Publication Date:
Book description courtesy of Goodreads:
When one war ends, another begins…
England, 1154
With King Henry II taking the throne, the long civil war that has ravaged England has finally come to an end. But conflict is now coming from overseas. Henry has inherited territories over the English Channel that are being contested by King Louis VII of France. And the new king’s marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine is strained – and becomes even more so when he threatens the Church of England and Thomas Becket.
The people of England once more find their loyalties divided as they struggle over whether to defend church or state. Will the conflict in the royal household influence Henry’s reign? Will Louis wage war on England? Will England ever find peace?
My Thoughts:
I read this book out of the normal order. I enjoyed the whole saga but had skipped over this book and the next one because I already knew quite a bit about Henry II and Richard I's reigns. Then when I went to start the next series of Field's about the reigns of the three Edwards, I decided to finish this series first. I'm glad I did as the fictional characters continue generationally into the next set of books. Although I didn't learn a lot of new information about Henry, Eleanor, and their struggles, it was still a great read and I highly recommend it for those especially who are starting without a good base for this time period.The book begins where we left off in the previous one, An Uncivil War. Henry is marrying Eleanor and just beginning to discover how powerful he can be. They are in a heady time in their young lives and as the story progresses we see the unraveling of their relationship and Henry's need for power and control with her, their children, and his ambitions for England. The added fictional characters of Richard, William, Alain, and their proximity to the King and his power continue with their family serving the throne and the church in ways they never expected. When Henry begins his fated relationship with Thomas Becket, we are taken along for the ride through their eyes and the horror of being caught up in something as bad as the wars of their ancestors in previous books. I enjoyed the interactions with Louis of France too. Some books from this period seem to leave a lot of him out and I learned some new facts about him and his dealings with Henry and Eleanor after they were married.
I thought Henry's character was written well so that I could really feel and see his temper and energy in a way that a history book cannot always demonstrate. It is clear that the author wanted the reader to understand that there were difficult choices to be made but sympathizes with Eleanor, her children, and the main fictional characters caught in the middle. Henry is presented as a despot for sure, although at times we see why he acted as he did....and that is wasn't always out of contempt but rather what he perceived as the right way, often to his detriment. You end the book feeling relief for William and his family who are still in service to the family but quickly realize they are about to begin a new reign with the idealistic Richard. I am very much looking forward to this author's take on Richard's rule.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit, more than I expected to considering I already knew the basics. He did a great job of bringing out the personalities of the main characters, real and fictional. I especially loved seeing William's character develop and found him to be more interesting and sympathetic than some of his former ancestors in previous books. I'm glad it looks like we will see more of him in the next one.
It is great to know there are several more books to continue chronologically with this era.
