Angel's Book Reviews 2.0

I did like this book, but it had many problems for me.

First and foremost, Anne's passivity. I understand that most historical accounts of her portray her like this, and the events that shaped her life confirm it, but I was expecting more. Great part of my expectations were the result of having read the author's note, at the end of the book, before reading the book itself: Philippa says she tried to make Anne into "more a player than a pawn"; but that's not how she comes across. I don't know if it could have been done differently, but I was disappointed.

Second, the repetition. It looks as if Philippa was trying to hit her word count. Does she really have to say everything at least three times? Especially since she's telling, essentially, the same event. For the fourth time.

Finally, in my opinion, the relationships between the characters were very poorly exploited. By themselves, the characters were well-written and complex, but the interactions between them were trivial at best; forced, over dramatic and unrealistic at worst. I was especially disappointed by how she portrayed the break-up between the two sisters. That relationship was very well constructed at the beginning of the book, and developed well, but the breakup is sudden and has little effect on either of them. Personally, I love to read about the relationship between sisters, and I know that a breakup in this case hurts much more than a romantic breakup ever could.

In spite of these problems, I very much enjoyed reading it. Like I said, the characters are well made, even if the interactions between them are lacking. The plot is exactly the "other side" of the story in [b:The White Queen|5971165|The White Queen (The Cousins' War, #1)|Philippa Gregory|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406950364s/5971165.jpg|13560666], and it's a nice balance. I'd give it 3.75 stars.