The Poisoned Crown

This post first published July 5, 2014.

Author: Maurice Druon
First Published: 1956 (2014 in English)
Publisher: Harper
Series: The Accursed Kings #3
294 pages (paperback)
 
Book number three of The Accursed Kings series. Last we left off, Louis X was still on the throne, his wife had just conveniently left the picture for him, and he was setting his eyes on Princess Clemence of Hungary. Louis had already shown himself to be a bumbling idiot of a king who cannot handle being wrong on anything, so let’s see how he continues to ruin his father’s legacy in this book.

In The Poisoned Crown, Louis successfully becomes betrothed and then, married to Princess Clemence of Hungary. Clemence thinks she is a pretty lucky lady, given that she is already 22 (an old age to be married at in those times, for a noble) and had thought she would end up going to a convent. However, she soon realizes being Queen of France doesn’t make her very happy and her husband isn’t as charming as he seems. Louis, continuing his streak of bad decisions, decides to go to war against Flanders, which ends disastrously.

In the meantime, Robert of Artois and Mahaut, Countess of Artois, are still arguing and bickering over lands like they have been since book one. This time, however, they have involved King Louis into the matter. Louis wants to resolve their differences peacefully, but is forced to pick sides when they refuse to relent in their accusations against one another. Mahaut is outraged at the conclusion and plots the downfall of King Louis.

I definitely liked this book better than the last one. The last one was centered on the rivalry between the Charles, the Count of Valois the Rector-General of the kingdom, Enguerrand Marigny, and was very political in nature, which is sometimes hard for a non-political person like me to understand, even though I did overall enjoy that book. This one is more about family ambitions, which is more up my alley. If you want pure family drama, this book is it.

Clemence is a new character introduced in this book. Even though she’s a solid goody-goody kind of girl, I liked her because she seemed to have an uncanny ability to bring out the best in others around her. And she is so innocent and sweet, no one would try to harm her. Of course, sometimes it was frustrating that she cannot see, or refuse to see, the ‘evil’ that is in the hearts of others. In such cases, it was a little frustrating having a character that’s so solidly in the “Good People” camp. However, I do hope that she and her baby will make it out of this story alright, considering what usually happens to the royal family in this series!

The most infuriating (and I say that in the best way possible) part of this novel is Mahaut, the Countess of Artois. I was like, “God damn it, just give your nephew [Robert of Artois] back some parts of his lands!!” And it’s not like I particularly like Robert that much either, but I do feel really bad that his inheritance got stolen by his greedy aunt. In the previous two books, she was merely an annoying old lady (to me, anyway), but in this book, she has definitely become more selfish. Her daughter was imprisoned a couple books ago, and instead of simply wishing for her safe return like any loving, caring mother would, she thinks about if her daughter is released, and is Louis dies with no heirs, her daughter could get a shot at being Queen of France (since she is married to Louis’ brother). What a strange way of thinking about things like this! Ugh, I hate Mahaut, I hope she meets her end soon (but I don’t want to Wikipedia her actual historical self to spoil things for myself, haha).
Definitely looking forward to the next one.

My Rating: 4/5

The Strangled Queen

This post first published May 9, 2014.

Author: Maurice Druon
First Published: 1955
Publisher: HarperCollins
Series: The Accursed Kings #2
280 pages (paperback)
 
This is the second book of Maurice Druon’s The Accursed Kings series, titled The Strangled Queen. I was a little disappointed in the title as it is a big fat spoiler … okay, I suppose actual history is not really a “spoiler”, but I am not familiar with French history so it was a spoiler to me. So, the entire time I was reading this, I kind of expected that the queen was going to be, well, strangled. This, of course, removed some element of surprise from this novel. Still, it was an enjoyable read and I am excited to continue on with this series.

This second book picks up almost immediately after the events of the first book: King Philip IV, known as Philip the Fair, is dead, and his son, Louis X, ascends the throne. However, the son is not like the father at all. Louis X has trouble asserting his authority and is rather unsure of himself. He will be a weak king, those close to him can see this, and they try to take advantage of this. His uncle, Charles, Count of Valois, and the Rector-General of the kingdom, Enguerrand Marigny, become involved in an intense rivalry. Both the Count of Valois and Marigny bitterly fight with one another to try to become King Louis X’s most important advisor, and with Louis X being so inexperienced with authority, whoever rules Louis X will certainly be the most powerful man in France.

Besides the rivalry between the Count and Marigny, there is also the matter of Louis X’s wife to consider. In book one, his wife, Marguerite, was imprisoned (presumbly for life) for adultery; their daughter was declared a bastard. This would mean that Louis has no heirs, and would need to remarry in order to produce heirs. His attempts at getting Marguerite to admit that their daughter is a bastard and that they never consummated their marriage (which is pretty much the only legitimate reason they could get an annulment for) prove to be futile, as Marguerite refuses to admit to such lies. Well, I’m sure you can see how that plotline ended for Marguerite, based on the title.

Marguerite’s storyline is the most interesting part of this book for me. It’s kind of weird how in book one, I thought that Marguerite (and her cousin, Blanche) kind of got what they deserved, with the context of history kept in mind (I would never advocate for imprisoning adulterers for life in today’s society, hahaha). In book two, suddenly, I felt very sorry for Marguerite and Blanche. I suppose the book does this on purpose to make Marguerite’s inevitable death have more of a sorrowful effect on the reader. Though I never found the two ladies particularly likeable, I did feel bad for them, especially given the fact that they could have survived and lived their rest of their days out in a convent or something, if not due to a streak of stubbornness. I couldn’t help but think, “Take their offer! Save yourself!” I wanted her to live! Imagine finding out that you are now technically the Queen of France suddenly, the ultimate promotion in rank for a female in that time, but not having any power whatsoever. I suppose her refusal to admit to the lies is her only way of asserting any power at all, no matter how little. And then there was Blanche, who was growing loopier and loopier every day with imprisonment. All in all, I just felt really bad for these two ladies. Even though they were immature and tactless girls to end up where they were, I was hoping they would manage to survive the ordeal, despite the foreshadowing of the title.

As for the rivalry between the Count and Marigny, I must admit, I didn’t understand a lot of the political-ness of their rivarly. I don’t even really know what a Rector-General of the kingdom does, I just assumed it was a super important role since he got his own statue in the hall of kings (or whatever that room is called). I wouldn’t say the rivalry, which was a large portion of the story, was boring or anything like that. I just liked other parts of the book better.

Overall, book two certainly lived up to my expectations of the series. I liked it a teensy bit less than book one, but still, a great read. I am excited to read book three, The Poisoned Crown. Which, again, is a kind of spoiler-y title … But even with such obvious hints given in the titles of the books, the drama of the historical French royals is worth reading.

My Rating: 4/5

The Iron King

This post first published May 3, 2014.

Author: Maurice Druon
First Published: 1955
Publisher: Harper Collins
Series: The Accursed Kings #1
327 pages (paperback)
 
My sister spotted the “This is the original Game of Thrones” — George R. R. Martin tagline thingy at the top of this book and immediately thought of me, because I am obsessed with Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire series (lalalala I won’t hear anyone say anything bad about it!). She thoughts I might like this book so she picked it up for me. (I also want to add that such a random act of generosity is rather out of character for my sister, haha). I had never heard of this book previously — and small wonder, it was published in French in 1955 and only now is being published in English for the first time. However, like the mindless ASOIAF fan I am, I made up my mind that I must read this book because Mr. Martin has recommended it (heh).

While this book certainly shares the same themes as ASOIAF such as secret intrigues, backstabbing, medieval warfare, and so on, this is not a fantasy novel at all. It is actually a historical novel, which is perfect for me because if you follow my blog or Goodreads account, you will see that I am a big historical novel fan as well, particularly European royalty, particularly England and France …. which is exactly what The Iron King is about! What made this novel doubly fun for me was that I knew it was based on history but I actually have no idea what is going to happen because I’m pretty ignorant about France during this time period. This is my first time reading about Philip the Fair at all … There’s just something really exciting, for me, to read a story about something that once really happened, and not know how it all goes down (sadly, I cannot derive this same pleasure from reading a history textbook :(

The Iron King is about King Philip IV of France, also known as Philip the Fair, during the late 1200’s to 1300’s. His kingdom of France and his family are in a good position at the beginning of the story. France is powerful, he has three sons to succeed him, his daughter is Queen of England, and he has a grandson by his daughter, who will one day be King of England, thus ensuring peace between the two kingdoms. Life’s pretty good for King Philip. However, his decision to destroy the Knights Templar (believing they had too much money and power), was the beginning of the end for Philip. Grand Master Jacques de Molay is a templar and thanks to the royal torturers, has admitted everything the King needs him to admit to destroy the order and kill the templars (even though nothing he admits is true — torture does that to a person). As Grand Master Jacques de Molay burns at the stake, de Molay loudly curses the king and his family to the 13th generation. After de Molay’s death, a series of events begin to spell his downfall, including scandals that bring shame to the family and deaths of close advisors. Coincidence? Or the curse working?

I can certainly see where George R. R. Martin drew some of his inspirations from this novel/history. Well, it’s pretty well known by now that Mr. Martin has drawn a lot of inspiration from real European history, and The Iron King shows how fascinating and intriguing the past can be. Sometimes real life events are stranger than fiction. While I can see the sources of inspiration, I don’t think The Iron King is much like ASOIAF at all. With that said, that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. On the contrary, I really loved The Iron King. Even though there is no fantasy, the curse that Jacques de Molay screams and the ‘coincidental’ (?) tragedies that befall King Philip can sometimes seem a little mystical. As well, I’ve personally love it when scandalous secrets are revealed to the other characters and read about the huge fallout that happens afterwards.

There’s a huge cast of characters, a lot of them are royalty, but I loved how there are non-royalty characters mixed in as well, people who you wouldn’t really expect to affect much, but actually cause ripple effects to the story. King Philip in particular is pretty complex and well developed character, in my opinion. To outsiders, he is unreadable, but when you get into his mind, you find he is constantly trying to balance justice and fairness, hoping that his son will be a good king after him but also being realistic and realizing he probably won’t (he laments that his daughter Isabella would have been the most suitable to be king, but alas, she was born a girl). Near the end, he wonders what good he has done as a king and has all sorts of epiphanies and realizations. He’s a pretty deep character and definitely a favourite.

My second favourite was Isabella, even though she was only in the beginning of the story but kind of faded out afterwards. (I do hope she will make a return, especially given that the second book is titled The Strangled Queen). Pardon my cliche, but she is a strong and independent woman, who cares about her family and is kind of depressed being away from them in England. Also, her husband the king is rumored to be a homosexual and rarely spends time with her, which I bet will make her loneliness worse. She only has her darling son, and it’s hinted that she has big plans for him, more than just being the future king of England.

So, a historical fiction fan, I really enjoyed this book and am certainly going to seek out book two. I think people who like ASOIAF will enjoy this book as well as it has the same elements of mystery and scandal and uneasy alliances that make ASOIAF so fun to read.

My Rating: 4/5