gilda_elise

Caught between a king and a kingmaker, young Richard Plantagenet knows he’ll have to choose...

1461: Richard Duke of York, King by Right, has been branded a traitor and slain by his Lancastrian foes. For his eight-year-old son—Richard Plantagenet—England has become a dangerous place.

As the boy grapples with grief and uncertainty, his elder brother, Edward, defeats the enemy and claims the throne. Dazzled by his glorious sibling, young Richard soon discovers that imperfections lurk beneath his brother's majestic façade. Enter Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick—cousin, tutor, luminary—whose life has given him everything but that which he truly craves: a son. A filial bond forms between man and boy as they fill the void in each other’s lives. Yet, when treachery tears their world asunder, Richard faces an agonizing dilemma: pledge allegiance to Edward—his blood brother and king—or to Warwick, the father figure who has shaped his life and affections.

Painfully trapped between duty and devotion, Richard faces a grim reality: whatever he decides will mean a fight to the death.

A meticulously written book, the reader is swept along as the future of England, and that of the House of York, is decided. With young Richard Plantagenet, the future Richard III, as the main focus, the story begins with the loss of his father and takes you to the Battle of Barnet, where, at least for awhile, the throne is secured. But it’s not a straight path, and the changes in fortune of those close to Richard, and to himself, are thoroughly charted.

That given, I did feel that Richard is portrayed as rather too broken, too undecided and unwilling to stand up against what he perceives as bad decisions. He vacillates too much between his affection for his cousin and his loyalty, not to his brother, oddly enough, but to his dead father and what he perceives the man stood for. I understand that he’s still basically a boy, yet I felt that the author focused too much on that part of his personality.

Still, in the long run it’s a fine book. The wiring is excellent, and I liked that, now that the information is out there, we see Richard’s reaction to the scoliosis which is beginning to affect him.

This is supposed to be the first book in a trilogy. Given that it took the author ten years to write this one, readers could be in for a long wait.