The Cousins War - Philippa Gregory Series Review - Spoiler Free Review

The Cousins War was a turbulent period in English history, a civil war that pegged Neighbours against neighbours and mainly in the royal Family Cousins against cousins, i wont go into who i think is in the right since this is a book review not a history debate. Only in the last 20 years have we started to want to know more about the women behind the men, the women who also survived the times sometimes with greater risk to themselves from giving birth on a ship because your father has become a traitor to being a pawn in the quest for power, these women didn't have a voice before, barely heard of when it came to history but Philippa Gregory has given them the voice that has made people fall in love with these characters and researched them more and made sure that they are not forgotten.

**** I am going to review them in the order they should be read but it doesn't matter since i personally read them in a mixed up order myself, but to keep things simple i will review them in the order of time lines and the order they should be read in to follow the story.

The Lady of The Rivers

Character - Jacquetta Woodville
Timeline - 1430 - 1464
ISBN - 9781847374592
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Hardback
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Waterstones - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Jacquetta, daughter of the Count of Luxembourg and kinswoman to half the royalty of Europe, was married to the great Englishman John, Duke of Bedford, uncle to Henry VI. Widowed at the age of 19, she took the extraordinary risk of marrying a gentleman of her household for love, and then carved out a new life for herself.

 

I have to admit this was an odd one it had some very good characters, and a very Good storyline. I am going to say right now if you are looking for historically accurate fiction then Philippa Gregory is not the author for you. It has a very whimsical feel to it with witchcraft and water goddesses, it is good if you don't put too much stock into it. 

Jacquetta is a really strong female character and i read this book last so i knew already what a strong and amazing character she was but watching her as a young girl was fascinating and it showed how she became what she became and also it explains the love she has for her husband and why she reacts the way she does when she hears of his murder. 

Lord Rivers is a character who is loving, kind and just personifies the modern man in a time where women where treated like the were nothing he listened to his wife and treated his daughters with respect never forced them to marry and one they didn't want to and he just took everything in his stride.

The story is one that carries on throughout the series and that is why you should read them in order, because sometimes i felt like oh i have already read this but in a different POV and it makes more sense when you read for what is supposed to be the first time. This is a book about falling in love and fighting to be with that person even if it means you have to give up your royal title.

The White Queen

Character - Elizabeth Woodville

Timeline - 1464 - 1485
ISBN - 9781847374554
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Hardback
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Waterstones - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Brother turns on brother to win the ultimate prize, the throne of England, in this dazzling account of the wars of the Plantagenets. They are the claimants and kings who ruled England before the Tudors, and now Philippa Gregory brings them to life through the dramatic and intimate stories of the secret players: the indomitable women, starting with Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen.
The White Queen tells the story of a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition who, catching the eye of the newly crowned boy king, marries him in secret and ascends to royalty. While Elizabeth rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for the success of her family, her two sons become central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the missing princes in the Tower of London whose fate is still unknown.

I loved this book even almost three years after reading this book it is still in my mind as one of my favourite Historical Fiction books, it is a theme in Philippa Gregory's books is the very strong female lead and this really is the woman behind the man and the fact that it was a love match from the very start and not an alliance marriage. That is one of the reasons i loved this book because it has a different take obviously since then we have had royals marry non-royals from Henry VIII to our current royal family, but before that it was pretty unheard of it was normally a foreign princess to create alliances and keep Europe together.
This book had so much drama and families fighting one an other, it was hard to keep up at times but it was so good and It was also the first book in this series to be published. Elizabeth was such a strong character even if a little morally wrong at times. The main man was Edward IV and in that you can see his grandson Henry VIII in him they are written so similar and it is like What would Henry be like if he didn't become paranoid.
The story again features Witch like characters, and water goddesses and curses  it is again not the most historical accurate but it is such a sweet fluffy read about two people who love each other and fight the world too be together. I loved the story it was one of my favourite of the series definitely the most 'fluffy' of the series. 

The Red Queen

Character - Lady Margaret Beaufort
Timeline - 1453 - 1485
ISBN - 9781847374578
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Hardback
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Waterstones - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Amazon UK - Amazon US

The Cousins War, brings to life the story of Margaret Beaufort, a shadowy and mysterious character in the first book of the series - The White Queen - but who now takes centre stage in the bitter struggle of The War of the Roses. The Red Queen tells the story of the child-bride of Edmund Tudor, who, although widowed in her early teens, uses her determination of character and wily plotting to infiltrate the house of York under the guise of loyal friend and servant, undermine the support for Richard III and ultimately ensure that her only son, Henry Tudor, triumphs as King of England. Through collaboration with the dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret agrees a betrothal between Henry and Elizabeth's daughter, thereby uniting the families and resolving the Cousins War once and for all by founding of the Tudor dynasty.

This was the most intriguing, we honestly don't know much about Lady Margaret, there are so many different account. Some say she was a conniving evil woman and others say she was a loving mother who just wanted her son home. Honestly i didn't know anything about her going into this book, but i had a feeling and it didn't coincide with this book at all. I am all for peoples artistic liberties but personally this for me is where the story changes it goes from the first two books that are about love and power mixed together, to a woman who had a child at barely 13 years old and then never conceived again and almost died. It takes a bit getting used to the very devout way of Lady Margaret's thinking. But once you get over that it is very easy and good to read. 
The story, i really wanted to read especially with Margaret as a young child, and going through the horrors of pregnancy and the birthing process and what was going through her mind. Also just the way of thinking when she is separated from her son and when he returns victorious. 
I did enjoy it once i got over some humps in reading it, like the very devout nature of the book and also a 12 year old being pregnant. After that it was a good book that gives us an insight into the inner workings of a very formidable woman. 

 The Kingmakers Daughter

Character - Anne Neville
Timeline - 1465 - 1485
ISBN - 9780857207463
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Hardback
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Waterstones - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Amazon UK - Amazon US

At the court of Edward IV and his beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, Anne grows from a delightful child brought up in intimacy and friendship with the family of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, to become ever more fearful and desperate when her father makes war on his former friends. Her will is tested when she is left widowed and fatherless, with her mother in sanctuary and her sister married to the enemy. Fortune’s wheel turns again when Richard rescues Anne from her sister’s house, with danger still following Anne, even as she eventually ascends to the throne as queen. Having lost those closest to her, she must protect herself and her precious only child, Prince Edward, from a court full of royal rivals.

I enjoyed this one but not as much as the others, it had this feel to it like something was going to happen but it never did. I liked Anne as a character but then at the same time i like other Authors portrayals of her more. Gregory has a way of writing that you have to love to be able to read. I do so it is normally vary easy for me to read a book and when i was reading this book i was watching the TV series at the same time (2013 - mini series) i was anticipating a lot of what happened in this book and my biggest issue with this book is one i will go into more detail about in The White Princess and that is the Incest aspect in this book. It started in this book but we see it from the eyes of the one being cheated on. It is very difficult to read when you have loved two characters together and then you find out one is willing to do unspeakable things just to keep a throne. 
Anne as a character was not as strong as any of the others in this series she was not weak by any means she was strong and with what she went through in her early life, but her decisions in her later life make her a character who is weak in my opinion like she being the one to suggest taking the crown, among other things. 
The story was good but again there was a lot of scenes we have already seen but this time from Anne's POV, it is getting a tad annoying now, but actual story was good it flowed and there wasn't any witchy things and curses going on maybe a few but not many. The story follows her from being married to being prisoner to being queen and all the way to her death, She was a remarkable woman when you research her and she is unfortunately one of our most forgotten queens.

The White Princess

Character - Elizabeth of York
Timeline - 1485 - 1499
ISBN - 9780857207517
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Hardback
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Waterstones - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Beautiful eldest daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville - the White Queen - the young princess Elizabeth faces a conflict of loyalties between the red rose and the white. Forced into marriage with Henry VII, she must reconcile her slowly growing love for him with her loyalty to the House of York, and choose between her mother's rebellion and her husband's tyranny. Then she has to meet the Pretender, whose claim denies the House of Tudor itself.

I have loved everything Tudor from a very young girl, but it never occurred too me that Henry VIII had parents worth reading about, this was the first book i read in this series (as i said i read them all mixed up) and looking back and know knowing what i know about these historical figures, i can understand why some people hated this book and i have even seen on tumblr people call it "The Shite Princess", my personal opinion is when i read a Philippa Gregory novel i leave the historical facts at the door i just read it as a purely fictional novel. 
I am going to say this right now there is rape in this book, no matter how you want to word it, by saying no woman can ever raise her to or stop a king its still rape if she doesn't want to, and the fact that it was his mothers idea just seemed so dumbfounding, and the way he treats her and in turn she treats him i was purely judging this book on fiction and not history and it did intrigue me it had the consequence of the curses from previous books and rebellions and falling in love with an enemy it was a magnificent book again if you look at it as fiction.
Once i read it, i wanted to know more about these characters so the history geek in me researched and found an even better love story honestly i think it would have been a 5 star book if we just had some truth of their relationship in it.
The characters were different but similar from what we have seen before, Elizabeth was a lot like the previous women very strong, independent and stubborn, Henry on the other hand was very different from Robert, Edward, and Richard, he was portrayed as a villain, even though Edward tried to force himself on Elizabeth Woodville and pulled a knife to stop him, so how is he any different?, but you could see that he liked her, he did. But he was dominated by his mother and also he was constantly fighting rebellions, it is fun to see them falling in love and go through the years, with them. 

The King's Curse 

Character - Margaret Pole
Timeline - 1499 - 1541
ISBN - 9780857207562
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Hardback
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Waterstones - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Regarded as yet another threat to the volatile King Henry VII’s claim to the throne, Margaret Pole, cousin to Elizabeth of York (known as the White Princess) and daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, is married off to a steady and kind Lancaster supporter—Sir Richard Pole. For his loyalty, Sir Richard is entrusted with the governorship of Wales, but Margaret’s contented daily life is changed forever with the arrival of Arthur, the young Prince of Wales, and his beautiful bride, Katherine of Aragon. Margaret soon becomes a trusted advisor and friend to the honeymooning couple, hiding her own royal connections in service to the Tudors.
After the sudden death of Prince Arthur, Katherine leaves for London a widow, and fulfills her deathbed promise to her husband by marrying his brother, Henry VIII. Margaret’s world is turned upside down by the surprising summons to court, where she becomes the chief lady-in-waiting to Queen Katherine. But this charmed life of the wealthiest and “holiest” woman in England lasts only until the rise of Anne Boleyn, and the dramatic deterioration of the Tudor court. Margaret has to choose whether her allegiance is to the increasingly tyrannical king, or to her beloved queen; to the religion she loves or the theology which serves the new masters. Caught between the old world and the new, Margaret Pole has to find her own way as she carries the knowledge of an old curse on all the Tudors.

This is the last instalment of the Cousins war and it is also the only one set in a different century all of the others are set in the 15th century (1400's) and this one is set in the 16th century (1500's) This is the result of the biggest curse that was used in the previous books, and also seeing Henry VIII as well.
I liked this book not my favourite but it was still pretty good the characters were very different from previous books there wasn't really a male love interest, it was more about the woman and the curse and her life as the last living Plantagenet and also the guardian to Prince Arthur & Katherine of Aragon. 
The story is one we don't hear much of and that is Henry VIII's early reign and as Katherine's chief lady in waiting she sees it all. I loved this concept but there were times it was a tad slow but once you get used to the writing and characters again it becomes a lot easier to read. 
Margaret's life like her cousin Elizabeth of York was dictated to her and she makes the most of it like the Plantagenet Princess she is, but as the only living person who knows of the curse to Henry and his family placed on by his own mother and instigated by his own father can she survive at a court where Henry is obsessed to have the one thing he may never have.


This entire series is very good but as i have dictated many times please don't take history into account when reading these books the are pretty much 80% fiction.

Until Next Time

Happy Reading