Saturday, May 9, 2009

Review of War of the Roses by Alison Weir

From the Back Cover:

Lancaster and York. For much of the fifteenth century, these two families were locked in battle for control of the English throne. Kings were murdered and deposed. Armies marched on London. Old noble names were ruined while rising dynasties seized power and lands. The war between the royal Houses of Lancaster and York, the most complex in English history, profoundly altered the course of Monarchy.

My Review:

The author starts out giving the background of the two families. The she goes on to tell why the War was started. She gives details on the major battles and who perished in them. She gave a little insight to what was going on in each character's head.

Here writing was not dry at all, in fact more like a novel than a work of non-fiction. The author research was well done. She gave statements to back up her claims. I have read other works by this author and her histories are never dry. Which has made me a big non-fiction fan.

My rating for this novel is 4.5/5

This month I will be starting the sequel to this novel the Princes in the Tower. About the sons of Edward IV.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey, if you liked this you'd probably really like The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman. She writes awesome historical fiction - often in series. This is a stand-alone about Richard III - from a very different point of view than the one taken by Shakespeare & the Tudors. It's a really wonderful page-turner.

Shannansbooks said...

I have heard of it. I might have to look into it. I also purchased the book edited by Antonia Fraser about the War of the Roses