While I enjoyed Martin’s Game of Thrones books, I can’t say that I am huge fan. Honesty, I don’t even watch the HBO series. It’s too rapey for me.
Yet, I like Martin. In part because he champions other authors and makes sure that they, not him, get the credit. But also because it is because of him that this series was re-released in America. Martin says it partly inspired him.
It is the epic soap opera of France. It is the fall of a dynasty, of plots and poisons, of kings and queens, and secret marriages. It is riveting, and I really want a Masterpiece version of this series. We follow the royal French family of Valois. There is the prince whose wife was imprisoned because she knew about her sister-in-laws’ affairs. Her sister-in-law was the queen of France until her death by strangulation. There is the King’s new wife, who has a bit more power than she at first thinks.
And there is the older countess who not only plots for the freedom of her daughter but also for the future of her lands. She refuses to be treated differently because she is a woman. In fact, she is far more of a political player than the men who surrounded her.
It is just the royals that take up the plot. There is the young Italian who makes the worst mistake he can by marrying the woman he loves. And there is his uncle who is forced to a brilliant plot to save the family.
Nice and gripping.