Did anyone else have a hard time getting through this? And any thoughts on her other books?

[Carol]

No, found it easy reading. The TV series started me off and so far have read The White Queen, The Lady of the Rivers (finished tonight) and just about to pick up The Red Queen. Had already read some of her other books (Tudor)and didn't realise it was her. Ordered The White Prinecess and shall be searching out the others. I am enjoying them.

[Sue]

I did not enjoy this novel as well as "The Kingmakers Daughter". I had a hard time finishing this novel. Perhaps 3 weeks, I kept putting it off like-- it was a chore.
I will try to read the other 2 in this trilogy after I take a break and read some other books.

[Debbie]

I have read many of her novels. I love her work except for this "Cousins' War" series. I did not enjoy the White Queen nor the Red Queen. If these were your first PG novels you need to go back and read any of the others:

[Sue]

I liked The Kingmakers Daughter

[Jim]

I have read all her books. I know that most history books have a certain amount of author freedom in them, history books are taken from writings taken from other's opinions and their hearsay. In her books there is obviously limited continuous documentation for the time periods thus she does fill in the openings with the most likely fiction dependent on previous and subsequent events. What makes the novels enjoyable for me is the ability to trace the events to actual locations and buildings that did and in some cases do still exist. Some of the books from past ages are difficult to follow and require a reread, but that can be said of any era of history. I just enjoy experiencing and trying to imagine what life was like during those times, of the way people lived and the way they thought, what events brought known and recorded history into being. I would recommend starting with her first book and reading in the order published.

[Holly]

I have to agree. I loved The Constant Princess and The Boleyn Inheritance, but after reading this, I was in no hurry to read The Red Queen like I thought I would be.

[LadyT]

The Red Queen is a much easier book to read than the first book. The books in the series get much better.

[crystal]

I liked the white queen better I read that in 4 days it took me a little longer to read the red queen I didn't get the 3rd book in the series yet but I'm going to in time lol

[Elisa Santos]

Jamie Lynn wrote: "Early into the book. Already bored. I'll stay with it to see if it picks up."

Nope, it won´t pick up.... And the lady of The Rivers is even worse. The oly one i´ve sort of enjoyed was The Red Queen - at least, Margaret Beaufort had spunk in her, whereas EW looks like a princess of some child´s fairy tale.

[Elisa Santos]

Jamie Lynn wrote: I am having trouble with the mermaid thing

So, the mermaid thing is a fable, a sort of story about a supposed founder of the Luxembourg family, from which EW descends from, and they believe that all women in the family have a priviledged connection with water (rivers, especcially)and with magic. Keep in mind that this is taken from an oral tradition, with all the innacuracies within.

EW´s first husband did fought for the other side; then, they switched, as Edward took a fancy to her and made her Queen of England. She got mad at George because she was defending Edward´s crown, or else their children would not be have a crown to look forward to....but, they didn´t got to wear it in the end, so what was the point? And, for all pourpuses, George betrayed his brother, or it appeared so....i see where you´re getting at: she turned coats herself, so why pointing fingers?

[Elisa Santos]

Jamie Lynn wrote: "Yes Maria. I bet there were a lot of turn coats at the time. I read a little about her. I thought the wedding of the 3yr old to the 5 yr old was disgusting. I'm surprised that clergy men were so un..."

The weddings at 3yrs and 5yrs were promises, engagments if you will - if you were born in a rich, powerfull family, you would want to make aliances in order to gain more power, money, lands, etc so you played your children accordingly and made these " marriages", to ensure the aliances that you wanted for your house and name. Of course they would not celebrate the marriage until the girl was at least 12 yrs, which is still fairly young, but, given that the life expectancy was of about 40 years max, they would start off really soon and have as much kids as they could possibly have, to ensure legacies.

As for their beliefs, well, everyone has their own and the Luxembourg family had that belief that Melusina was their ancestor. It bothered me throughout the book that she appeared so often, that they were always talking about her - it was like she (the author) wanted to explore that legend instead of making the story progress.

And in The Lady of The Rivers, that spinn-off gets even worse, in my opinion....

[Marianne]

I've loved every one of her books that I've read. But will say, I read the Red Queen right after the White Queen, at times it was hard to keep track of who was who.

[Elisa Santos]

Jamie Lynn wrote: "I found it.



Elizabeth, in January, 1477, presided over the espousals of her second son, Richard duke of York, with Anne Mowbray, the infant heiress of the duchy of Norfolk. St. Stephen's chap..."

Yes, they did it like that - all as if it were a real wedding to be consumatted, like they were grown-ups.

Strange when you look at it nowadays, but back then it was the most common thing - in fact, it was most disable, because it meant that you came from a wealthy and powerfull family.

[Michell]

I have read several books by Philippa Gregory and I have loved the Tudor novels. I also have enjoyed the Red and White Queen. I did skip the Lady of the Rivers and I did not enjoy Earthly Joys and The Virgin Earth (they were weird). While I enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl I hate that so many people consider it a work of non-fiction.

[Elisa Santos]

Jamie Lynn wrote: "I consider them all fiction with some facts thrown in. My problem is that I should learn more history so I can see which is fact and which is fiction."

It is fiction - she does some research, and then cooks a story that has almost equsl parts of fiction and real facts. For exemple, on the Other Boleyn Girl she explore the possibility of Anne commiting incest with her brother George, thus conducting to the last miscarriage that she has, that ultimatly led her to her trial and beheading; she explored that streak, when there is absolutly no proof that it happened.

It´s fun to read and if you want to learn more about some aspect of it, then you have the read the non-fiction books, which are a bit dryer to get through. I loved the Tudor series and it parked my interest in the Tudor era: i read almost everything i could find on Henry and Anne, Elizabeth.

[Elisa Santos]

Jamie Lynn wrote: "That is one good think about historical fiction. It prompts you to read history."

Yup, i read a ton of factual books about english and portuguese history, that i would not have picked up, if i hadn´t read some hist-fic books.

Any reason is good reason to keep reading, i´ll say...

[Angela]

I didn't enjoy this book at home. It was drudge work to read it, and I gave up before finishing.

[[deleted user]]

I didn't really enjoy The White Queen, but I loved The Red Queen and The Kingmaker's Daughter. Maybe it's just I don't like Elizabeth Woodville, but I find the protagonists of the other ones more likeable because I felt sorry for them, though I never felt sorry for Elizabeth. I think I just enjoyed her portrayal as a villain much more than as a hero.

[Lisa R.]

This was nots a favorite of mine either. I've enjoyed so many of her other books.

[Elizabeth]

Farrah wrote: "I want to read her other books...I really love historical fiction. BUT...This was just so difficult to get through. The point of view seemed odd. Thoughts?"

Yes! I zipped throught The Red Queen...couldnt put it down and I eagerly started The White Queen soon after. I had to make an effort to read it and I have started news books in the meantime. I hope to pick it up and finish it one of these days!

[Elizabeth]

Jacqueline wrote: "I love Phillipa Gregory. I have been hooked on her for a couple of years now; however, I did have trouble getting through both the Red and White Queen books. I still enjoyed them but there was some..."

I really liked The Red Queen, and yet like you said you had some trouble getting through them. I found there were many parts that were just too many words...kinda went on and on unncessisarily. Still really enjoyed it!

[Michell]

I have enjoyed all the books I have read so far, including the white queen but I would agree they are often extra wordy when it doesn't seem to need it. The one book in the series I skipped was the Lady of the Rivers. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to believe the idea of Elizabeth Woodville descended from the river. I would welcome anyone's thoughts????

[Erin]

I don't think I have ever done this, but I read the first chapter of this book...and decided I didn't want to bother reading the rest. Already, the characters and writing annoyed me, and I had other books I wanted to read more than this. So I didn't even finish it.

[Eileen]

Michell wrote: "I have enjoyed all the books I have read so far, including the white queen but I would agree they are often extra wordy when it doesn't seem to need it. The one book in the series I skipped was th..."

I was not expecting much from but I ended up loving it. There was a certain amount of magical/mystical stuff in it, which seems to be popular with a lot of historical fiction these days, but the book was about Jacquetta Woodville, whose life intersected with an amazing number of historical figures - including Joan of Arc.

The "magical" stuff in it was not overwhelming and I was fascinated by this woman's life.

[Elisa Santos]

Michell wrote: "I have enjoyed all the books I have read so far, including the white queen but I would agree they are often extra wordy when it doesn't seem to need it. The one book in the series I skipped was th..."

The descent from Melusina is only spoke i the manner of the start of the house, way before EW or her mother. But they had that belief that water, rivers had some sort of witching power to them.

I was disapointed at TLoTR because it was wordy, as you say, but not wordy enough to take the atory of Jaquetta to the end - the book finishes as EW is about to step on the throne. I mean, the whole flee to the Temple in search of protection and the place where one of the princes in the tower was born is tottally left out. as other major events of her daughter´s life and that she was a big part of were cutt off. It felt like the author was on a deadline and had to deliver the book as it was - it felt unfinished.

[V.M.]

I really can't take the times she writes in the present tense. Thayis a big turn off for me.

[* Sincerelymendacious]

I've read a few of her books, this one was okay. I liked the subject matter well enough, but it seemed more like a recitation of historical events than an actual novel. A lot of the dialogue seemed to exist to serve as exposition.

I liked the first Wideacre book but couldn't finish the second one.