dialoguri și personaje mult prea teatrale, situații necredibile istoric, scriitură ok-ish ( )

I really enjoyed Conn Iggulden's other two series, about Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan, but this one I wasn't too excited to get started on. I don't know anything about this time period, and frankly, it doesn't interest me too much. Then again, I thought something very similar about the Genghis Khan series and I enjoyed that a lot. Maybe too much: I'm like the only person who watched that Marco Polo show on Netflix (and is still rooting for a second season), mostly because the Conqueror series made me interested in that time period).

This did not have that effect on me. Partly because there's no real main characet here: the other two series were clearly about one person and their life history, but this ... I don't know? Maybe Henry VI, but that guy barely had a spoken line throughout the book so he hardly counts. I guess the War of Roses is supposed to be the "main character", but it's very hard to relate to a war, you know?

I also had trouble keeping up with how time passed in the novel: it felt as if it was just a few months, but it could also have been years? This may be due to liberties taken by Conn Iggulden about actual historical events, but it made it hard to keep up with stuff.

I did like Margaret though, and her relationship with her sister, which did not turn out the way I thought it would. While she did become awesome by the end of the book (or like, after a few hundred pages), we never really see her learning to play political games and shit. It doesn't seem likely she's just a natural at it, so something more on that would've been nice.

But it was a good book. I do wish everyone didn't have the same five names to go around though, but that's not something I can blame the author for. ( )

Brilliant. Just brilliant.
I loved everything about this book, and the bonus section on Henry V at Agincourt had the hairs on the back of my head standing rigidly to attention.
I already have the sequel and it's just jumped quite a few places in the queue to be read. Conn Iggulden I doth my cap to thee sir. ( )

Great historical fiction. Author stays true to period ( )

I was reading [a:Iggulden|119121|Conn Iggulden|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1235073163p2/119121.jpg]'s Julius Caesar series, got through the 2nd book and decided to move over to his tale on medieval England/France and The War of The Roses. I have been in a terrible slump all summer, so I thought mixing it up a bit would help.

Although I enjoyed the beginnings of Julius' story a bit more, this still was a great read for me. The prologue takes us to the death bed of Edward III, surrounded by 3 of his sons. From there we jump 66 years to the reign of King Henry VI and the fall of British ruled France. Iggulden, again, takes liberties with history and yet again it is not bothering me so much. His skill at storytelling keeps me immersed, although I did find myself mumbling "that's not right" a few times. I really enjoyed the fictional character's he has created in Deery Brewer, the Kings Spymaster and Thomas Woodbridge a common man fighting for his land. Both very well developed and I look forward to more of their story. I am also liking the portrait of Margaret of Anjou he is painting.

As in any good book on medieval Kings/Queens there are family trees to mull over while you read. This particular story has more than it's share of incestuous relationships and I am always thankful for having these pages to glance back to - As many books as I have read on this subject in history, I still get confused...LoL. Unless you are a true scholar of this time period, I am not sure how you could not get confused about who is related to whom.

A satisfying read and a series I will continue. ( )