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A review by thisotherbookaccount
The Royal Succession by Maurice Druon
5.0
Vicious, delicious and dark. These are just some of the ways that you can describe the Accursed Kings series by Maurice Druon. This is the first time, however, that "heartbreaking" is the only fitting word to describe the ending to the series' fourth installment.
It's difficult to draw the line between fact and fiction for this series. As someone who is not well-versed in Medieval history, it's difficult for me to figure out the things that happened and the ones that came out of Druon's head. Nonetheless, Druon has created characters that I came to care deeply about, especially Marie de Cressay and Guccio Baglioni, the one beacon of hope and innocence in this dark, messed up world.
Between the scheming, the backstabbing and the betrayals, Marie and Guccio's story has always been a light at the end of the tunnel. Naive, perhaps, but it was pure and innocent. It is the one love story that isn't driven by political manoeuvrings and greed.
However, in this book, even that comes crashing down for the two characters, thanks to power-hungry assholes (Fuck you, Mahaut). It was painful to read the last chapters of this book, to see the two characters fall apart due to the villainy of others.
I have read a lot of Medieval fiction, but even those did not prepare me for Marie's loss. And to think that I have always been a supporter of Philip V's succession, his "victory" over the Duke of Burgundy and Charles of Valois left a bad taste in my mouth -- and I am sure his as well.
And, man, women were treated like cows for the slaughter back then, weren't they?
I'd say this is the best book in the series so far, and bold, too, for daring to bring a righteous king morally to his knees and killing off something beautiful. The worst part? Most of everything probably happened for real.
There are no winners in this story, only sinners. Sinners and greedy assholes.
It's difficult to draw the line between fact and fiction for this series. As someone who is not well-versed in Medieval history, it's difficult for me to figure out the things that happened and the ones that came out of Druon's head. Nonetheless, Druon has created characters that I came to care deeply about, especially Marie de Cressay and Guccio Baglioni, the one beacon of hope and innocence in this dark, messed up world.
Between the scheming, the backstabbing and the betrayals, Marie and Guccio's story has always been a light at the end of the tunnel. Naive, perhaps, but it was pure and innocent. It is the one love story that isn't driven by political manoeuvrings and greed.
However, in this book, even that comes crashing down for the two characters, thanks to power-hungry assholes (Fuck you, Mahaut). It was painful to read the last chapters of this book, to see the two characters fall apart due to the villainy of others.
I have read a lot of Medieval fiction, but even those did not prepare me for Marie's loss. And to think that I have always been a supporter of Philip V's succession, his "victory" over the Duke of Burgundy and Charles of Valois left a bad taste in my mouth -- and I am sure his as well.
And, man, women were treated like cows for the slaughter back then, weren't they?
I'd say this is the best book in the series so far, and bold, too, for daring to bring a righteous king morally to his knees and killing off something beautiful. The worst part? Most of everything probably happened for real.
There are no winners in this story, only sinners. Sinners and greedy assholes.