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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
I used to read all of Philippa Gregory’s books when I was younger, and then I stopped for some reason. I really liked this book! I had forgotten how great of a writer she is! I am going to start picking up her books again next year. I love learning about figures in history that I don’t know a lot about. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Did Margaret think she was special? Hard to tell in this book’s interpretation!
First, I seriously disliked this woman, That Beaufort woman as I called her in my head. Secondly, this was another great story by Gregory. She sure has an easy way of writing.
She is pious, and as a child she is thrilled to have Saint's knees from kneeling so much. She wants to be like Joan of Arc, and lead her country to victory, she wants to be a nun and go to a convent. And she believes god put her on this earth to be queen. If anyone is hungry for power it is her. She longs to sign her name as Margaret R, for Regina, that is queen. How this goes together for her dream of becoming a nun I do not know. She is a power hungry woman who will kill children if they stand in her way.
Even though I liked the book this was my problem. Her faith, she saw it that God wanted a Lancaster on the throne, she saw fault in all the Yorks cos of this. She saw fault in her own husband when he didn't want to fight for Lancaster and she called him a coward. Even though her beloved Jasper Tudor fled the country like a coward and left her and his nephew behind. But he was never a coward. She was cold, and I finished this book by a disliking her..a lot!
That being said, this was a good novel. The pages just flew by cos Gregory has this easy way of writing. Things move along (most of the time), and no concern for any dry facts. It's light fiction, and after reading The White Queen is was interesting to see the war of the roses from the Lancaster side.
And now to make my point clear, I may be over 500 years too late, but I do believe I find myself to be a Yorkist, lol. And to my horror, I doesn't dislike Richard III any more, he was barely in this book and still, yes I am a Yorkist. I even made my mind up as to who killed the princes in the tower.
This book had some good side characters, I liked Henry Stafford, her 2nd husband, but felt so sorry for him for being hazzled by her. Jasper Tudor, I want to read a book about him, and last Lord Stanley who she met her match in. He followed his path, and that was the winning path.
Blodeuedd's Cover Corner: Quite the different from the white queen and this suits her.
Final thoughts: I guess I am looking forward to Elizabeth of York's story then.
She is pious, and as a child she is thrilled to have Saint's knees from kneeling so much. She wants to be like Joan of Arc, and lead her country to victory, she wants to be a nun and go to a convent. And she believes god put her on this earth to be queen. If anyone is hungry for power it is her. She longs to sign her name as Margaret R, for Regina, that is queen. How this goes together for her dream of becoming a nun I do not know. She is a power hungry woman who will kill children if they stand in her way.
Even though I liked the book this was my problem. Her faith, she saw it that God wanted a Lancaster on the throne, she saw fault in all the Yorks cos of this. She saw fault in her own husband when he didn't want to fight for Lancaster and she called him a coward. Even though her beloved Jasper Tudor fled the country like a coward and left her and his nephew behind. But he was never a coward. She was cold, and I finished this book by a disliking her..a lot!
That being said, this was a good novel. The pages just flew by cos Gregory has this easy way of writing. Things move along (most of the time), and no concern for any dry facts. It's light fiction, and after reading The White Queen is was interesting to see the war of the roses from the Lancaster side.
And now to make my point clear, I may be over 500 years too late, but I do believe I find myself to be a Yorkist, lol. And to my horror, I doesn't dislike Richard III any more, he was barely in this book and still, yes I am a Yorkist. I even made my mind up as to who killed the princes in the tower.
This book had some good side characters, I liked Henry Stafford, her 2nd husband, but felt so sorry for him for being hazzled by her. Jasper Tudor, I want to read a book about him, and last Lord Stanley who she met her match in. He followed his path, and that was the winning path.
Blodeuedd's Cover Corner: Quite the different from the white queen and this suits her.
Final thoughts: I guess I am looking forward to Elizabeth of York's story then.
Oh dear, after a return to form with 'The White Queen' Philippa Gregory has returned to the low of 'The Other Queen' with this novel about Margaret Beaufort, told form Margaret's point of view.
Gregory's ambition with this cycle of novels [five and counting] is to tell the story of the Wars of the Roses from the perspective of the women involved so the great set piece battles should be 'noises off', if you like. This worked for the 'White Queen' as Elizabeth Woodville and therefore the reader could hear about the battles through reported speech from participants as she was at the centre of politics.
However Gregory loses her first person narrative after only 124 pages into this novel as for much of the period in question Margaret was away from court and her second husband didn't always fight. This is a major structural weakness as is ending the novel with 36 pages of third person narrative of the Battle of Bosworth.
Margaret is such an interesting character [politician, patron of learning] but all of that is lost in this novel which reduces her to her piety and ambition. Margaret had a very traumatic gynaecological history but nowhere is the effect of this on her psychology or actions explored. Is Gregory trying to suggest that there is more to women than biology or was she just not able to deal with it?
I would have loved to have read about the Margaret Beaufort who paid someone to go on pilgrimage for her because she was too busy playing cards! [See 'Blood Sisters' by Sarah Gristwood]
So not as good as the 'White Queen' and leaving me worried that Gregory can't sustain her Cousin's War 'project'.
Gregory's ambition with this cycle of novels [five and counting] is to tell the story of the Wars of the Roses from the perspective of the women involved so the great set piece battles should be 'noises off', if you like. This worked for the 'White Queen' as Elizabeth Woodville and therefore the reader could hear about the battles through reported speech from participants as she was at the centre of politics.
However Gregory loses her first person narrative after only 124 pages into this novel as for much of the period in question Margaret was away from court and her second husband didn't always fight. This is a major structural weakness as is ending the novel with 36 pages of third person narrative of the Battle of Bosworth.
Margaret is such an interesting character [politician, patron of learning] but all of that is lost in this novel which reduces her to her piety and ambition. Margaret had a very traumatic gynaecological history but nowhere is the effect of this on her psychology or actions explored. Is Gregory trying to suggest that there is more to women than biology or was she just not able to deal with it?
I would have loved to have read about the Margaret Beaufort who paid someone to go on pilgrimage for her because she was too busy playing cards! [See 'Blood Sisters' by Sarah Gristwood]
So not as good as the 'White Queen' and leaving me worried that Gregory can't sustain her Cousin's War 'project'.
ok, I liked this until the end. Not that the end was bad, it was good, but to me, the last battle for the Throne of England was sooo slow and dragged. But the thing I loved most abou this book is that you learn what Lady Margaret Beaufort had to go through. Especially when she was married at a very young age (try 12. it sucked for her) and how her husband had treated her, and how she was pressured to have an heir so that the Tudor family could have an heir and put him on the throne where he belongs. She is the ultimate power mom!!! I loved her!! Yes, she made a few mistakes but she was actually an incredible woman. I'd still recommend this book but it was very good storytelling. :D
"I shall be the mother of a king. I shall be all but Queen of England."
As a future history major, historical fiction is one of my favorite, yet most feared genres. I view it as a fun way to learn, but you can't always believe what an author writes, hence the 'fiction' in historical fiction. Philippa Gregory isn't always accurate, so going into this book I was cautious about believing just about anything, but I still wanted to enjoy it.
The Red Queen is the story of Margaret Beaufort, the future mother of King Henry VII. This novel goes from when Margaret is nearly 12 years old to when she is in her 40s and follows her through her 3 marriages, her multiple campaigns and almost everything she when through in her life.
Thankfully, I nearly loved this novel. There was one major factor that made me dock a star, but we'll get to that later. For now, let's talk about the accuracy. I fact checked everything, from births to marriages to deaths and I did find somethings that irked me. I, for one, didn't like how Gregory portrayed the Boys in the Towers situation and their end. I like the idea of leaving it a mystery, since that's how we see it today. It did bring up a possibility that I have never considered, but personally I like the mystery of who plotted against them. I did appreciate that we never know if the boys were killed or not, though. The other situation that bothered me, not as a romance loving reader, but as a history buff, was the romance between Jasper Tudor and Margaret Beaufort. I have so far found nothing saying that they had a romance, but I will continue my research.
The main problem I had with this book, though, was Margaret herself. I found her to be very self-righteous and that she was God's Chosen One and she could not sin, even though almost every thought she had was a sin. She did not believe that she was vain, although she kept calling herself the Chosen One and she was ordained by God to bear the next King of England. She constantly blamed others for her misfortunes and overall turned everything wrong with herself back onto some else.
Overall, this book was really good. The writing was simplistic enough that someone who isn't familiar with the history of England or the War of the Roses could understand, but it was still at an adult reading level. It was fast paced and never dropped my attention. I couldn't put this book down. It gave an interesting insight on a figure that I never personally had taken interest in or knew much about.
I highly recommend this book to avid historical fiction fans and anyone who wants to dip their toes into this fantastic genre.
As a future history major, historical fiction is one of my favorite, yet most feared genres. I view it as a fun way to learn, but you can't always believe what an author writes, hence the 'fiction' in historical fiction. Philippa Gregory isn't always accurate, so going into this book I was cautious about believing just about anything, but I still wanted to enjoy it.
The Red Queen is the story of Margaret Beaufort, the future mother of King Henry VII. This novel goes from when Margaret is nearly 12 years old to when she is in her 40s and follows her through her 3 marriages, her multiple campaigns and almost everything she when through in her life.
Thankfully, I nearly loved this novel. There was one major factor that made me dock a star, but we'll get to that later. For now, let's talk about the accuracy. I fact checked everything, from births to marriages to deaths and I did find somethings that irked me. I, for one, didn't like how Gregory portrayed the Boys in the Towers situation and their end. I like the idea of leaving it a mystery, since that's how we see it today. It did bring up a possibility that I have never considered, but personally I like the mystery of who plotted against them. I did appreciate that we never know if the boys were killed or not, though. The other situation that bothered me, not as a romance loving reader, but as a history buff, was the romance between Jasper Tudor and Margaret Beaufort. I have so far found nothing saying that they had a romance, but I will continue my research.
The main problem I had with this book, though, was Margaret herself. I found her to be very self-righteous and that she was God's Chosen One and she could not sin, even though almost every thought she had was a sin. She did not believe that she was vain, although she kept calling herself the Chosen One and she was ordained by God to bear the next King of England. She constantly blamed others for her misfortunes and overall turned everything wrong with herself back onto some else.
Overall, this book was really good. The writing was simplistic enough that someone who isn't familiar with the history of England or the War of the Roses could understand, but it was still at an adult reading level. It was fast paced and never dropped my attention. I couldn't put this book down. It gave an interesting insight on a figure that I never personally had taken interest in or knew much about.
I highly recommend this book to avid historical fiction fans and anyone who wants to dip their toes into this fantastic genre.
This is just not a good book. I am a Gregory fan but really...this book is just bad. Some attribute this to the unlikeable protagonist but I disagree. I have read books where the main characters are awful but the story is compelling. This is just not one of them.
The novel is so repetitive: the Joan of Arc obsession, the will of God, the Riverses are whores, blah blah. There is so little interaction between Margaret and Woodley, that the hatred came out of nowhere. Margaret is at one point powerful with a massive network of spies but this is told and not shown- like most of this dreary empty book.
I enjoyed the first book immensely but this was a real letdown. It was a challenge to get through this and for a Gregory book of only 300 pages that's disappointing.
The novel is so repetitive: the Joan of Arc obsession, the will of God, the Riverses are whores, blah blah. There is so little interaction between Margaret and Woodley, that the hatred came out of nowhere. Margaret is at one point powerful with a massive network of spies but this is told and not shown- like most of this dreary empty book.
I enjoyed the first book immensely but this was a real letdown. It was a challenge to get through this and for a Gregory book of only 300 pages that's disappointing.
What an absolute eye opener! Margaret is absolutely not someone I have ever rooted for. I honestly despised her and now I see her in a new light. Obviously this is fiction but it helps show perspectives that may be completely disregarded otherwise. Enjoyed this avid storytelling.
Margaret might be the most annoying main character I’ve ever read. She’s the biggest hypocrite in the world and she had this weird one sided beef with Elizabeth Woodville that got on my nerves.
Still it was more interesting than the first book.
Still it was more interesting than the first book.