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Avid Reader's Review:
3.5 Stars
In The Queen of Last Hopes, author Susan Higginbotham brings to life one of history's most maligned royals, Margeret of Anjou, wife of England's King Henry VI. While I appreciated the historical aspects of this novel, it took me up until the halfway point to start to enjoy the story itself. Most of the novel felt rather flat and rushed - imho 330+ pages is simply not sufficient to do justice to the immense amount of history that took place during the time frame covered by this novel. As such, too much of this history was only glossed over, rather than described in the detail and depth I prefer. As such, rather than be drawn into the story I felt as if I was simply an outside observer looking in and, as a result, I had little emotional attachment to the outcome. The Wars of the Roses is such an interesting period of English history, and I admit that most of my reading of the era has a distinct Yorkist bias. As a result, it was nice to read something from the Lancaster point of view. Despite my criticisms I would still recommend this novel, especially to readers new to the Wars of the Roses period.