The Red Queen (The Cousin's War) Paperback – July 9, 2013

Once more, I found myself unable to put Gregory's book down, and even when I managed to do so, I spent the moments in between yearning to pick it up again. Initially, the lady Margaret was a character to be pitied and one could even venture to say relatable, but as the years go by, she stops being a pitiful little girl who is devalued by society and unloved by her mother and husband, and becomes a bitter, delusional, arrogant, hypocritical woman. By the time she married Henry Stafford, I often wanted to punch her in the face. Her frequent reflections on being favored by God above all--even saying on more than one occasion that she is 'without sin'--made me cringe. I loved the part where Stafford calls her out on her hypocrisy, saying (paraphrased), "It's funny how God's 'will' is all the things YOU want," which causes her to fly off the handle at him. She has an overinflated opinion of herself, and every time she is held accountable for her actions and/or someone else (namely Elizabeth Woodville) gets a better predicament or situation than herself, she questions why someone as favored and without fault as she shouldn't be granted all of her heart's desires. She's obnoxious, and I give Gregory credit for portraying her in a realistic, nonjudgmental way, even to the point that I can see *why* Margaret is the way she is/thinks the way she thinks, regardless of how much I disliked her.Though I'm familiar enough with the Tudor dynasty to know how this book would end, I was not familiar with Margaret Beaufort prior to reading this, so there were some events I didn't see coming. I always enjoy Gregory's writing and her ability to make history come alive. Ultimately, I loved this book, (LOVE the series) despite my disdain for this main character, and am certain I'll be reading it again in the future.

I enjoyed reading this novel. It was very well-written and entertaining, with a good amount of suspense thrown in amoungst the historic tidbits of information.It is actually rather odd that I enjoyed this novel as much as I did, as I thoroughly did not like the lead protagonist, Margaret Beaufort. However I get the impression that Gregory did not wish her to be liked, and so portrayed her in such a way that it was hard to form any kind of attachment to her. Her proud and unyeilding manner was frustrating at times, especially when compared to her second husband, Henry Stafford.I enjoyed reading of Stafford, and I felt Gregory did a good job of showing his indecisiveness during the Cousin's Wars. I came to like him, for he seemed to be a peace-loving man who had his tenant's best interests at heart. Margaret's third husband however, Lord Stanley, was a completely different figure, and in many ways I felt that Margaret and he deserved one another. I knew that Stanley had stood on the sidelines until the very end at the Battle of Bosworth and so it was interesting to read of him prior to that, especially as Gregory provided us with information about him that made it easy to see him as the sly 'fox' that would try and play both sides.Towards the end of the novel I enjoyed the meetings between Margaret Beaufort and Elizabeth of York, soon to be her daughter-in-law, as Elizabeth seemed to be a fiesty young woman that was not afraid of Margaret. It was a shame that the novel ended when it did, with the culmination of Bosworth, as I would have liked to see the interactions between these two women once Henry Tudor was King and Elizabeth Queen. History gives us the impression that Margaret 'ruled the roost' at her son's court, and that the Queen was politically shunned. It makes me wonder why Gregory portrayed Elizabeth as a strong character before she was Queen.All in all this was an interesting novel about a woman whose determination helped win her son the throne of England. Her belief in the righteousness of her cause was truly remarkable, and altogether frustrating at the same time. A completely contrasting figure to Edward IV's Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, as portrayed in Gregory's novel 'The White Queen'.