Tagged: the war of the roses
Wars of the Roses: Stormbird by Conn Iggulden
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Wars of the Roses: the brand new historical series from Conn Iggulden – internationally best-selling author of the Emperor and Conqueror series.
King Henry V – the great Lion of England – is long dead.
In 1437, after years of regency, the pious and gentle Henry VI, the Lamb, comes of age and accedes to the English throne. His poor health and frailty of mind render him a weakling king -Henry depends on his closest men, Spymaster Derry Brewer and William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, to run his kingdom.
Yet there are those, such as the Plantagenet Richard, Duke of York, who believe England must be led by a strong king if she is to survive. With England’s territories in France under threat, and rumours of revolt at home, fears grow that Henry and his advisers will see the country slide into ruin. With a secret deal struck for Henry to marry a young French noblewoman, Margaret of Anjou, those fears become all too real.
As storm clouds gather over England, King Henry and his supporters find themselves besieged abroad and at home. Who, or what can save the kingdom before it is too late?
I have to say that Stormbird really takes place in the civil unrest that leads up to the official War of the Roses. It’s all about the weak rule of Henry VI sowing the seeds for discontent with the current regime and the rise of the Yorks as the sort of official opposition to the throne. So it really sets up the war and we see the beginning of it, but we haven’t really gotten into the period that’s the most famous yet.
With that little preamble out of the way, I have to say that I really did enjoy pretty much all of the characters in this book. They were all different in their own ways and they all had believable motivations and character arcs that made you want to know what happened to them. Margaret of Anjou, typically the scheming evil queen in most stories about the period, came off as a devoted wife who tried to do the best she could for her country. Henry VI is a pious, weak fool of course but he’s far more sympathetic than he’s usually portrayed, particularly during his descent into madness. Yet I’d have to say my favourite character was Derry Brewer, the Machiavellian spymaster who tries his best to find and thwart any plots against the regime. He’s a fascinating character and in some ways, I wish I had learned way more about him.
Oddly enough for Conn Iggulden, he manages to tell a good story (like with his Conqueror and Emperor series) but at the same time maintains a reasonable level of historical accuracy (unlike the two aforementioned series). I’ve never really taken his books seriously because although I enjoyed them, they were quite inaccurate, but at the end of Stormbird I actually felt like I had learned something. Lots of things in fact. I don’t know all that much about English history but I know the main War of the Roses period quite well. Except that Conn Iggulden brought to life the relatively obscure (in fiction at least) beginning of the war. He definitely deserves praise for that.
One of the strengths and conversely the downsides of Stormbird is the fact that it encompasses so many different events. You see things from Margaret of Anjou’s point of view as her marriage to Henry VI is being negotiated, you see the English rebellion against the French as their lands are being ceded, you’re at the forefront of the Jake Cade rebellion, etc. He gives us such a sweeping view of the period and really brings home the point that ordinary people at the time were affected adversely by the machinations of their lords. But in doing so, in trying to encompass such a wide range of events and times, Conn Iggulden also drops the ball occasionally. What I mean by that is he drags the plot on in some places (Margaret’s marriage negotiations) while neglecting some very interesting events. This tends to make the plot sag in the middle and even though it was a fascinating historical period, I had a really hard time slogging through it. That’s unfortunate because Stormbird is otherwise a pretty decent book.
So here we have a reasonably historically accurate take on an obscure period with fascinating character portrayals that are far from the mainstream portrayals. Conn Iggulden is an excellent storyteller and although the book does drag in the middle, overall the plot was fairly well paced.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
The Kingmaker’s Daughter by Philippa Gregory
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Spies, poison, and curses surround her…
Is there anyone she can trust?
The Kingmaker’s Daughter is the gripping story of the daughters of the man known as the “Kingmaker,” Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick: the most powerful magnate in fifteenth-century England. Without a son and heir, he uses his daughters, Anne and Isabel as pawns in his political games, and they grow up to be influential players in their own right. In this novel, her first sister story since The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory explores the lives of two fascinating young women.
At the court of Edward IV and his beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, Anne grows from a delightful child to become ever more fearful and desperate when her father makes war on his former friends. Married at age fourteen, she is soon left widowed and fatherless, her mother in sanctuary and her sister married to the enemy. Anne manages her own escape by marrying Richard, Duke of Gloucester, but her choice will set her on a collision course with the overwhelming power of the royal family and will cost the lives of those she loves most in the world, including her precious only son, Prince Edward. Ultimately, the kingmaker’s daughter will achieve her father’s greatest ambition.
Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick during the time of Elizabeth Woodville was queen has never been one of my favourite figures throughout history. He seemed to go wherever the winds blew, betraying this cause and that to make sure his own blood got on the throne of England. I’ve never liked historical figures like him, but I always pitied his daughters Anne and Isabel, who were nothing more than pawns in his schemes. Married off to men much older than they, told to think and act certain ways depending on their family’s current alliance and such.
I was also reluctant to pick up The Kingmaker’s Daughter because the last Philippa Gregory book I just read was The Other Boleyn Girl, which I hate with a passion right now. Still, I couldn’t resist the Cousins’ War series, not after loving The White Queen that featured Elizabeth Woodville.
What was interesting to me was seeing Elizabeth Woodville as the villain of the piece. In this story, everyone sees her as an evil witch who curses anyone who gets in her way. Why, she even kills her own brother-in-law. Anne Neville, our novel’s main character, is predisposed to see Elizabeth as the enemy and a witch because in reality she probably did. Gregory doesn’t make her out to be some sort of super-heroine that manipulates everyone around her either; she stays relatively true to historical fact and at the same time, tells a story of a woman who seized her own destiny only to realize its true cost.
Anne Neville is a three-dimensional character and not only that, she’s interesting. She’s brought to court at a young age and has to stay in that viper’s nest for a little while. It certainly makes an impression on her, but her naivete wins out when her father orchestrates a match that would make her sister Isabel Queen of England as well as later when her father does the same thing for her. As she grows, though, losing her father and her first husband, Anne really realizes the cost of all these ambitions both morally, personally and politically. Eventually she does get her dream, but it is a Pyrrhic victory.
I wouldn’t say that the plot of The Kingmaker’s Daughter is fast-paced by most standards, but it was interesting enough to keep me wanting to find out what happened to Anne. Although I’ve never been fond of her as an historical figure, I like how Philippa Gregory went above and beyond in terms of effort so that she would shine as a person, not just as a political pawn. Anne had a hard life, made only worse by the tragedies that occurred later on, so you can’t help but feel sorry for her and feel a vested interest in what happens to her next.
All in all, The Kingmaker’s Daughter was a pretty solid book. The character of Elizabeth of York really shone through in the end as her star was rising so I honestly can’t wait to read her take on things in The White Princess.
I give this book 5/5 stars.