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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
This is "just finished" review. Like I said, I always wonder why I buy every book by Gregory, even when I think "this is the last one".
This time, Gregory follows Margaret Pole. I liked the character, although I think that Gregory shows too much bias towards one side. This is not as clear here as it was in The White Princess, where it became completely clear and created plot lines completely no sense. Here it's understandable in the way that since it's about a woman that was born to the royal family that lost the throne to the Tudors and a faithful lady to Queen Katherine, it's normal that she doesn't love Henry VII or Anne Boleyn.
Gregory is a confort author. When there's nothing interesting enough in the book shop, her books are always a safe choice... Even with all her flaws.
This time, Gregory follows Margaret Pole. I liked the character, although I think that Gregory shows too much bias towards one side. This is not as clear here as it was in The White Princess, where it became completely clear and created plot lines completely no sense. Here it's understandable in the way that since it's about a woman that was born to the royal family that lost the throne to the Tudors and a faithful lady to Queen Katherine, it's normal that she doesn't love Henry VII or Anne Boleyn.
Gregory is a confort author. When there's nothing interesting enough in the book shop, her books are always a safe choice... Even with all her flaws.
I couldn't put it down. I haven't loved every book in the Cousins War series - Elizabeth of York for instance seemed idiotic to me - but I loved Margaret Pole's story. The stories of the war from the women's points of view are long overdue. I have not seen Henry VIII portrayed like this before. In male dominated history he is always amusing, eccentric, quirky, misunderstood and married so many times! Gosh! In this story, written from the point of view of a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a governess and caregiver for princesses and princes, he is a brutal, insane wife and child abuser and a serial killer. Its a story we don't hear very often and it has a real ring of truth to it.
Gregory mines another War of the Roses life, following forty years of Margaret Pole (daughter of George of Clarence and Isabelle Neville, niece of Richard III)--married off to a minor Tudor follower, but brought back to court by Katherine of Aragon and in the front row as a supporter of the Queen and Princess Mary against the Boleyns and the Reformation.
I couldn't quite give this book five stars because I found that it dragged a little towards the very end of the book.
I have to commend Philippa Gregory on this book. I was very invested in the characters especially Margaret Pole which is the main aim of the book. She didn't make the prose boring which she has in some other books and she only made it too long winded towards the end but I suppose it's a historical novel and accuracy doesn't always come with entertainment.
This was a good read and a good edition to her Cousins series.
I have to commend Philippa Gregory on this book. I was very invested in the characters especially Margaret Pole which is the main aim of the book. She didn't make the prose boring which she has in some other books and she only made it too long winded towards the end but I suppose it's a historical novel and accuracy doesn't always come with entertainment.
This was a good read and a good edition to her Cousins series.
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Fan's of Phillippa Gregory know what to expect, and this is more of the same, but this did seem to me to be one of the richest examples of her work. The protagonist here, Margaret de la Pole, really hardly does anything, but that doesn't make the twists and turns of her life less fascinating. She's a witness to huge events, never really much of a player, yet she gives us an incredible bittersweet window into a memorable era.
This also worked particularly well as an audiobook.
This also worked particularly well as an audiobook.
Rather better than the last few volumes from the Queen's War series, but I'm glad to see the end of this project. Gregory's gift for deeply realized characters and complex relationships has suffered in her efforts to get all the chaotic eventfulness of England in the 15th and 16th centuries accounted for. Margaret Pole is a fascinating figure and the horrifying years of Henry VIII's tyranny offer a rich source of conflict -- but by choosing a character who survives as long as she did by staying carefully out of harm's way, Gregory ends up with a repetitive, narrow tale. One can't help comparing the pedestrian nature of this volume to Hilary Mantel's much more complex and exciting[b:Wolf Hall / Bring Up the Bodies|16117978|Wolf Hall / Bring Up the Bodies|Hilary Mantel|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1357248720s/16117978.jpg|21936396] -- or even to Gregory's own vastly superior [b:The Other Boleyn Girl|37470|The Other Boleyn Girl (The Tudor Court, #2)|Philippa Gregory|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355932638s/37470.jpg|3248536].
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes