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A review by mdemanatee
The Cousins' War Collection: White Queen, Red Queen, Lady of the Rivers, Kingmaker's Daughter, The White Princess by Philippa Gregory
4.0
Despite my year-long wait from the publish date to read this title, this was the Cousin's War novel I was most eagerly anticipating. The White Queen had been my favorite so far, and I eagerly awaited picking back up Elizabeth York's story. Mostly, I wanted to know the reasoning behind her falling in love with King Richard, which was depicted in its early stages in the White Queen.
I was disappointed on a lot of levels with this book. For one, Elizabeth's love of Richard is never explained, but we open the book with her in mourning for Richard. We are then forced to deal with her anger at the Tudors for slaying Richard. The grudges she is able to forgive while holding on to this one make it hard to swallow. Especially because ware are only incessantly told of her love for Richard, we are given no real sense of their relationship or why she loves him.
Elizabeth's relationship with Henry is not sunshine and rainbows obviously, but it starts off in a way that made it incredibly difficult for me to ever have sympathy for him, especially as he spent the rest of the novel paranoid and petulant. It's fine to have those moments of darkness, but I saw no redeeming qualities in Henry's character. It's one thing to complicate the Tudor forwarded narrative of history, and another to present a flat, uninteresting character that dominates the novel.
In terms of the rewriting of history, the book focuses on the challenges Henry faces in keeping his crown after winning it from Richard III. Except, after four previous books the fight for the crown is well-trodden territory, and I really need a new angle to keep me going. Usually this angle is the relationships, something that didn't really pan out for me in this go-around. It might have been interesting from the boys in the tower angle. Is this really young Richard of York? Except, Gregory keeps information away from Elizabeth, and Elizabeth is apparently unable to draw her own conclusions even in her own mind. While the previous women of the Cousin's War series have been largely proactive forces, Elizabeth comes off as extremely passive and uninteresting. Despite the number of battles and uprisings, I feel as if nothing is happening, or as if the same events are happening over and over. The state of Henry's hold on the kingdom barely changes. Her relationship with Henry barely changes. Indeed, it got to the point where even barely there supporting characters felt more interesting.
Also, the hints of prophecy here are utterly ridiculous. The White Queen has the mystic throughout in a way, that while stretches credibility at times, is a central part of the tone and the narrative. In the White Princess, Elizabeth's premonitions about the future of the Tudor line, especially Elizabeth I, come out of nowhere and feel heavy handed and cheap.
I desperately wanted to love this book. Overall, I have enjoyed the Cousin's War series, and I was primed for Elizabeth to be my favorite. She was part of such an exciting time, a bridge between the York and Tudor houses. Unfortunately, I hope, this book did not seem to do her justice.
I was disappointed on a lot of levels with this book. For one, Elizabeth's love of Richard is never explained, but we open the book with her in mourning for Richard. We are then forced to deal with her anger at the Tudors for slaying Richard. The grudges she is able to forgive while holding on to this one make it hard to swallow. Especially because ware are only incessantly told of her love for Richard, we are given no real sense of their relationship or why she loves him.
Elizabeth's relationship with Henry is not sunshine and rainbows obviously, but it starts off in a way that made it incredibly difficult for me to ever have sympathy for him, especially as he spent the rest of the novel paranoid and petulant. It's fine to have those moments of darkness, but I saw no redeeming qualities in Henry's character. It's one thing to complicate the Tudor forwarded narrative of history, and another to present a flat, uninteresting character that dominates the novel.
In terms of the rewriting of history, the book focuses on the challenges Henry faces in keeping his crown after winning it from Richard III. Except, after four previous books the fight for the crown is well-trodden territory, and I really need a new angle to keep me going. Usually this angle is the relationships, something that didn't really pan out for me in this go-around. It might have been interesting from the boys in the tower angle. Is this really young Richard of York? Except, Gregory keeps information away from Elizabeth, and Elizabeth is apparently unable to draw her own conclusions even in her own mind. While the previous women of the Cousin's War series have been largely proactive forces, Elizabeth comes off as extremely passive and uninteresting. Despite the number of battles and uprisings, I feel as if nothing is happening, or as if the same events are happening over and over. The state of Henry's hold on the kingdom barely changes. Her relationship with Henry barely changes. Indeed, it got to the point where even barely there supporting characters felt more interesting.
Also, the hints of prophecy here are utterly ridiculous. The White Queen has the mystic throughout in a way, that while stretches credibility at times, is a central part of the tone and the narrative. In the White Princess, Elizabeth's premonitions about the future of the Tudor line, especially Elizabeth I, come out of nowhere and feel heavy handed and cheap.
I desperately wanted to love this book. Overall, I have enjoyed the Cousin's War series, and I was primed for Elizabeth to be my favorite. She was part of such an exciting time, a bridge between the York and Tudor houses. Unfortunately, I hope, this book did not seem to do her justice.