7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing..., June 8, 2005
This review is from: White Rose (Hardcover)
...I've plowed through all three books in this series in the past two weeks, and this one was by far the most disappointing. Since I was under the impression this was a trilogy, I kept waiting for the loose ends to be tied up, but the book ended so abruptly and oddly that I, like another reviewer, checked the book to make sure it wasn't missing pages.
Although the historical details are interesting, and the character of Robyn is more and more appealing, the narration throughout the series is flat, and many of the characters are one-dimensional, particularly Edward. The author likes to tell us things that we wouldn't know otherwise, and he repeats key plot points throughout the books, as if he thinks the reader can't keep up.
Other minor irritations are the alarmingly frequent misspellings, typos, and incorrectly structured sentences. I'm talking frequent to the point of distraction from the story.
I'll probably read book four if there ever is one, because I'm so far in now, I need to see how the story is resolved, particularly in light of historical facts. But I certainly hope book four is better than this one.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I guess it's not a trilogy anymore, April 29, 2005
This review is from: White Rose (Hardcover)
This book ends so abruptly that I examined the end papers to make sure that I wasn't missing a one-page chapter. The author doesn't even tie up the loose ends in this volume, let alone the series which I had understood to be projected as a trilogy. I was seriously torn between one star and two.
I suppose that reading this book must be different for people who are familiar with the historical period and people who are not. Edward is presented as a bit more innocent and romantic than I imagine him as actually being, but I'm willing to accept it, he is pretty young. His personality actually gets a bit of retroactive revision in this volume. I kept reading the series because of the suspense of wondering whether the author was going to keep to the established history or finish with an alternative history. Well, it wasn't resolved in this book, and I am not certain that I care enough to read any more. The advice that Robyn receives to name her daughter Grace is a tip-off.
The books have been kind of fun, although not particularly good historical novels. I enjoy the juxtaposition of the two eras and Robyn's reactions. Making her a Miss Montana expert equestrian was a brilliant decision that makes her adventures more believable. The Middle Ages are a bit romantized, even if she doesn't find the era a bit smelly, I'd be longing for running water and flush toilets. Particularly incredible is Robyn's use of laptop computer to keep her diary. Even assuming that it didn't upset the locals, what fabulous batteries she must have! I also find it hard to believe that anyone who is as familiar with Shakespeare as Robyn is (she quotes Henry V's speech just before Agincourt from memory) knows so little about this era. She has apparently completely missed the Henry VI and Richard III plays. The witchcraft/religion angle is a bit problematic as well, although I'm willing to accept it for the sake of the story. It is the source of some wonderful scenes, but I'm having a little trouble with Robyn's sincere, simultaneous adoption of witchcraft and medieval Catholicism. I see the parallels, but it still seems a trifle awkward, especially since both are new to Robyn. If she had been a modern Goddess worshipper, or a really, really ecumenical Christian, it would seem a little more likely.
The writing is extremely varied: sometimes Garcia y Robertson manages extremely vivid characterizations and descriptions, and other times it is pretty lame. Each novel seems to get a little more torrid, which I don't find an improvement: there is a very formulaic quality to a lot of it.
Some people argue that romance is a product of western courtly love conventions, but I believe that it is part of the human condition. The problem is that there are different types of romance and I don't think that Garcia y Robertson has cobbled together the right bits, especially from Edward's point of view. Robyn is neither an Arthurian lily maid nor a scornful courtly love idol that she should inspire Edward to immediately determine on marriage to someone who would be so completely unacceptable by contemporary standards. (Actually, strictly speaking, the courtly love idol was married to someone else, but I think that requirement was often ignored.) I presume that the author hopes that people who know Edward's history will know that he did, as king, make a marriage that created a scandal, but even that was to a woman of a known gentry background with royal connections, and one who refused to sleep with him.
There is of course, basic chemistry (which I believe is universal), and the solution in that era would have been concubinage, such as the relationship that Edward's great(s)-uncle John of Gaunt enjoyed with Katherine Swynford while he was married to his second wife. Edward never even suggests it, and especially considering Robyn's objections to being Queen and her freewheeling 21st centuries attitudes, it seems like a natural solution. It would be a little more plausible if Edward proposed the arrangement and Robyn was too jealous to accept it.
All in all, I think this is wearing a little thin.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but looking for more, August 26, 2005
This review is from: White Rose (Hardcover)
I read through the first two books quite rapidly because I thought they were very romantic and interesting. I never knew much about the Wars of the Roses, and after reading the books i read more about them with great interest. Of course after reading about the true history I desperately hope that Robyn will change history for the better. Especially after i read who Edward really married.
I really enjoyed this third book until the end, I can now see why the other reviewers were disappointed. I was swept along in a compelling romance only for it to be knocked down at the end. I left dissapointed and upset for Robyn. I'm sure there's going to be a continuation of the series from what I've read on other web sites, and i do hope the author will "make it up" to us, continuing on the romantic adventurous theme of the first two books and the first half of the third.
I did enjoy the series and i recommend them to anyone who enjoys historical romance. I enjoyed the focus on women and the witcraft Robyn gets into, that part just gets better especially with the witches flight to Avignon.
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