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eribannwen 's review for:
The Red Queen
by Philippa Gregory
informative
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While I love Philippa's books, I absolutely cannot stand Margaret Beaufort and that is the only reason that this isn't a 5-star read for me. It is no reflection on the author at all, just the person who the book is about.
Just like you can't squeeze blood from a stone, it is hard to squeeze a compelling story from a largely uninteresting and incredibly flawed person.
Margaret starts one way and ends the same way throughout the entire book. Aside from giving birth, all of her personal plans and attempts to get her son Henry VII on the throne really don't amount to much, and her interference and pride only end up causing more trouble for herself. Yes, her son takes the throne in the end, but it isn't really because of anything that she herself does. Her husband at the time would have sided with Henry during the battle with Richard at the last minute because they were winning, not because of any love he had for Margaret at the end of it. Yet she still ends the book pretending that she had some large role to play in the whole plot.
She just kind of sits and stews in the fact that she is unable to do anything, and proves the men around her right at every turn that she is stupid and incompetent when she does try to do things to further the cause of her son. But she never realizes that she is, in fact, a foolish twit throughout the entire book and just wallows in her self-martyrdom and feels vindicated by her son doing all the work in the end.
Just like you can't squeeze blood from a stone, it is hard to squeeze a compelling story from a largely uninteresting and incredibly flawed person.
Margaret starts one way and ends the same way throughout the entire book. Aside from giving birth, all of her personal plans and attempts to get her son Henry VII on the throne really don't amount to much, and her interference and pride only end up causing more trouble for herself. Yes, her son takes the throne in the end, but it isn't really because of anything that she herself does. Her husband at the time would have sided with Henry during the battle with Richard at the last minute because they were winning, not because of any love he had for Margaret at the end of it. Yet she still ends the book pretending that she had some large role to play in the whole plot.
She just kind of sits and stews in the fact that she is unable to do anything, and proves the men around her right at every turn that she is stupid and incompetent when she does try to do things to further the cause of her son. But she never realizes that she is, in fact, a foolish twit throughout the entire book and just wallows in her self-martyrdom and feels vindicated by her son doing all the work in the end.