with the second novel, The Red Queen, which overall I thought was good for Gregory but I hated the main character. The main character in The White Queen is Elizabeth Woodville who marries (or seduces if you prefer) King Edward IV of England. She is an interesting and controversial historical figure because she was a commoner who married a king of England. Because of her family’s meteoric rise to power through her marriage, they quickly gained many enemies. When Edward’s reign was contested by his brother, etc she and her family became targets. Her sons by Edward IV are the princes in the tower whose deaths were attributed to Richard III (although I guess that doesn’t really hold water anymore).

I personally found the character of Elizabeth more engaging than her rival Red Queen, which is funny considering my friend Janel had the opposite impression (Ah, the joys of reading). While the use of magic is quite heavy handed at times, I found the character less grating and her story is much more varied that Margaret Beaufort’s constant praying and cackling that “My son will be king!”

I was also really impressed with Gregory’s scenes of the armies on the move, in particular the description of the Duke of Buckingham’s failed rebellion in the face of the (“magic”) storm. Her descriptions have definitely improved even if the dialogue may seem a bit off at times.

Overall it is a good series for historical fiction. I am on the waiting list for the final book in the triology the third in what may be a long running series (Wha?! The War of the Eoses did end, Phillipa), The Lady of the Rivers, about Elizabeth’s mother. I’ve read that it is the weakest of the three. We will see soon!