Review: The White Queen

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm honestly worried for the other half-billion novels written by Philippa Gregory.

This novel is only slightly less dull than the (chronological) first, The Lady of the Rivers. Once again it just spans too long a period, meaning that there's not a lot of attachment to what's happening. There are a lot of battles, a ton of births and deaths, and keeping track of claims to the throne is about as easy as keeping track of Australia's Prime Minister.

Our protagonist, Elizabeth - the titular White Queen - is an unlikable queen and makes absolutely horrid decisions. I can appreciate that this is true historical happenings, but I think she was a poor choice for narrator. Did not like her one bit.

Also really wasn't feeling the whole witchcraft angle. Don't call it 'historical fiction' if you're going to include curses and supernatural happenings. That's pure fantasy. It wasn't even used cleverly. Entirely disappointing.

There's also such a depressing lack of court drama. I feel like this would have been better if it dealt with a shorter time period, and we were allowed to grow attachments to characters. We don't really get to know a lot about the people, or what life is actually like for them. There's just the vague tellings of who is fighting whom, and who marries whom, and what the political ramifications are. All this drama and action and it was just totally BORING.

I'm really fascinated by this period of history but this and the previous book have really taken some of the interest away for me. The French court was clearly much more happening.

Not sure when I'll get to the next book in the series but its unlikely to be any time soon. I might have to find some other authors who have delved into this history. I definitely don't understand how this series is so popular when it's so dull.

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