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cinthi's review
adventurous
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
dr4manrx's review against another edition
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Miscarriage
saranies's review
3.0
This was fine. It is incredibly frustrating to read a book about someone who has all the trappings of power but no real power.
jobinsonlis's review against another edition
3.5
I don’t like this book as much as the last one but I have to honest and say that it’s because I like Sharon Kay Penman’s depiction of Eleanor and Henry more. Here Henry is wholly unlikable and Eleanor is much less charming, which for all I know is closer to how they really were but it makes it a worse story for me. The only complications in this book are how Eleanor can survive being married to such a shitbag versus the more interesting story of her choosing her sons and their futures over a husband that frustrated her but was the great love of her life.
cimorene1558's review
5.0
A fine second book, and I continue to very much admire what the author has done with so little information, but the really hard stuff is coming, and I don't know if I can face book three.
lchamberlin97's review
3.0
I felt a little guilty rating this three stars because I loved the first book so much - it was the perfect blend of history and fiction.
This one...was too much history. I'm sorry, but it just felt like someone reading off a list of things that happened. Henry would do something crappy. Eleanor would get angry. Someone would die. Politics, politics, politics. I get it - it's all about the buildup, the reason things started crumbling, the slow development...but I was getting annoyed and bored. I still look forward to the third book, because I feel like that one has more potential to see Eleanor conniving and strong rather than just losing political games. Maybe. Hopefully. We'll see.
This one...was too much history. I'm sorry, but it just felt like someone reading off a list of things that happened. Henry would do something crappy. Eleanor would get angry. Someone would die. Politics, politics, politics. I get it - it's all about the buildup, the reason things started crumbling, the slow development...but I was getting annoyed and bored. I still look forward to the third book, because I feel like that one has more potential to see Eleanor conniving and strong rather than just losing political games. Maybe. Hopefully. We'll see.
barbaraf's review
4.0
Very long and wordy but good nonetheless, this book takes us through Eleanor of Aquitaine's tumultuous years as Queen of England. It is full of Angevin Court intrigue and even with the fictional dialogue there's a lot of Medieval English history to be learned here. Henry II had a very interesting reign and this novel also explores his deteriorating relationship with Thomas Becket, initally his trusted friend and Lord High Chancellor, and later the power hungry, insolent Archbishop of Canterbury. But the focus of the novel is Eleanor and her offspring. She is portrayed as intelligent, powerful and fiercely devoted to her children and heirs. Next book for me to complete the trilogy: the Autumn Throne...but after another book set in merry old England...
slb80's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0