(Blog Tour) Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith

It was nice to read a book set during the War of the Roses, which is an era I'm not well read in. I learned – from the York perspective – much about the events and people surrounding the conflict while reading Queen by Right.

The novel is shown in the point of view of Cecily Neville, the wife of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and mother of Edward IV and Richard III. We see her as a child and then through the years, all the way up to the crowning of Edward IV. I loved the child Cecily, she was very spirited and often spoke her mind – while getting punished for it later. As she grew up, she lost a bit of that, but in it's place she became tough and fearless, earning the nickname 'Proud Cis'.

Since the book was from the point of view of a woman in those times, there was a lot of 'telling' instead of 'showing' of the major events throughout the conflict. However, there were some powerful scenes, such as Cecily meeting Joan of Arc while she was imprisoned – I quite liked how Joan of Arc was incorporated into the story, although there's no proof that the two ever met. The other scene that struck me was the scene at Ludlow, as Cecily held the hands of her sons George and Richard while staring down an army. This, we know, actually happened, and the way it was written in Queen by Right was very gripping.

Queen by Right was a chunkster, and took a bit for me to get through, but at the end, I felt rewarded. A good historical fiction novel.

I received the book for review as part of Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.