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loudgls89's review
3.0
I’m torn with my opinion on this book, I really am. For huge parts of the book the plot was fast paced and kept me engrossed, but then there were times when it felt like a huge slog to keep turning the pages, and in the end it took me over a month to finish reading because I just didn’t feel that ‘urge’ to pick the book up and keep reading.
I’ve not read much historical fiction like this, so I’m not sure if it’s the genre I don’t get on with or just this book, so don’t take my 3 star review too seriously as it might just not be the genre for me.
Personally, I found the main character Cicely a tad unrelatable, and for the other point of view, Cuthbert, I spent most of the book wondering why we needed his perspective. If the book needed a split perspective, I would have rather had a Cicely/Richard split, so we could have some more action included. Since most of the book centered around Cicely’s marriage, it would have been good to see her husband’s point of view too.
The other thing that really bothered me is that the book jumped huge amounts of time with hardly a mention, and I found it really hard to keep up with what year we were moving from and to, which was slightly disconcerting.
On the plus side, I did really enjoy reading a different type of book to my normal young adult/fantasy books. And although I know that it was fiction, I did like the fact that it was based in history and you could get a sense of life 500 years ago. I’ve never really known much about the war of the roses, so it was nice to learn a bit more (although I’m not sure how much to take as fact!).
I have a few Philippa Gregory books that have been sat on my shelf for ages, so I think I will have to read these soon to try and gauge my opinion on the historical fiction genre in general, maybe trying a few different authors will help!
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/06/25/joanna-hickson-red-rose-white-rose/
I’ve not read much historical fiction like this, so I’m not sure if it’s the genre I don’t get on with or just this book, so don’t take my 3 star review too seriously as it might just not be the genre for me.
Personally, I found the main character Cicely a tad unrelatable, and for the other point of view, Cuthbert, I spent most of the book wondering why we needed his perspective. If the book needed a split perspective, I would have rather had a Cicely/Richard split, so we could have some more action included. Since most of the book centered around Cicely’s marriage, it would have been good to see her husband’s point of view too.
The other thing that really bothered me is that the book jumped huge amounts of time with hardly a mention, and I found it really hard to keep up with what year we were moving from and to, which was slightly disconcerting.
On the plus side, I did really enjoy reading a different type of book to my normal young adult/fantasy books. And although I know that it was fiction, I did like the fact that it was based in history and you could get a sense of life 500 years ago. I’ve never really known much about the war of the roses, so it was nice to learn a bit more (although I’m not sure how much to take as fact!).
I have a few Philippa Gregory books that have been sat on my shelf for ages, so I think I will have to read these soon to try and gauge my opinion on the historical fiction genre in general, maybe trying a few different authors will help!
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/06/25/joanna-hickson-red-rose-white-rose/
readerbug2's review
3.0
FYI: this book was actually 531 pages for me, including the Epilogue and Author's Note.
This book was pretty middle of the road for me. First of all, I applaud Joanna Hickson for writing about someone as formidable and complicated as Cicely Neville. She's a woman that I've been fascinated with for some time, and I was glad of the opportunity to read about her.
Some pros were the interesting characters and plot. The historical detail added another dimension to the story and made it easier to imagine these people living their lives, as chaotic as those would've been.
The biggest con for me was the writing. There were quite a few, distracting typos, but that wasn't the biggest problem. Hickson is very expository in her writing. Part of that is because the history of the Wars of the Roses is very complex, but it felt like she tried to cram every English nobleman into her story. She would explain who so-and-so was when they only appeared for a paragraph, never to be seen again, and that was annoying. I lost track of everyone after awhile, and I completely forgot about the family trees in the front of the book. I'm sorry to say that if I hadn't read Philippa Gregory first, I would've been completely lost here.
The other annoying thing about Hickson's writing was that she over-explained every situation until the emotional punch was removed from the scene. This got a little better towards the end, but the end also suffered from a generalized overview of the events that I was bored and desperate to finish.
I'm torn on how Hickson employed a second POV in her story. Red Rose, White Rose is told from the perspective of Cicely Neville and her half-brother Cuthbert. On the one hand, I loved reading about battles while being in the thick of them and being privy to scenes where our heroine (and other women) would've been absent. That said, Cicely is a fascinating person, and she witnessed a lot of history in her life, a lot of humiliation and triumph. I would've enjoyed hearing more from her.
This is a longer book, so I wouldn't recommend it to casual fans of medieval history. You'll get lost before you even get started. If you're like me and you're fascinated by Cicely Neville, or you just want to learn more about the Wars of the Roses, then this book is for you. Just be prepared to be in it for the long haul.
This book was pretty middle of the road for me. First of all, I applaud Joanna Hickson for writing about someone as formidable and complicated as Cicely Neville. She's a woman that I've been fascinated with for some time, and I was glad of the opportunity to read about her.
Some pros were the interesting characters and plot. The historical detail added another dimension to the story and made it easier to imagine these people living their lives, as chaotic as those would've been.
The biggest con for me was the writing. There were quite a few, distracting typos, but that wasn't the biggest problem. Hickson is very expository in her writing. Part of that is because the history of the Wars of the Roses is very complex, but it felt like she tried to cram every English nobleman into her story. She would explain who so-and-so was when they only appeared for a paragraph, never to be seen again, and that was annoying. I lost track of everyone after awhile, and I completely forgot about the family trees in the front of the book. I'm sorry to say that if I hadn't read Philippa Gregory first, I would've been completely lost here.
The other annoying thing about Hickson's writing was that she over-explained every situation until the emotional punch was removed from the scene. This got a little better towards the end, but the end also suffered from a generalized overview of the events that I was bored and desperate to finish.
I'm torn on how Hickson employed a second POV in her story. Red Rose, White Rose is told from the perspective of Cicely Neville and her half-brother Cuthbert. On the one hand, I loved reading about battles while being in the thick of them and being privy to scenes where our heroine (and other women) would've been absent. That said, Cicely is a fascinating person, and she witnessed a lot of history in her life, a lot of humiliation and triumph. I would've enjoyed hearing more from her.
This is a longer book, so I wouldn't recommend it to casual fans of medieval history. You'll get lost before you even get started. If you're like me and you're fascinated by Cicely Neville, or you just want to learn more about the Wars of the Roses, then this book is for you. Just be prepared to be in it for the long haul.
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