Name: Amanda's review of The White Princess by Philippa Gregory
Item: The White Princess
Rating: 4.5
Author: Amanda

Philippa Gregory

Adapted for the STARZ original series, The White Princess. Love to the Death. When Henry Tudor picks up the crown of England from the mud of Bosworth field, he knows he must marry the princess of the enemy house—Elizabeth of York—to unify a country divided by war for more than three decades. But his bride is still in love with his dead enemy, and her mother and half of England remain loyal to her brother, the missing York heir. Henry’s greatest fear is that somewhere a prince is waiting to reclaim the throne. When a young man who would be king invades England, Elizabeth has to choose between the new husband she is coming to love and the boy who claims to be her lost brother: the rose of York come home at last. “A bloody irresistible read.” —People “Bring on the blood, sex, and tears!...You name it, it’s all here.” —USA TODAY

The White Princess

Sepia

Passionately in love with Richard III in spite of her arranged marriage to pretender to the throne Henry Tudor, Princess Elizabeth of York is forced to marry the man who murdered her lover and create a royal family under the controlling gaze of his mother, Margaret Beaufort.

The White Princess is part of Philippa Gregory's Tudor series, though I have yet to read any of the books in order. I think they all work well as standalones. The White Princess continues the story of Elizabeth of York, whom we first met in The White Queen, which tells the story of her mother, Elizabeth Woodville. I think Elizabeth of York also appears in The Kingmaker's Daughter, which I have yet to read, but I still had no trouble following along with this book. That truly is the beauty of Gregory's works; they work wonderfully paired together but are still powerful enough on their own.

The White Princess stood out to me from other books in the series because I felt there were better descriptions in this book. Philippa Gregory can describe people and historical events to a tee, but (I feel) her strong suit is not with simple descriptions of place. Let me explain. As I am not from England and am simply not familiar with the dozens of royal palaces used by kings in the 1500s, I get a little lost differentiating them. When the royals travel from one palace to another in Gregory's books, she hardly ever describes what they look like, and so in my mind, everything looks the same, when I am sure that is not the case in real life. (Sure, they're all castles and palaces so they'd share some basic characteristics, but I long to be able to tell them apart when I'm reading). Gregory does better in this book describing what the palaces look like, to set the scene, but she still focuses more on events and characters. It's just a little pet peeve of mine.

I also thought this book was extremely poignant with its revelations on women, fabricating history, propaganda and more. I loved that Elizabeth could almost see into the future, predicting, with eerie accuracy, the outcomes of the Tudor dynasty. Though this book does not have nearly as much of a witchy element of The White Queen, I still think it was very well done, and maybe that aspect worked better in the previous book than it would here. 

There was an interesting dynamic between Elizabeth and her husband, King Henry VII. He was not very likeable, but I enjoyed reading about their relationship. All the characters were dynamic and fully fleshed out, from the main couple to little Harry, the future Henry VIII. I especially liked reading about him and could see how Gregory drew parallels between father and son. Speaking of characters, I loved Lady Katherine Huntly, married to the pretender Warbeck (or was he really King Richard IV...?). Katherine could have easily been given her own book, and I wish the author would consider writing about her in the future. She went through a lot and carried it all with dignity. I want to learn more about her! 

There were many touches of humor and drama throughout, and I didn't know much of the history, so it was a compelling read. However, I thought the family tree included in this edition was not extensive enough; it did not include every important character, making it hard to keep track of who was who. I also thought the map should have been more detailed. Hardly any of the places mentioned were actually included in the story, and the many settings of this book were not included on the map. Again, I don't live in England; I am not familiar with its various counties, regions and towns.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book because of its characters and the history. I know it's historical fiction, but the author presents everything as if it could have all truly happened. And who knows? Maybe it did. That's the beauty of this genre.

Amanda

The White Princess is part of Philippa Gregory's Tudor series, though I have yet to read any of the books in order. I think they all work well as standalones. The White Princess continues the story of Elizabeth of York, whom we first met in The White Queen, which tells the story of her mother, Elizabeth Woodville. I think Elizabeth of York also appears in The Kingmaker's Daughter, which I have yet to read, but I still had no trouble following along with this book. That truly is the beauty of Gregory's works; they work wonderfully paired together but are still powerful enough on their own.

The White Princess stood out to me from other books in the series because I felt there were better descriptions in this book. Philippa Gregory can describe people and historical events to a tee, but (I feel) her strong suit is not with simple descriptions of place. Let me explain. As I am not from England and am simply not familiar with the dozens of royal palaces used by kings in the 1500s, I get a little lost differentiating them. When the royals travel from one palace to another in Gregory's books, she hardly ever describes what they look like, and so in my mind, everything looks the same, when I am sure that is not the case in real life. (Sure, they're all castles and palaces so they'd share some basic characteristics, but I long to be able to tell them apart when I'm reading). Gregory does better in this book describing what the palaces look like, to set the scene, but she still focuses more on events and characters. It's just a little pet peeve of mine.

I also thought this book was extremely poignant with its revelations on women, fabricating history, propaganda and more. I loved that Elizabeth could almost see into the future, predicting, with eerie accuracy, the outcomes of the Tudor dynasty. Though this book does not have nearly as much of a witchy element of The White Queen, I still think it was very well done, and maybe that aspect worked better in the previous book than it would here. 

There was an interesting dynamic between Elizabeth and her husband, King Henry VII. He was not very likeable, but I enjoyed reading about their relationship. All the characters were dynamic and fully fleshed out, from the main couple to little Harry, the future Henry VIII. I especially liked reading about him and could see how Gregory drew parallels between father and son. Speaking of characters, I loved Lady Katherine Huntly, married to the pretender Warbeck (or was he really King Richard IV...?). Katherine could have easily been given her own book, and I wish the author would consider writing about her in the future. She went through a lot and carried it all with dignity. I want to learn more about her! 

There were many touches of humor and drama throughout, and I didn't know much of the history, so it was a compelling read. However, I thought the family tree included in this edition was not extensive enough; it did not include every important character, making it hard to keep track of who was who. I also thought the map should have been more detailed. Hardly any of the places mentioned were actually included in the story, and the many settings of this book were not included on the map. Again, I don't live in England; I am not familiar with its various counties, regions and towns.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book because of its characters and the history. I know it's historical fiction, but the author presents everything as if it could have all truly happened. And who knows? Maybe it did. That's the beauty of this genre.

Jenny Vuu

I was really interested in the court politics and since the writing wasn't too complicated, I got through easily without a lot of difficulty. I enjoyed reading how the relationship between Henry and Elizabeth progressed and how it wasn't the cliche perfect romance you would expect. But the constant complication of the young Richard Duke of York being alive and constantly escaping kind of got me annoyed. Plus the ending seemed somewhat poor or maybe I'm just saying that because it was terribly depressing.

Years ago I read “The Other Boleyn Girl” and it kickstarted my addiction to history.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t do it for me. I felt that the author was too biased against the Tudors to enjoy it at all.

It felt like a hit piece against the Tudors for absolutely no reason.

She wrote Henry VII as a whiny rapist when history itself would go against that portrayal. She also wrote Richard III as a gorgeous man who swept Elizabeth of York off her feet, despite scientific proof showing that he had a severe case of scoliosis and no piece of history showed that Elizabeth cared for the man that almost ruined her family (there’s supposedly a letter saying she loved him, but it came from a person saying it was real and a real letter was never shown, so, word of mouth? I’m doubtful). Richard literally declared her and her siblings' bastards, overthrown her family for the throne, and was a suspect in her brother's murders; doesn’t exactly declare romance 😳

Also, if his scoliosis was completely ignored and he was twisted into a romantic martyr, what else in this novel was twisted? 👀

Maybe I’m biased towards Henry VII because he’s one of my favorite kings. He was supposedly entirely faithful during his marriage, and kind, wise, attentive, charitable to his loved ones, and loved music and dancing behind doors; so, I hated this novel. I hoped for the self-contained-and-prudent-in-front-of-others, yet kind-behind-doors portrayal that he apparently had, but no dice. I wanted this novel to show what historians showed of this marriage, that they loved each other, were faithful, and leaned on each other for strength 

. It’s one thing to write someone as awful, but to also make them a rapist when history marks them as something completely different? He was no angel but talk about drastic.

His clearly hateful biased portrayal made this annoying to read and I almost had to DNF it. I had to power read through the last two hundred pages.

Also, Elizabeth literally repeated the same thoughts for 500 pages, and almost never knew what was going on around her. I’ve never seen a character more defined by “I don’t know” in my entire life.

Sorry to those who loved this, but we all have our own opinions, and unfortunately this novel has led me to mine.

Sarah Campbell

Years ago I read “The Other Boleyn Girl” and it kickstarted my addiction to history.
Unfortunately, this book didn’t do it for me. I felt that the author was too biased against the Tudors to enjoy it at all.
It felt like a hit piece against the Tudors for absolutely no reason.
She wrote Henry VII as a whiny rapist when history itself would go against that portrayal. She also wrote Richard III as a gorgeous man who swept Elizabeth of York off her feet, despite scientific proof showing that he had a severe case of scoliosis and no piece of history showed that Elizabeth cared for the man that almost ruined her family (there’s supposedly a letter saying she loved him, but it came from a person saying it was real and a real letter was never shown, so, word of mouth? I’m doubtful). Richard literally declared her and her siblings' bastards, overthrown her family for the throne, and was a suspect in her brother's murders; doesn’t exactly declare romance 😳
Also, if his scoliosis was completely ignored and he was twisted into a romantic martyr, what else in this novel was twisted? 👀
Maybe I’m biased towards Henry VII because he’s one of my favorite kings. He was supposedly entirely faithful during his marriage, and kind, wise, attentive, charitable to his loved ones, and loved music and dancing behind doors; so, I hated this novel. I hoped for the self-contained-and-prudent-in-front-of-others, yet kind-behind-doors portrayal that he apparently had, but no dice. I wanted this novel to show what historians showed of this marriage, that they loved each other, were faithful, and leaned on each other for strength cue the waaaah waaah music. It’s one thing to write someone as awful, but to also make them a rapist when history marks them as something completely different? He was no angel but talk about drastic.
I can’t.
His clearly hateful biased portrayal made this annoying to read and I almost had to DNF it. I had to power read through the last two hundred pages.
Also, Elizabeth literally repeated the same thoughts for 500 pages, and almost never knew what was going on around her. I’ve never seen a character more defined by “I don’t know” in my entire life.
Sorry to those who loved this, but we all have our own opinions, and unfortunately this novel has led me to mine.

Ayden

I found in my notes the beginning of a review I’ll just paste it here


Before I say anything about this book I need to get out of the way something that Philippa Gregory does all the time and is incredibly tiresome
This is a trend I’ve seen in every single one of her books, and that is the repetitiveness.
I understand that people’s feelings don’t just go away and that pain can be very constant, but I don’t need the sentence repeated again and again and again. In the white queen it was the sentence for revenge and here it’s her feeling of helplessness marrying someone she does not love.

Now that that is out-of-the-way let me just say this book was a heartbreaker. I could not put it down and as I read it before bed i’ll be honest and say I had a hard time falling asleep wondering what would happen next will she ever be reunited with her brother who would win the war (oh it was a huge spoiler alert when I realized her son is Henry the eighth)

We’ll start at the beginning of the book her relationship with her uncle (Gross) Richard The king of England and Wales
Is obviously an “unholy” one seeing that he is already married but the book makes up for that in the end when the same thing happens to her lady Katherine being the other lady and her finally feeling penitent 

But that is later on in the book so back to the beginning Elizabeth knows she needs to marry the man that murdered the man she loved but honestly this conflict that takes over the entire introduction to the book is very minute 
She has so many reason to hate Henry that the killing of Richard is almost inconsequential 

I mean the man rapes her several times belittles her family is suspicious of her entirely throughout their marriage and is a general psychopath In light of all that the murder of her uncle hardly seems prevalent

But despite it all she forgives quite immediately and with that makes it clear that she is not a vengeful and powerful woman like her mother 
Now I will admit to formally loathing her mother’s constant need for vengeance but compared to her daughters complete and utter passiveness......... I’ll take some vengeance 

I know that back then things were different marriage was different particularly for royalty
But I don’t see nobility in trying to love and respect a man that forces you into marriage 

Along those lines I understand that she has children that she would like to claim their birthright as prince and that puts her in a compromised situation but to just lay down while everything occurs is a little disappointing to see from a main character 

Plus as someone who seems to despise the crown couldn’t she help her brother who would than be king and rid her of the position she claims to hate 
Instead she just laments her her fear and inability which I understand her having but let’s be honest no matter which way the war takes she’s safe though Henry’s rages can be frightening ( which begs the question of why in the world she loves him) he’s not very likely to kill her 
 
Now on with the story they have many children Arthur is a doll and I’m too scared to check up why he doesn’t make it to be king Henry the 8th is gluttonous and attention seeking and who really cares about the girls right 
Henry is a bad father more reason to dislike him but turns out to be lucky in war even the ones he doesn’t attend which lets be honest is a fair share and is he really there if he’s all the way in the back 

Anyway his luck brings the imposter of prince Richard

Sarah Ryan

The (I assume) final book in the cousin's war series which brings us right up until the beginning of the Tudor series (The Constant Princess). A good book but not as enjoyable as others by the same author. The whiplash jumping of affection/hatred between Elizabeth and Henry is hard to swallow and a lot of this 'historical' fiction is based on theory, unlike a lot of the other books which are based on fact. There is no real evidence as to what happened to the princes in the tower so the main plot thread in this book is pure fiction.

DNF. Try to tell me that Henry VII was an abusive adulterous asshole one more time and y'all will feel my wrath.

Judy Hudgins

Listened to 3 out of 16 discs and really didn't care enough to listen to any more, even playing Facebook games while it was going.

The white princess

Chantale

I absolutely love this book and I love the entire book series. 

I was hooked from the beginning and I can't wait for the next book to be out. 

I highly recommend this book

Roos Kuijper 

Er ontbrak dus nogal wat in dit boek. Ik vond het absoluut geen sterk boek. Het was wel interessant, maar daar houdt het dan ook echt bij op. Elizabeth was een zwak persoon, en eigenlijk ook een beetje saai. Er gebeurde te weinig, je weet te weinig. Wel ben ik nu nieuwsgierig geworden naar Elizabeth, maar dit boek heeft die nieuwsgierigheid niet weten te bekoren. Dus maar 2.5 ster.

Voor mijn volledige recensie, zie:
http://sterrenboek.wordpress.com/2015...

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