Customer Reviews

The Uncrowned Queen: A Novel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I will admit to loving the first book in this series mostly because of the fantastically titillating sex scenes. The second book I thought was ok, but not as romantic or interesting as the first. This third book, the last in the Anne series, may be the best in terms of writing style, but I felt it was quite rushed in parts. It is, however, officially a work of true historical fiction, not just romance as the first mostly was (there are only two sex scenes in this book and they are quite artistic, not very descriptive.)

The Uncrowned Queen (a title that makes no sense-the Australian title "The Beloved" really fits better) takes place in the two years that follow Edward IV being ousted from England by Margaret of Anjou and the earl of Warwick, along with his troublesome, treasonous brother George, Duke of Clarence. At the start of the book Edward is in the Netherlands for some six months before taking back his throne, at which point insane Henry VI died rather conveniently. Anne, Edward's love and mother of his first born son, is with Edward in the Netherlands, and is accused of witch craft by a doctor turned monk while helping Edward to retake his throne. Later a Norse sea captain who works for Anne's former master, Sir Mathew, declares in love with Anne and chases her, and her son Edward, the Kings son, about the Netherlands and England.

I was wondering how this book would be handled, considering that during this period Edward has a legitimate son (Anne bore his first son some three years before), probably kills Henry VI, Anne's father (though she's never met him) and dies about ten years later, fat and without morals. How the author handled all this was by glossing over most of the major parts of the book. Henry VI is barely touched upon and all of Anne's choices seem to be made in about a second, despite her seeming protests and endless hours thinking and obsessing over her pride and choices. The last hundred pages of the book is almost totally a series of critical life changing events that are only skimmed along the surface.

The relationship of Edward and Anne is extremely different in this book from what I remembered. They are very tentative with each other and prideful. Neither one will listen to the other-different from the loving and tender relationship they had in the previous books. I think Posie Graeme-Evans got very infatuated with the idea of Lief, a Norse captain who falls in love with Anne, and the primary focus of the book suffers because of that.

The parts of this book that are fully described are very good. Posie Graeme-Evans has grown to be a very good writer and Anne emerges in this book as an actual person who is quite tormented with sadness, as opposed to the Mary-Sue perfect character she seemed to be before. But those parts are few and far between. This book has the feel, in some parts, of a first or second draft that needs to be filled out. Weirdly, what are best portrayed in this book are the clothes of the people. There are endless descriptions of clothes.

All in all I liked this book, for all it's faults. I didn't really like the ending because it was rushed, and I just didn't like the way it ended. Though, I suppose it had to end somehow, and that ending was never going to be fairy tale perfect. I may read this series again someday, because I now believe Posie Graeme-Evans has serious potential as a writer of historical fiction, but I still feel this book would have been much better if she'd worked on it for a couple of months more and added maybe a hundred pages of scenes that are missing. I will be on the lookout for her work in the future though.

Ms. Graeme-Evans, my congrulations on the series and I look forward for future books of yours. Please don't be offended by my comments.

Four stars.

The Uncrowned Queen, the finalé to Posie Graeme-Evans' Anne trilogy, picks up eighteen months after The Exile. Commencing shortly after Edward Plantagenet, Edward the IV, lost the throne of England to the Lancastrian line (Henry VI and his wife, Margaret of Anjou) for several months in 1470-1471, Anne de Bohun lives on a small farm outside the walls of Brugge. In the eighteen months since Anne has seen her lover, Edward the IV, she has returned to the a more natural life, growing saffron and other medicinal herbs while tending to her growing son Edward.

Edward has fled England, driven away by the combined treachery of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and George, Duke of Clarence, Edward's younger brother. Seeking shelter at Binnenhof with his friend Louis de Gruuthuis, the governor of the province of Holland for Charles, Duke of Burgundy, Edward hopes that Charles will lend aid to recover the English throne. Faced with a strong foe in Louis XI, King of France who is plotting with Warwick to reinstate Henry VI on the English throne, Charles faces war with France if he assists his brother-in-law Edward.

Anne, close friends with Charles's wife, is Edward's only hope to broker a deal with Charles and, as a last resort, he sends her the desperate message `The king needs you.' Charles has the means to help Edward regain his throne, but the question is, will he? Will Edward and Anne be reunited for good? The Uncrowned Queen is a memorable and dazzling end to an incredible story.

Set amidst a turbulent period in European history, Graeme-Evans has created a compelling love story which manages to hold up amidst the political drama which drives the plot. Although the character of Anne is fictitious, Edward IV is known to have had many mistresses, and fathered children with several of them so the relationship, which has developed through this trilogy, has a ring of truth.

What is most fascinating in Graeme-Evans' writing is the portrait of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Edward's other brother. Long viewed as the scheming hunchback protrayed by Shakespeare in Richard III, Graeme-Evans portrays him as Edward's right hand and most trusted supporter. This portrait is so at odds with the conventional understanding of Richard, that it has prompted this reviewer to seek out contemporary biographies of both Richard and Edward IV to better understand this turbulent period in England's history.

The Uncrowned Queen (or The Beloved as it is titled outside of North America), while the concluding chapter in a trilogy, contains enough adventure, passion and drama to engage readers, even if they have not read the preceding two instalments of Anne's journey.

Very disappointing; not worth the money. I was dismayed this book was even taken up by a publisher. Each book in the 3 series worsened in plot and quality. Fragmented plot without explanations for major changes; no development. It was as if the only thing important was that the female lead end up with a man in her life to take care of her -- and you could spot the end coming from nearly page one. Contrast this with such incredible historical fiction authors such as Janet Gleeson -- who is meticulous in her development, research in historical accuracy, and yet truly manages to be wonderfully entertaining with characters that are so well developed, one feels as if each is personally known.

The thirty years of War of the Roses between the Houses of York and Lancaster continue seemingly unabated; no one in England can elude its reach even those who are hidden from the two camps claiming the crown like Anne de Bohun who has feet on both sides of the conflict as the mistress of married King Edward IV and mother of his wrong side of the sheets son while also being the biological daughter of King Henry VI.

With her lover in exile in France, Anne has not seen or heard from her Edward in eighteen months as she lives with her son successfully working the merchant trade in Brugge, Belgium until he orders her to come to him on the eve of his crossing the Channel to bring the war back to Henry. If she heeds his message, Anne risks all that she has achieved by diligent hard work to overcome her impoverished servant childhood to have something better for her child, but rationalizes that Edward, the only man she has ever loved, would never harm his offspring even an illegitimate one in his ambition to take the throne.

The finish to Posie Graeme-Evans's strong collateral look at the impact of the War of the Roses through a heroine who has close ties to the rivals is a fine historical tale that nicely wraps up a solid trilogy (see THE INNOCENCE and THE EXILED). The story line enables the audience to see deep into the social and political happenings of late fifteenth century England, France, and Belgium. Especially fascinating is the attitude of the followers of the adversaries are identically self-aggrandizing and dissolute as each believes they are the deserving ruling class. Not for everyone as the tale lacks action for long stretches, fans of fifteenth century dramas will enjoy Anne's story amidst the finale to the War of the Roses.

Harriet Klausner

After gobbling up The Innocent and The Exiled, I was exciting to see how the Anne trilogy concluded in Posie Graeme-Evans' The Uncrowned Queen.

This volume in the series is considerably longer than its previous installments, but worth it. The story begins shortly after the end of The Exiled. Anne is getting back to her lonely life in exile when news of King Edward's disposal and King Henry VI's nominal return to power reaches her. It seems that the historical British civil war, The War of the Roses, has begun.

Packed to the brim with political intrigue, power games and romance, The Uncrowned Queen has considerably more plot than its predecessors and focuses more on power games and politics than on the forbidden romance between Anne and King Edward. Even though I found this to be a much-welcome, fresh departure from the other novels, it probably won't be what most readers of the series expect. While the Anne trilogy, at its heart, is a historical romance, The Uncrowned Queen leans much more heavily toward historical fiction with a massive cutback on romance.

The first 200 pages of this book, however, are incredibly, as well as surprisingly, slow. I was particularly amazed at the lack of word-smithing magic that was such a wonderful treat in the previous novels. Even though the prose in The Uncrowned Queen is still elegant and detailed, it just doesn't seem as natural to me as the other books, which made me feel like I was missing out a little bit. This was particularly evident during the dry section of the book, making it nearly impossible to plow through.

After the first section of the book, though, things really start to pick up. Anne returns to England with her son Edward to try and make a new life for themselves once King Edward is restored to the throne. Of course, it's never that easy. A ghost from the past returns to accuse Anne of witchcraft and more key figures learn about the truth of Anne's lineage...as well as her son's. The action becomes swift and easy to follow, but still seems a little far-fetched and unlikely.

I do have to hand it to Graeme-Evans though -the ending is very, very satisfying. As a long time reader, that seems to be the biggest problem I encounter -some writers have amazing craft and imagination, but simply can't complete their stories in a way that makes the reader satisfied. The Uncrowned Queen completely avoided this pitfall and delivered something unexpected, but perfect. Romance fans will probably be unhappy about the ending because it wasn't the predictable, perfect one, but it was an ending that was realistic and that made sense. I wasn't even sure if I liked it at first, but it's a massive improvement on the endings of The Innocent and The Exiled and proved that this isn't just a frivolous little historical romance series written for escapist purposes.

Even though it isn't the best historical romance/fiction out there, Posie Graeme-Evans' Anne trilogy and The Uncrowned Queen are lovely books that were obviously written with love and are pure enjoyment. I eagerly await future novels from this talented author.

'The Beloved' (also published as 'The Uncrowned Queen' in the US) is the third and strongest book in the Ann trilogy. It opens to an England in turmoil. Kind Edward has been usurped and is now in exile in Burgundy while the old Queen, Margaret of Anjou wreaks havoc and death upon his people. Lady Anne soon finds herself assisting the King with both his financial and well, sexual, needs. That's when things start to get delicious. The dethroned Queen Elizabeth gives birth to a son, a new love interest is introduced to Anne, King Louis of France makes a play for war with Burgundy and Anne is nearly killed...again.

Plot wise, this novel was well crafted as it built the romantic tension in Anne and Edward's relationship successfully and the scenes with King Louis of France slated my political interest. In criticism, I found that it resorted to cheap tricks like paganism and psychic visions at times when the plot wasn't strong enough. Again, I found myself knowing with the protagonist, what would happen ahead of time. Although there is less of it than in 'The Exiled', I still found myself a little disappointed and shaking my head every time she mentioned the 'Sword Mother'.

Characterisation was vastly improved in this novel with the factual secondary characters providing a colourful backdrop to set Ann against. I was absolutely in love with Leif and found myself really rooting for him. Ann too, finally made some mistakes in this book. She didn't seem so perfect and that was refreshing. Even if I didn't like the choices she made in the end of the book, I could still see how it happened.

Although this book has a few flaws, the writing is really easy to read and quite beautiful. It's good but I think it could have been great. It wasn't a Philippa Gregory but it unfortunately wasn't a Sara Donati either. It just never really made the leap from history to fiction.

Read these books if: You're not looking for a history lesson or strong characterisation. Probably a good place to start if you don't have a keen interest in history as Posie Graeme-Evans has a style that is very easy to read.

Don't read these books if: You're a fan of Philippa Gregory. It will just kill you.

THIS BOOK IS ONE OF A TRILOGY. IF YOU ENJOY HISTORICAL FICTION OR JEAN PLAIDY YOU'LL LIKE POSIE GRAEME-EVANS BOOKS. THIS BOOK WAS AN ENJOYABLE AND EASY READ I FINISHED THE TRILOGY WITHIN TWO WEEKS. I LOOK FORWARD TO MORE TITLES FROM THIS AUTHOR.

I picked up the first book in this trilogy on a clearance super deal table. I decided it sounded interesting and started reading. I read the books so quickly that I had the first two read before this one came in! This book like the others is well written, exciting, romantic, and you just can't wait to find out what happens next. If you have read the first two you have to read this book. It is just a plus that the author is Australian which is how I justified buying the books to my Australian husband. I have since passed on the books to a friend and she loves them too. It really does have something for everyone. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because I didn't want the story to end!

I loved the first two books in this series. They were historically rich and had passionate characters. This third book was just tripe. The pacing was too fast and the ending made me throw the book across the room. I didn't even finish it. I got 3/4's of the way through the book and saw that the author was actually going to abandon a relationship nurtured through 2 1/2 books. I skimmed the rest and saw I was right.

I feel like I wasted my time getting to know these characters. I read books for "happy endings" which is not what Mrs. Graeme-Evans provided.

In this third book in the Trilogy, we find Anne still living in Brugge. Meanwhile, King Edward forced to flee England and the rebellion that put Henry VI back on the throne. Edward is short of resources and is being kept as a "guest" by an alli of the French King.

Edward manages to get a message to Anne hears of his plight which brings them together after two years apart. Passion reignites between the two while Edward attempts to win back his Kingdom and Anne is torn between her feelings for him and newly emerging feelings for Leif, an employee of her guardian, Matthew Cuttifer.

Although this novel had some pacing problems, slow in parts and it felt rushed in the end, I enjoyed it. The major strength of this trilogy is the heroine herself. Anne is an interesting combination of strength and vulnerability. The passion between Anne and Edward is sizzling in this book, much more so than in the first two books. There's also some harrowing times as Anne is called out as a witch by a character from the first book.

While I wouldn't rate this as one of the best novels ever, it was enjoyable and I look forward to the author's future work.