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A review by rachel_kw
Uncrowned Queen: The Life of Margaret Beaufort, Mother of the Tudors by Nicola Tallis
3.0
I didn't like this book that much :/
I didn't dislike it enough to rate it any lower but it's definitely not my favorite either. I think the book really dragged throughout the main events of the war of the roses. Perhaps it's because Margaret was only really involved at the end when Richard III became king so she didn't really have much to do otherwise.
I did learn some stuff though! Margaret making the dangerous trek to the safety of Pembroke Castle while 7 or 8 months pregnant at 13 is INSANE and it totally shows the kind of person she was.
I liked the last third once Henry became king, I was considering not finishing during the middle chunk but the book got better once the war of the roses ended.
There were also a couple of things that just seemed off??? Tallis presented it as a fact that Richard was keen to marry his niece Elizabeth (ew) when other books I've read on the war of the roses have said that he probably actually didn't want to (and he made a public statement saying he would never even consider it since the very idea made people really pissed off). She also implied that Elizabeth was kind of into it, which doesn't make sense considering Richard is responsible for her brothers' death and for usurping the throne from them, and he's also her uncle. I mean we're not the Hapsburgs! I feel like this would've been looked down upon throughout England. I think Richard was just using Elizabeth as an ornament to prove to the court(and the rest of England) that he was on good terms with his family, and that there was no reason for ANYBODY to go to Henry Tudor because look how chill me and my niece are.
This is a tiny nitpick but Tallis should've mentioned that Richard's Queen Anne was also Anne Neville aka Anne who'd married Edmund(?) of Lancaster(I don't feel like looking up his name lol, whatever Margaret of Anjou's son's name was). The way it's written makes it seem like they're two totally different people.
I REALLY liked how Tallis included a glossary of who everyone was because as I've said in other reviews about books of this era it is so easy to get everyone confused.
I thought it was neat how she didn't use the "conventional" spelling for some names. Like how she used a Katherine of Valois when all the times I've seen it, it's been a C and I liked how she spelled Woodville Wydeville.
I appreciate this book for being about Margaret who was an icon! But it was not worth the $32 bucks.
I didn't dislike it enough to rate it any lower but it's definitely not my favorite either. I think the book really dragged throughout the main events of the war of the roses. Perhaps it's because Margaret was only really involved at the end when Richard III became king so she didn't really have much to do otherwise.
I did learn some stuff though! Margaret making the dangerous trek to the safety of Pembroke Castle while 7 or 8 months pregnant at 13 is INSANE and it totally shows the kind of person she was.
I liked the last third once Henry became king, I was considering not finishing during the middle chunk but the book got better once the war of the roses ended.
There were also a couple of things that just seemed off??? Tallis presented it as a fact that Richard was keen to marry his niece Elizabeth (ew) when other books I've read on the war of the roses have said that he probably actually didn't want to (and he made a public statement saying he would never even consider it since the very idea made people really pissed off). She also implied that Elizabeth was kind of into it, which doesn't make sense considering Richard is responsible for her brothers' death and for usurping the throne from them, and he's also her uncle. I mean we're not the Hapsburgs! I feel like this would've been looked down upon throughout England. I think Richard was just using Elizabeth as an ornament to prove to the court(and the rest of England) that he was on good terms with his family, and that there was no reason for ANYBODY to go to Henry Tudor because look how chill me and my niece are.
This is a tiny nitpick but Tallis should've mentioned that Richard's Queen Anne was also Anne Neville aka Anne who'd married Edmund(?) of Lancaster(I don't feel like looking up his name lol, whatever Margaret of Anjou's son's name was). The way it's written makes it seem like they're two totally different people.
I REALLY liked how Tallis included a glossary of who everyone was because as I've said in other reviews about books of this era it is so easy to get everyone confused.
I thought it was neat how she didn't use the "conventional" spelling for some names. Like how she used a Katherine of Valois when all the times I've seen it, it's been a C and I liked how she spelled Woodville Wydeville.
I appreciate this book for being about Margaret who was an icon! But it was not worth the $32 bucks.