The King's Curse- Philippa Gregory

I would consider myself an advocate of Philippa Gregory's work, namely because I have read a vast majority of her books, however I didn't feel as thrilled as I have before reading this latest instalment in the cousins war series.

That is not to say this book is bad, on the contrary, this book is very good, however it is rather long. Descriptive sections are dragged out and due to the nature of the story the description is quiet repetitive. Although, as with all of Gregory's books her writing style is impeccable- she is a gifted storyteller and has a unique way of making a reader route for their favourite character till the very last second. She brings this historic era to life fantastically, better than most other writers who write about the tudor or York courts- the colours,food, music and culture jump off the page. I adore her writing but as I have said it can be a little repetitive.

The nature of this tail, concerning Margaret Pole the countess of Salisbury, lends to a gripping story, if however, played out over a great many years. The book is full of unrest and heartache that is addictive to read- Margaret's life was incredibly interesting and, personally, I rarely find her mentioned in great detail in other similar books which adds another depth of interest. In addition to Margaret there are a great number other characters who I love, her children in particular and of course Katherine (I always adore the character of Katherine no matter who writes her), and I love the development of Henry's character throughout the story- it is clear a lot of time was spent working on him and it really pays off, the contrast between Prince and King is wonderful.  

I'll be honest I found some sections a little boring, not really because of any fault of the author, more because I think I've reached the end (for a little while) of endlessly reading Gregory's work. However if you are a lover of Tudor/war of the roses history, as always, I can't recommend Gregory enough. This was another great addition to her long list of books but I couldn't honestly claim it out suppresses my favourites- just nestles in amongst the others.