Jean Plaidy
Henry IV and his son Henry V, I hoped that there would be more about Azincourt and Henry's courtship of Katherine of Valois,
I barely knew that Henry hadsisters as well as hismore famous brothers,
The first part covering the reign of Henry IV was definitely stronger than the second part on Henry V which seemed rushed, covering someyears in aboutpages.
This could have been a lot larger and far more detailed, as there were as many significant events after the Battle of Agincourt two years into Henry's reign as there were before.
One common aspect of this author's work that I find irksome was prominent in this novel, This is her tendency to devote much attention and space to accounts of the lives, actions and actions of relatively minor historical figures who play little or no role in the major events of the period.
As much sympathy as I felt for Isabella of France, Richard II's second wife, was a fairly lengthy chapter on her life after Richard was deposed at she was returned to France really necessary I did not think the entire 'back story' for Joanna, Henry V's French stepmother really added much the story either.
A good read, but a little disappointing if you are looking for a Historical novel about Henry V as King,
A well paced novel covering the lives of Heny IV Bolingbroke and his son Henry V, as usual primarily seen through the lives of their wives, The ending is rather abrupt, but that's history!
I am always skeptical of historical fiction, Too often it's a romance novel dressed up in period costume, I was thus pleased to discover that Plaidy has a sense of history, a respect for research, solid writing skills, The Plantagenets are old friends of mine, and I enjoy reading their stories in thesection of the library, I can safely add Plaidy's novels to that list, I love Jean Plaidy and really enjoyed her account of Henry V early years such a shame that his star was bright but brief sad destiny of warrior kings.
An amazing book, very lush and pretty, The Hundred Years' War and the hints at the beginning of what would be the Wars of the Roses and the toils and troubles of Henry IV and V who both were not the worst of English monarchs with foreign, but especially domestic enemies amid anglofrench shenanigans told in Plaidy's succinct, simple manner.
That is The Star of Lancaster in short, an interesting read, as Plaidy always is, The first half of the novel is by far superior to the second half, I feel the author shouldve ended this one with Henry IVs demise, and wrote a separate book from when Henry V took the throne,
I didnt previously know much about Mary de Bohun, who takes centre stage during the opening chapters, Dont know what the real Mary was like, but I loved Jean Plaidys portral of her,
As with the previous books in the Plantagenet series, the author tries to cover the lives of nearly everyone involved during the period covered, Because of her need to pack everything in, events are rushed over, which leads to lots of "telling" and a lack of "showing",
This is especially so in regards of the Battle of Agincourt, I didnt have high expectations here, aware that Plaidy was never one for describing battles to any great length, but I did hope for more than a brief summing up of one of the greatest conflicts in history.
As noted, the first half of “The Star of Lancaster” proved very engaging, but part two drifts off in too many directions, The reader is suddenly transported from England to France, introduced to lots of new characters, and in my case, at least is left wondering why,
Another annoyance is Jean Plaidys trait of repeating info to a ridiculous extent, including references to events in previous books in the Plantagenet series,
Perhaps the main repetitive theme in this book is the widowed queen going on and on about Richard II, No one could replace Richard, never will she love anyone else, never will she forget him, etc, is really forced down the readers throat,
On the whole, I found this to be on of the better books of the Plantagenet saga, though like all the others, it has the potential of being much better.
Terrific book about the reign of Henry IV and his conquering son Henry V, Read it in two days as the book was so fast paced and full of love, lust, betrayal and intrigue I just couldn't put it down, Jean Plaidy has such a way in capturing the reader and you just surrender to it, This book starts the dawn of the Lancaster period and starts the reader on to the road of the Battle of the Roses, A must read! I read this in high school and I wasn't sure when I was reading through the Plantagenet Saga if I should reread this one, Actually, not really, I was reading the whole thing from start to finish and that was the point, so early on I decided to include this one, I had forgotten so much and it was interesting the little things that I remembered, Jean Plaidy's books are dangerously rereadable!th in series This is theth part I think of this story and it is getting annoying that every books starts with the same events seen from the next king in line.
Once you're pst that part it does get interesting though it feels as if Plaidy is getting bored with the story herself and is rushing through the major events.
This part of the Plantagenet Saga is particularly vivid and fascinating without being too lurid, These people had to play some serious mind games to get what they wanted, . . and things will only get crazier after this one! Henry V was one of the saner kings, it seems, Henry IV and Henry V of England Good Book, but felt that the ending was rushed, This is the first novel by Jean Plaidy Ive read, and it focuses around the lives and reigns of Henry IV and Henry V, covering the formers usurpation of Richard IIs crown and the latters “glorious” reign i.
e. Agincourt and the French campaign, I knew going in not to expect anything really great from Plaidy, knowing that she had a reputation as a prolific author who sticks to the basics, ticking all the boxes for everything a reader would expect to find in a story about whatever historical period shes writing about and little else.
And, on the whole, thats a fair evaluation of what I found in The Star of Lancaster, We do get pretty much everything youd expect to read in a story about Henry IV and Henry V published in the eighties, but all of it is pretty standard and nothing ever really lifts itself up to deliver an emotional punch.
To begin with the positives its not the worst novel Ive ever read about Henry V that dubious honour belongs to sitelinkGood King Harry, The prose itself is competently written, if rather basic, although I noticed a surprising amount of typos clearly, however, the fault of the publisher, not author, I also liked that the novel began by focusing heavily on Mary de Bohun, a fairly obscure historical figure,
I rather wish, however, Plaidy had done with her than make her a simpleminded, sweet woman who is manipulated by everyone around her and is slowly killed by her repeated pregnancies.
I also really, REALLY wish that Plaidy hadnt done quite so much to make her marriage to Henry seem extremely creepy, She is manipulated into it, which is bad enough, but the focus is on her youthyears old, as stated intext and Henrys almostfive years on top of that historically, he was, Plaidy says that he was “almost”, plus the fact that Henry explicitly tells her not to worry about the wedding night because he knows what they have to do and he notes her childish simplicity when theyre about to go bed, plus the fact she immediately gets pregnant and nearly dies giving birth yeah, no, thats really disgusting.
It doesnt help, either, that this storyline of a young boy pushing an even younger girl for marriage and sex is also played out again, nearly beat by beat, by Mary and Henrys firstborn son Harry aboutin Plaidys timeline and Isabelle de Valois.
Nor does it help that Isabelle is subsequently revealed to be holding a flame for Richard II, who wasyears old when he died and had treated Isabelle as his own daughter.
It is worth noting that though its now believed that there was no pregnancy and birth when Mary was stupidly young, Plaidy was writing decades ago, before the evidence about this pregnancy was revealed to actually refer to the birth of the child of Eleanor de Bohun, Marys older sister.
There are numerous other inaccuracies in the book, though I feel too tired to go into all of them, One of the silliest was Plaidy writing that Harry had a scar on his forehead from the arrowwound he received at the Battle of Shrewsbury, It was on his cheek and, as the arrow penetrated to the “depth of six inches” according to the surgeon that removed it, he should be dead in Plaidys story.
John, Duke of Bedford, goes with Harry to France during thecampaign no, he was regent of England at this time, and Harrys other brothers, Thomas, Duke of Clarence and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester were with Harry instead.
There is also very little to suggest the affectionate relationship between Harry and Richard II, which is historically attested,
Plaidys depiction of Harrys “wild youth” borrows heavily from Shakespeare and the stories he drew on, with Sir John Oldcastle standing in for Falstaff, Shakespeares depiction, while iconic, is somewhat doubtful, and Oldcastle cannot be easily subbed into Falstaffs role, Additionally, at times it really felt as though Plaidy was just rewriting Shakespeares dialogue,
I, personally, didnt care for Plaidys characterisations of anyone, There was very little depth in them, nor were they particularly sympathetic, The most sympathetic is easily Mary de Bohun, but even then, she was frustrating I wanted to protect her, to drag her out of the horrible world shed been written into.
Worse, the characters drop in and out of the novel Clarence is relatively important in Harrys youth and princedom, but then drops down to cameoappearances by the time Harry becomes Henry V and I cant even remember if his death got a mention intext.
Harry himself drops out of the novel for a large chunk,
One of the other annoyances with the novel is the way in which Plaidy suddenly seems to rush through events, We get a fairly slow introduction in the novel, with overpages spent introducing Mary, getting her married to Henry and her first pregnancy, but later, Henry IVs conflict with the Percys and the Battle of Shrewsbury are all introduced and concluded within one chapter.
Even later still, that iconic moment in English history, the Battle of Agincourt, occurs overpages with very little detail given, Its like Plaidy set out wanting to write a great big saga, but then got bored or a deadline loomed and so spedwrote everything else, One of my friends suggested that Plaidy is more interested in the historical romance aspect of her stories, so maybe thats another reason why we getpages on Mary and Henrys creepy “courtship” and aboutpages on Henry Vs war with France.
In short, The Star of Lancaster is a basic retelling of the lives of Henry IV and Henry V, speeding through the events of the latters reign.
It is an old book and shows it in its downright creepy depictions of relationships and the reliance on outdated narratives about these two kings, Worse, it doesnt even manage to be interesting, .
Continuing Jean Plaidy's popular Plantagenet series, here is the dramatic story of King Henry the Fifth's rise from wayward youngster to warrior king,
Richard the Second is losing his hold on the crown and Henry of Bolingbroke, previously exiled by the king, returns to England to claim it, Richard is deposed and dies mysteriously, murdered some say on the orders of Bolingbroke, now King Henry the Fourth, But Henry finds the crown harder to hold onto than it was to win, He is beset by enemies, hampered by disease, and concerned about the rebellious behaviour of his son, Dominating the court and with his eye on the crown is Harry of Monmouth, whose reckless conduct in lowclass taverns with his crony Sir John Oldcastle causes scandal.
When the king dies, Harry became King Henry the Fifth, and the change is dramatic for both him and Oldcastle, The licentious youth becomes a great king, and Oldcastle, the rake, turns into a religious reformer, Oldcastle dies a martyr and Harry becomes the conquering hero of Agincourt,
The Star of Lancaster is in the ascendant, Harry has brought France to her knees and married her princess, It seems that the long war was at an end, But a greater enemy than the French awaits Harry, . .
My favorite author a must read I enjoyed reading Plaidy's account of the early life and childhood of the boy who would become King Henry V, especially the female POV of his mother, an all too often ignored figure, in the early chapters.I barely knew that Henry hadsisters as well as hismore famous brothers,
The first part covering the reign of Henry IV was definitely stronger than the second part on Henry V which seemed rushed, covering someyears in aboutpages.
This could have been a lot larger and far more detailed, as there were as many significant events after the Battle of Agincourt two years into Henry's reign as there were before.
One common aspect of this author's work that I find irksome was prominent in this novel, This is her tendency to devote much attention and space to accounts of the lives, actions and actions of relatively minor historical figures who play little or no role in the major events of the period.
As much sympathy as I felt for Isabella of France, Richard II's second wife, was a fairly lengthy chapter on her life after Richard was deposed at she was returned to France really necessary I did not think the entire 'back story' for Joanna, Henry V's French stepmother really added much the story either.
A good read, but a little disappointing if you are looking for a Historical novel about Henry V as King,
A well paced novel covering the lives of Heny IV Bolingbroke and his son Henry V, as usual primarily seen through the lives of their wives, The ending is rather abrupt, but that's history!
I am always skeptical of historical fiction, Too often it's a romance novel dressed up in period costume, I was thus pleased to discover that Plaidy has a sense of history, a respect for research, solid writing skills, The Plantagenets are old friends of mine, and I enjoy reading their stories in thesection of the library, I can safely add Plaidy's novels to that list, I love Jean Plaidy and really enjoyed her account of Henry V early years such a shame that his star was bright but brief sad destiny of warrior kings.
An amazing book, very lush and pretty, The Hundred Years' War and the hints at the beginning of what would be the Wars of the Roses and the toils and troubles of Henry IV and V who both were not the worst of English monarchs with foreign, but especially domestic enemies amid anglofrench shenanigans told in Plaidy's succinct, simple manner.
That is The Star of Lancaster in short, an interesting read, as Plaidy always is, The first half of the novel is by far superior to the second half, I feel the author shouldve ended this one with Henry IVs demise, and wrote a separate book from when Henry V took the throne,
I didnt previously know much about Mary de Bohun, who takes centre stage during the opening chapters, Dont know what the real Mary was like, but I loved Jean Plaidys portral of her,
As with the previous books in the Plantagenet series, the author tries to cover the lives of nearly everyone involved during the period covered, Because of her need to pack everything in, events are rushed over, which leads to lots of "telling" and a lack of "showing",
This is especially so in regards of the Battle of Agincourt, I didnt have high expectations here, aware that Plaidy was never one for describing battles to any great length, but I did hope for more than a brief summing up of one of the greatest conflicts in history.
As noted, the first half of “The Star of Lancaster” proved very engaging, but part two drifts off in too many directions, The reader is suddenly transported from England to France, introduced to lots of new characters, and in my case, at least is left wondering why,
Another annoyance is Jean Plaidys trait of repeating info to a ridiculous extent, including references to events in previous books in the Plantagenet series,
Perhaps the main repetitive theme in this book is the widowed queen going on and on about Richard II, No one could replace Richard, never will she love anyone else, never will she forget him, etc, is really forced down the readers throat,
On the whole, I found this to be on of the better books of the Plantagenet saga, though like all the others, it has the potential of being much better.
Terrific book about the reign of Henry IV and his conquering son Henry V, Read it in two days as the book was so fast paced and full of love, lust, betrayal and intrigue I just couldn't put it down, Jean Plaidy has such a way in capturing the reader and you just surrender to it, This book starts the dawn of the Lancaster period and starts the reader on to the road of the Battle of the Roses, A must read! I read this in high school and I wasn't sure when I was reading through the Plantagenet Saga if I should reread this one, Actually, not really, I was reading the whole thing from start to finish and that was the point, so early on I decided to include this one, I had forgotten so much and it was interesting the little things that I remembered, Jean Plaidy's books are dangerously rereadable!th in series This is theth part I think of this story and it is getting annoying that every books starts with the same events seen from the next king in line.
Once you're pst that part it does get interesting though it feels as if Plaidy is getting bored with the story herself and is rushing through the major events.
This part of the Plantagenet Saga is particularly vivid and fascinating without being too lurid, These people had to play some serious mind games to get what they wanted, . . and things will only get crazier after this one! Henry V was one of the saner kings, it seems, Henry IV and Henry V of England Good Book, but felt that the ending was rushed, This is the first novel by Jean Plaidy Ive read, and it focuses around the lives and reigns of Henry IV and Henry V, covering the formers usurpation of Richard IIs crown and the latters “glorious” reign i.
e. Agincourt and the French campaign, I knew going in not to expect anything really great from Plaidy, knowing that she had a reputation as a prolific author who sticks to the basics, ticking all the boxes for everything a reader would expect to find in a story about whatever historical period shes writing about and little else.
And, on the whole, thats a fair evaluation of what I found in The Star of Lancaster, We do get pretty much everything youd expect to read in a story about Henry IV and Henry V published in the eighties, but all of it is pretty standard and nothing ever really lifts itself up to deliver an emotional punch.
To begin with the positives its not the worst novel Ive ever read about Henry V that dubious honour belongs to sitelinkGood King Harry, The prose itself is competently written, if rather basic, although I noticed a surprising amount of typos clearly, however, the fault of the publisher, not author, I also liked that the novel began by focusing heavily on Mary de Bohun, a fairly obscure historical figure,
I rather wish, however, Plaidy had done with her than make her a simpleminded, sweet woman who is manipulated by everyone around her and is slowly killed by her repeated pregnancies.
I also really, REALLY wish that Plaidy hadnt done quite so much to make her marriage to Henry seem extremely creepy, She is manipulated into it, which is bad enough, but the focus is on her youthyears old, as stated intext and Henrys almostfive years on top of that historically, he was, Plaidy says that he was “almost”, plus the fact that Henry explicitly tells her not to worry about the wedding night because he knows what they have to do and he notes her childish simplicity when theyre about to go bed, plus the fact she immediately gets pregnant and nearly dies giving birth yeah, no, thats really disgusting.
It doesnt help, either, that this storyline of a young boy pushing an even younger girl for marriage and sex is also played out again, nearly beat by beat, by Mary and Henrys firstborn son Harry aboutin Plaidys timeline and Isabelle de Valois.
Nor does it help that Isabelle is subsequently revealed to be holding a flame for Richard II, who wasyears old when he died and had treated Isabelle as his own daughter.
It is worth noting that though its now believed that there was no pregnancy and birth when Mary was stupidly young, Plaidy was writing decades ago, before the evidence about this pregnancy was revealed to actually refer to the birth of the child of Eleanor de Bohun, Marys older sister.
There are numerous other inaccuracies in the book, though I feel too tired to go into all of them, One of the silliest was Plaidy writing that Harry had a scar on his forehead from the arrowwound he received at the Battle of Shrewsbury, It was on his cheek and, as the arrow penetrated to the “depth of six inches” according to the surgeon that removed it, he should be dead in Plaidys story.
John, Duke of Bedford, goes with Harry to France during thecampaign no, he was regent of England at this time, and Harrys other brothers, Thomas, Duke of Clarence and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester were with Harry instead.
There is also very little to suggest the affectionate relationship between Harry and Richard II, which is historically attested,
Plaidys depiction of Harrys “wild youth” borrows heavily from Shakespeare and the stories he drew on, with Sir John Oldcastle standing in for Falstaff, Shakespeares depiction, while iconic, is somewhat doubtful, and Oldcastle cannot be easily subbed into Falstaffs role, Additionally, at times it really felt as though Plaidy was just rewriting Shakespeares dialogue,
I, personally, didnt care for Plaidys characterisations of anyone, There was very little depth in them, nor were they particularly sympathetic, The most sympathetic is easily Mary de Bohun, but even then, she was frustrating I wanted to protect her, to drag her out of the horrible world shed been written into.
Worse, the characters drop in and out of the novel Clarence is relatively important in Harrys youth and princedom, but then drops down to cameoappearances by the time Harry becomes Henry V and I cant even remember if his death got a mention intext.
Harry himself drops out of the novel for a large chunk,
One of the other annoyances with the novel is the way in which Plaidy suddenly seems to rush through events, We get a fairly slow introduction in the novel, with overpages spent introducing Mary, getting her married to Henry and her first pregnancy, but later, Henry IVs conflict with the Percys and the Battle of Shrewsbury are all introduced and concluded within one chapter.
Even later still, that iconic moment in English history, the Battle of Agincourt, occurs overpages with very little detail given, Its like Plaidy set out wanting to write a great big saga, but then got bored or a deadline loomed and so spedwrote everything else, One of my friends suggested that Plaidy is more interested in the historical romance aspect of her stories, so maybe thats another reason why we getpages on Mary and Henrys creepy “courtship” and aboutpages on Henry Vs war with France.
In short, The Star of Lancaster is a basic retelling of the lives of Henry IV and Henry V, speeding through the events of the latters reign.
It is an old book and shows it in its downright creepy depictions of relationships and the reliance on outdated narratives about these two kings, Worse, it doesnt even manage to be interesting, .