Review Wednesday: The White Princess by Philippa Gregory (The Cousins War Book 5)

The White Princess (The Cousins' War, #5)
by Philippa Gregory (Goodreads Author)

1 of 5 stars

For this review, I thought I'd do something a little different. I've never blogged a bad review before, because I like to stay positive and promote my fellow authors. However, I couldn't skip this review after I'd reviewed the other books in the series. I couldn't bear to relive the fury of reading this book by writing an actual review, so I'm posting my status updates from goodreads as I read this book. Hopefully it will spare you the pain of reading it yourself. 

Reading Progress

10/22	marked as:	currently-reading
10/22			10.0%	"So far, this character seems like a whiny spoiled brat. Hard to sympathize."
10/22			25.0%	"It bothers me how blatantly the author takes sides. She doesn't like Henry, so she tosses in a rape to make the reader hate him. And beyond annoyed w both Elizabeths calling Henry a usurper while conveniently overlooking the fact that Richard was, too! Going to try to finish, but this one will be tough."
10/23			30.0%	"Having some serious problems w how things are presented here. Why does Elizabeth force her daughter to marry Henry and become queen, only to try to dethrone the king? Makes no sense whatsoever. Don't believe it."
10/24			35.0%	"the authors blatant bias towards the Yorks makes me root for the Tudors. #epicbackfire."
10/25			40.0%	"Despite your best attempts to make Henry VII look completely humorless and loathsome, the historically noted rebel-turned-kitchen boy scene was included. Thank you for not ignoring a piece of factual info bc it didn't fit your fictionalized characterization."
10/26			50.0%	"Okay, either Henry is paranoid that there's a York boy out there, or he killed the York boys. You cant have it both ways!"
10/28			60.0%	"oh poor poor Elizabeth...her husband doesn't love her enough. Um hello! She doesn't love him at all, and roots for her brother she hasnt seen for 20 years, who wants to kill her husband! Beyond ridiculous."
10/28			70.0%	"Oh, the horror! A king plans to marry off his children for political advantage! THAT'S never happened."
10/29			80.0%	"According to this book, E. is a whiny, selfish hypocritical bimbo and Henry is a barbarian. At least she's trying to make them interesting."
10/29			85.0%	"Let's see how many times E. can act all shocked and horrified by a marriage w a 12-15 yr age difference...after she jumped in bed w her MARRIED UNCLE! Disgusting hypocrite."
10/30			90.0%	"So the Tudors only had girl heirs because Elizabeth CURSED them? BajahahaHahahHAHAAHA!!!! SO freaking hilarious."
10/31			95.0%	"so illogical in every way that its just plain nonsense."
11/01			100.0%	"Time to find another royal author."

Review Wednesday: Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory (Cousins War Book 3)

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This epic novel covers the life of Jacquetta, Henry VIII's great-grandmother. But if you think you're about to read a novel about an old lady, think again. Gregory always begins with the exciting romantic part of a woman's life, usually when she falls in love or gets married. This formula works well for her, and she uses it here with its usual effectiveness. The novel is a huge, sweeping romance that covers nearly 40 years of Jacquetta's life, from the young and beautiful girl who marries an alchemist who wishes to use her rumored sighting ability and becomes a royal duchess, to her life as Queen Margaret of Angou's Lady in Waiting, to her years as a disgraced Lancaster supporter and finally, a grandmother. I was drawn into the book and found it very informative. Of all Gregory's books I've read, this one helped me understand the York/Lancaster feud and the claimants relationships like no other. I finally felt like I was beginning to put it all together.
That said, I really would have liked the books to be in chronological order. It was a bit confusing to remember which Elizabeth she was talking about--I just read The White Queen, and it was confusing to go backwards. If I had known the books weren't in chronological order, I'd have read them that way, and I'd suggest anyone intending to read the series to do the same. You will be interested throughout, and ready to move on and see what happens to Elizabeth next. This book leaves off right where The White Queen begins, so it would be a smooth, wonderful transition to move from Lady of the Rivers to The White Queen. I'd highly recommend doing that.
That said, I still recommend this book. There is never a dull moment, which I'd commend the author for making such an exciting book about someone who is only on the outskirts of court a good deal of the time and who spends a great number of years in confinement as she is quite prolific and has, I believe, 14 children. She doesn't spend much time with them, or so it seems, and their characters aren't developed at all, except Antony a bit, when he is old enough to fight in some battles, and Elizabeth, because she arranges her marriage. Otherwise, Jacquetta seems much more interested in the scandals going on in court. While I can't say she's a good mother, or someone I'd want around me in real life, she certainly was an interesting character, and one I very much enjoyed reading about.

Would recommend this book be read FIRST in the series by anyone interested in England's history, the Cousins Wars, or fans of Gregory's.



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Review Wednesday: The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory (The Cousins War Book 2)

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Although this isn’t my favorite of the handful of Gregory books I’ve read, it did give me a great sense of respect for the author. That she was able to create a character so unlikeable, selfish, vain, and entitled, and somehow make us sympathize and pull for that character is a testament to the author’s skill. It helped that most of the characters in the book were equally despicable, or more so, ensuring that even though our heroine has few redeeming qualities, we still want what she wants. It also helped that the character was all these things in part because of the awful things that were done to her because of circumstance (being a woman in this time period, of a certain social standing) and the convenience of others (mostly her own family).
The aspect of the novel that struck me most powerfully wasn’t the character, although the protagonist is developed well (unlike many others in the novel). What struck me was the historical background—not the events themselves, which I already knew in outline, but the details of the period. The way children, especially females but almost equally males, were treated by adults horrified me. They weren’t thought of as human at all, but as political pawns used to increase wealth, status, or connections to royalty. Little girls were married off in whatever fashion was most advantageous to the family, while little boys were taken from their families to be raised by others so they could form alliances with other powerful households. That no one ever seemed to stop for a half-second and ask, “Is this going to damage this child?” seems to speak volumes to the money-, power-, and position-hungry mindset of the time. In this social class, those close enough to royalty to increase their standing by manipulation of fortunes through their children, seemed a despicable lot as a whole. That they were too busy vying for position to notice that their children might need, say, a mother, is a testament to the age-old money-grubbing nature of man, and reminds us that this is nothing new in our society, but something that has been going on for centuries, sometimes in more horrible forms than others.




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Review Wednesday: The White Queen, by Philippa Gregory (Cousin's War Book 1)

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I mistakenly started with the second book in this series, which I may have to read again after reading this one. But I enjoyed this one so much more!

Gregory has a great talent for bringing to life all these historical characters, filling in their lives with drama, romance and intrigue. Yes, we are talking about Henry VIII's grandmother here, but don't expect any grandmotherly-ness. The book is full of court intrigue, politics, and lots and lots of romance. It wasn't quite as spicy as something like The Other Boleyn Girl, but her writing has come far since then (adverbs are scare here, thank goodness).

The only complaint I had in this one was that I wanted a more satisfactory answer to the unsolved mystery of the son's disappearance from the tower. But I guess since no one knows what happened, she left the reader with the same frustration we have to this day. I found it interesting that she kept Richard alive, and I have a feeling we'll be hearing from him in The White Princess. I'll be looking forward to it!


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