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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
I will rate and review after Hockessin Chuck Lit Book Group on 10/8/14.
Lightyears better than The Other Queen, more in the vein of the Tudor series. However, lot of the characters and their relationships are weakly drawn. It's promising to start out with, but quickly fizzles as she transitions from writing an interesting version of what could be history to a drawn out description of who's plotting against who and why.
The story of Elizabeth Woodville, however, is quite fascinating and relatively unknown, and it's worth reading for Gregory's uniquely feminist interpretation of a minor historical figure -- who was really quite major.
The story of Elizabeth Woodville, however, is quite fascinating and relatively unknown, and it's worth reading for Gregory's uniquely feminist interpretation of a minor historical figure -- who was really quite major.
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
In The Lady of the Rivers, Jacquetta is the matriarch of the Rivers women in England and this book is about Elizabeth Woodville, her oldest daughter and her link to the York bloodline and Kings. I watched the White Princess (from Starz) prior to reading any of these books, and I was about halfway thru this when I finally matched the characters from the show to this book. This is before when the show starts and I was slightly confused because there are SOOOO many women named Elizabeth, Margaret or Anne!
In this book, Philippa based as much as possible off of the history of England and the history of the people from that time and that makes a lot of the events that happen event more horrible than this just being a fiction novel. It's not that people now are that much better, but the shear amount of blood lust, deceit, and deal making/breaking that was involved is just astonishing. Some families, like the Rivers are super close, very loyal to their family and do not take "changing sides" lightly, while the others will kill their own brothers just to get what they want.
I know they didn't know what we do now about genetics, but the intermarrying of family members just grosses me out and it explains why a lot of them either couldn't have children or had unhealthy children that never survived to adulthood. This book ends with Elizabeth of York (Elizabeth Woodville/York's oldest daughter) coming of age along with Henry Tudor and the events that follow and become the White Princess, but it looks like there's at least one book between these, so I'm not sure who that focuses on, but I am definitely getting a better education about the people & events that led up to Henry VII's reign.
In this book, Philippa based as much as possible off of the history of England and the history of the people from that time and that makes a lot of the events that happen event more horrible than this just being a fiction novel. It's not that people now are that much better, but the shear amount of blood lust, deceit, and deal making/breaking that was involved is just astonishing. Some families, like the Rivers are super close, very loyal to their family and do not take "changing sides" lightly, while the others will kill their own brothers just to get what they want.
I know they didn't know what we do now about genetics, but the intermarrying of family members just grosses me out and it explains why a lot of them either couldn't have children or had unhealthy children that never survived to adulthood. This book ends with Elizabeth of York (Elizabeth Woodville/York's oldest daughter) coming of age along with Henry Tudor and the events that follow and become the White Princess, but it looks like there's at least one book between these, so I'm not sure who that focuses on, but I am definitely getting a better education about the people & events that led up to Henry VII's reign.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
informative
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Felt the ending was a bit dragging, but overall the entire story from how Edward and Elizabeth met to the princes in the tower to Richard taking over. It is a great story, but just lagged at points where they were in hiding.
This book was nowhere near as good as her previous ones. Could barely finish it.
3.5 stars. A little slow but a good start to the series