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staceyf81 's review for:
The Lady of the Rivers
by Philippa Gregory
Ok, I take back what I said about being surprised about the order these books are in - I think it works that PG starts with the most recent and works back. I especially like how you have to challenge your perceptions of characters that you make a number of times. I think this was may favourite book of the three.
I actually really appreciated the characters in these book although I know that other reviewers don't share my views on this. I love the story of Jacquetta and Richard Woodville - in a world of arranged marraiges and marragies where husbands and wives stray it is refreshing to see two people who are clearly so passionate about each other. The woman must have been a saint though - 15 children - at some point you'd have to say, look my love, can't we just sit and talk instead?
At the beginning of the book I was wrestling with what I perceived as PG saying that the women of the era couldn't be great or have a cause on their own, that they had to have a crutch, eg religion for Margaret Beaufort and magic for Jacquetta and Elizabeth Woodville. But I think this is actually what the author wanted you to think. The theme of witchcraft and women being pegged back for their power (Joan of Arc, Eleanor, Queen Margaret, Jacquetta and Elizabeth)is a nod to the time and there are some beautiful, almost feminist sentiments behind the writing. There is then a section nearer the end of the book when Jacquetta is staying with a peasant family and actually realises that 'they' should be fighting for them. A nice seed of socialism here and one that perhaps could have been a bigger theme.
Whilst I found Jacquetta charming, I found Margaret of Anjou utterly disagreeable. I actually don't know much about her character in real life and I'm going to study this further - it seems that she was the first Queen of England to actually use her 'power' - possibly forced into it with a husband who didn't have the capacity to rule himself. Instead of feeling empowered by this, the reader is left feeling like the Queen is a stubborn child who wants to satisfy her own lusts and quests for power rather than protect the realm. And perhaps this is the point, but I wish she could have been a little less annoying.
I was disappointed that the book ended when it did. Of course, the White Queen takes up the tale but it might have been nice to read Jacquetta's thoughts on Elizabeth's perspectives on becoming Queen. It has made me want to read the White Queen again, which I read a two years or so before I read the second and third books in the trilogy.
This isn't an epic novel by any stretch of the imagination, but PG's ability to make you want to go and find out more about what actually happened is what makes the magic here. It would be a three and half star book if I could give it the half.
I actually really appreciated the characters in these book although I know that other reviewers don't share my views on this. I love the story of Jacquetta and Richard Woodville - in a world of arranged marraiges and marragies where husbands and wives stray it is refreshing to see two people who are clearly so passionate about each other. The woman must have been a saint though - 15 children - at some point you'd have to say, look my love, can't we just sit and talk instead?
At the beginning of the book I was wrestling with what I perceived as PG saying that the women of the era couldn't be great or have a cause on their own, that they had to have a crutch, eg religion for Margaret Beaufort and magic for Jacquetta and Elizabeth Woodville. But I think this is actually what the author wanted you to think. The theme of witchcraft and women being pegged back for their power (Joan of Arc, Eleanor, Queen Margaret, Jacquetta and Elizabeth)is a nod to the time and there are some beautiful, almost feminist sentiments behind the writing. There is then a section nearer the end of the book when Jacquetta is staying with a peasant family and actually realises that 'they' should be fighting for them. A nice seed of socialism here and one that perhaps could have been a bigger theme.
Whilst I found Jacquetta charming, I found Margaret of Anjou utterly disagreeable. I actually don't know much about her character in real life and I'm going to study this further - it seems that she was the first Queen of England to actually use her 'power' - possibly forced into it with a husband who didn't have the capacity to rule himself. Instead of feeling empowered by this, the reader is left feeling like the Queen is a stubborn child who wants to satisfy her own lusts and quests for power rather than protect the realm. And perhaps this is the point, but I wish she could have been a little less annoying.
I was disappointed that the book ended when it did. Of course, the White Queen takes up the tale but it might have been nice to read Jacquetta's thoughts on Elizabeth's perspectives on becoming Queen. It has made me want to read the White Queen again, which I read a two years or so before I read the second and third books in the trilogy.
This isn't an epic novel by any stretch of the imagination, but PG's ability to make you want to go and find out more about what actually happened is what makes the magic here. It would be a three and half star book if I could give it the half.