Philippa Gregory; The Cousins War

These are all written from the perspective of the women of the Wars of the Roses. While Philippa Gregory claims to be entirely factual in her writings, this is in fact NOT true at all. She makes up an awful lot of stuff and treats it as fact, but most of the time it does make for an entertaining read. She suffers from telling, not showing, and much of the exciting events occur offstage - this being a problem writing in the first person. If the character didn't physically witness the events, it's hard to retell them in an exciting fashion. She also suffers from what another reader has dubben 'as-you-know-Bob' syndrome, wherein every character is described using their full name, titles and affiliations. I realise that names were vey limited during this period, but other authors have managed to get around this in a more effective manner. Despite these niggles, she is entertaining, and is a decent jumping off point to learn more about the Wars of the Roses - just take her with a pinch of salt (a large one!!)

THE LADY OF THE RIVERS - Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Duchess of Bedford and Lady Rivers Nice backdrop to the Wars of the Roses with the story of Jaquetta of Luxembourg and her husband Richard Woodville. Plus: *An easy read, not overly bogged down by historical research. *Jacquetta is not a character I know a lot about, so I got to Google and learn something *Interesting to see Margaret of Anjou as a little bit more than just a crazy monster, not much but a little Minus: *Not a big fan of first person perspective its too limiting, especially in a historical novel with such wide scope *NOT entirely true to the facts, but hey, that's why we have Wikipedia *Constant repetition - Melusine, Melusine, Melusine, and the fact that she overexplains interpersonal relations every time she reintroduces a character (if you think your readers are too dumb to remember who's who, put in a Dramatis Persona! I admit that to the layperson, the fact that only about 10 names were recycled (Almost everyone was an Edward, Henry, John or Richard) can be confusing, bit there are better ways to show who you're talking about than by calling them by their full name, title and family affiliation EVERY time they are mentioned... Still a solid 3, enjoyable enough to read the next one again

THE WHITE QUEEN - Elizabeth Woodville, Elizabeth Grey, Queen Consort of England Elizabeth Woodville, a controversial character (especially for a Ricardian!) A good book with a rushed ending, and a LOT of made up stuff. Still fiction eh? I personally agree with PGs theory on what happened to the Princes in the Tower, but it should be acknowledged that it IS only a theory! Still don't like the first person narrative, too much juicy stuff was skipped in favour of more squalid rumour, the Melusine/witchcraft stuff has rolled out of Lady of the Rivers and become an actual tangible thing (Ridiculous) and the *as-you-know-Bob* and constant repetition is very irritating. Some good points though, she has portrayed Elizabeth very much as I always imagined her, George of Clarence is a pretty vile character (again, as always imagined) and Edward is a little more human than expected. All in all, a fairly satisfying read.

THE RED QUEEN - Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, Mother of the King What an awful protagonist! Margaret Beaufort could have been an initially sympathetic character, she went through A LOT in her life, but PG has chosen to turn her into a caricature of the stereotypical evil religious zealot. Just NO! Again, we have the *as-you-know-Bob* ad infinitum, Margaret just hates everyone in the world as is consumed by jealousy because she is God's favourite and basically everyone else is selfish and evil. There is no redeeming quality in her at all, even after the whole Princes in the Tower thing, she shows no remorse or compassion. She doesn't even really love the son she supposedly has done everything for, she's all about HER! "Me, me, me" What an appalling character. And the Battle of Bosworth Field - which usually has me in tears whenever I encounter it in books - was over in about 5 pages, and the book shortly after. Just *plop, we're done* The only characters even vaguely sympathetic were Jasper Tudor (and WHY PG ever though he would be in love with her version of Margaret is a mystery), Henry Stafford, her moral and reasonable second husband, and Elizabeth of York, her soon to be daughter-in-law (poor girl!!!) It only gets two stars rather than one because I truly marvel at how PG has made me literally froth at the mouth with rage at her main character- impressive