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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
Not as good as many of her other books in this series/genre - or perhaps I'm just getting burnt out on Henry VIII
Margaret Pole has been married into obscurity and is gladly hiding behind her husband’s name. She is the cousin of Elizabeth of York (the White Princess) and only wants to serve her husband and be a good wife. Her husband, Sir Richard, has been put in charge of the governorship of Wales and with the new Prince and Princess of Whales returning to continue their honeymoon, Margaret does everything she can to hide her own royal blood. After the unspeakable happens, the death of Prince Arthur, Katherine leaves for London with Margaret by her side. Katherine wishes to keep a deathbed promise to her husband and marry his younger brother, Henry VIII. Margaret is no longer able to live a small and isolated life and the drama of the king’s court follows her around like the hangman’s noose.
The King’s Curse is the final book in The Cousins’ War series. Although this is the sixth book in a series, the story brought to the reader is self-sustaining and can be read by itself. This is probably one of the most well-known stories of the Tudors, yet Gregory tells it from an often overlooked angle to bring additional insight into this historical time period. The information rolls off the page as if Margaret is sharing the story of her life and the characters are lovingly brought to the reader. I have found while reading books about this time period that the author creates villains out of some of the characters, yet in this book these historical figures are just people. Yes, some had made mistakes that are still talked about (and written about), yet Gregory is able to portray their actions without overplaying these decisions. This is a wonderful read and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys historical fiction or the Tudor time period.
The King’s Curse is the final book in The Cousins’ War series. Although this is the sixth book in a series, the story brought to the reader is self-sustaining and can be read by itself. This is probably one of the most well-known stories of the Tudors, yet Gregory tells it from an often overlooked angle to bring additional insight into this historical time period. The information rolls off the page as if Margaret is sharing the story of her life and the characters are lovingly brought to the reader. I have found while reading books about this time period that the author creates villains out of some of the characters, yet in this book these historical figures are just people. Yes, some had made mistakes that are still talked about (and written about), yet Gregory is able to portray their actions without overplaying these decisions. This is a wonderful read and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys historical fiction or the Tudor time period.
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Very much enjoyed her interpretation of the story, but found the present tense writing to be irritating!
The King's Curse was a fantastic read. Told from the POV of Margaret Pole, the reader is able to see the story progress through the different monarchs (and their wives) of England. The story covers many of the same stories Ms Gregory has told before, The Constant Princess, The Other Boleyn Girl, etc, but it still reads like a new story. It was also interesting to see a different side of Henry VIII, since Margaret, obviously, had different feelings towards him. I enjoyed reading The King's Curse and recommend it to any fan of Ms Gregory and Historical Fiction.
*The King's Curse was sent to me as an advance copy by Touchstone for the purposes of of review. I was not otherwise compensated for my review and this did not affect my review.
*The King's Curse was sent to me as an advance copy by Touchstone for the purposes of of review. I was not otherwise compensated for my review and this did not affect my review.
Another installment complete in my Plantagenet and Tudor obsessions. This books is told from lovely Lady Margaret Pole’s perspective. A fierce and passionately loyal servant to the white rose crown but forever questioned by Tudors. She is oldest person that faces the block as Henry VIII turns from lighthearted boy to obese paranoid King.
After reading the first 6 books in this series within about 3 months, I felt that I needed a break from the crazy of the Plantagenets & Tudors and it ended up being a 6 month break. When I started this book I remembered why I needed that break. It's not like the modern day world is really that much better, but all the lies, suspicions, plotting and general hatefulness just wore on my nerves.
This book was centered on Margaret Pole, who was Elizabeth of York's cousin and was basically raised with her, almost as a sister. I watched the Starz show The White Princess before starting this series and found that I liked Maggie in the show, although she seemed a little too timid/shy/scared for the role that she ultimately played. While this is historical fiction and based on a real person and real events, the author admits that there was some literary licence taken, because we just don't know everything that happened, mainly because a vast majority of correspondence was burned and that history is generally written by the victors.
Because these books overlap the beginning & ends with each other, we are not always starting at the beginning of the story of the main character and it was the same for this one. We were exposed to Margaret of York in the White Princess & the Red Queen, so we already know how she grew up and that she was married to Richard Pole to create an alliance with the Tudors (and to be kept under Tudor control), so this picks up after she has had her first 3 children and the day after her brother had been killed in the Tower.
After this, her story gets complicated. She's the guardian of a newly widow Katherine of Aragon and very attached to the princess when Katherine is removed from her care by Henry VII and Margaret goes to be a lady in waiting for her cousin, Queen Elizabeth. Then the queen dies shortly after giving birth , which begins to change Margarets fortunes for the worse and things really go down hill after her husband dies.
There's way too much to recap here, but over the years she, Katherine & the Princess Mary are in and out of each others lives which is something that always brings suspicion onto her once Henry the VIII takes the throne and you see that she has constant internal conflict with wanting to remain loyal to the King & the throne, but also having a loyalty to Katherine & Mary as the true Queen & Princess-Heir to the throne.
You see that it's not so much that she wants to remove Henry from power and replace him with a Plantagenet, but that he has clearly lost his mind and now is acting like he is God, which is a problem for the whole country, not just her & her family.
I did not know HOW her life ended, just when it ended, but according to the information that the author was able to obtain, it appears that she was sent to her death on the whim of a petulant man-child, without a trial, evidence or witnesses (either for or against her). Her loyalty was tested over and over and over and while she did try to get Princess Mary out of the country, she didn't actively work against the King and was loyal to him his entire life. The thanks she got for that? A treasonous death that was botched horribly.
In Philippa's Author Notes, she says that this novel was about the decline of Henry the VIII from a young handsome savior of the country to a sick, obese tyrant and that it made her think about how easily a ruler can slide into tyranny, especially if no one opposes him and of course that makes me think about what we, in the US, are dealing with on a daily basis with the current political climate (in 2018).
She notes that it's been theorized that Henry had a rare blood disease that was potentially the cause of all the miscarriages, stillbirths and infant deaths with his wives and also the cause of his mental decline as he got older. It would be interesting to see if he actually did have the disease and if that was the cause of his massively erratic behavior and mood swing of if he really was just an ass hole.
This book was centered on Margaret Pole, who was Elizabeth of York's cousin and was basically raised with her, almost as a sister. I watched the Starz show The White Princess before starting this series and found that I liked Maggie in the show, although she seemed a little too timid/shy/scared for the role that she ultimately played. While this is historical fiction and based on a real person and real events, the author admits that there was some literary licence taken, because we just don't know everything that happened, mainly because a vast majority of correspondence was burned and that history is generally written by the victors.
Because these books overlap the beginning & ends with each other, we are not always starting at the beginning of the story of the main character and it was the same for this one. We were exposed to Margaret of York in the White Princess & the Red Queen, so we already know how she grew up and that she was married to Richard Pole to create an alliance with the Tudors (and to be kept under Tudor control), so this picks up after she has had her first 3 children and the day after her brother had been killed in the Tower.
After this, her story gets complicated. She's the guardian of a newly widow Katherine of Aragon and very attached to the princess when Katherine is removed from her care by Henry VII and Margaret goes to be a lady in waiting for her cousin, Queen Elizabeth. Then the queen dies shortly after giving birth , which begins to change Margarets fortunes for the worse and things really go down hill after her husband dies.
There's way too much to recap here, but over the years she, Katherine & the Princess Mary are in and out of each others lives which is something that always brings suspicion onto her once Henry the VIII takes the throne and you see that she has constant internal conflict with wanting to remain loyal to the King & the throne, but also having a loyalty to Katherine & Mary as the true Queen & Princess-Heir to the throne.
You see that it's not so much that she wants to remove Henry from power and replace him with a Plantagenet, but that he has clearly lost his mind and now is acting like he is God, which is a problem for the whole country, not just her & her family.
I did not know HOW her life ended, just when it ended, but according to the information that the author was able to obtain, it appears that she was sent to her death on the whim of a petulant man-child, without a trial, evidence or witnesses (either for or against her). Her loyalty was tested over and over and over and while she did try to get Princess Mary out of the country, she didn't actively work against the King and was loyal to him his entire life. The thanks she got for that? A treasonous death that was botched horribly.
In Philippa's Author Notes, she says that this novel was about the decline of Henry the VIII from a young handsome savior of the country to a sick, obese tyrant and that it made her think about how easily a ruler can slide into tyranny, especially if no one opposes him and of course that makes me think about what we, in the US, are dealing with on a daily basis with the current political climate (in 2018).
She notes that it's been theorized that Henry had a rare blood disease that was potentially the cause of all the miscarriages, stillbirths and infant deaths with his wives and also the cause of his mental decline as he got older. It would be interesting to see if he actually did have the disease and if that was the cause of his massively erratic behavior and mood swing of if he really was just an ass hole.
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No