With his usual elegance, Treece shows us Boudica's AD 60-61 revolt from the perspective of a pair of Roman soldiers sent to kill her. Suspenseful, informative, emotional, tightly written.

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this book as of yet. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either.

The subject matter was definitely interesting. Elizabeth Woodville, as she is presented in this book, is a compelling, if not exactly likeable character. She knew what she wanted, and she fought hard to get and then keep it.

I mainly think the author's writing style and I did not get along. Things are often told and not shown, and at times that could get a little tedious. This is in part, I think, due to the use of first person for the majority of the book.

Also, I am not sure how I felt about the whole magic/witch aspect of the story. I know that both Elizabeth and her mother were accused of practicing witchcraft, but for magic to have played an actual role in the story? I just don't know.

I did like reading about the legend of Melusina, though.

I did enjoy this enough to want to check out the tv series based on this book, though.

WARNING: There are very few names in this book. There are about five each of Elizabeths, Richards, Georges, Henrys, and Margarets. That's probably a slight exaggeration with some of those. But I promise there are at least six Richards. Two of the Richards are brothers, even. That's right. Elizabeth (the protagonist, not to be confused with her daughter Elizabeth or any of the other Elizabeths) names TWO of her sons Richard. That's not the author's fault, of course. She actually does a pretty good job of keeping the characters straight. But it's still confusing at times.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book. I loved how Elizabeth (protagonist) fought for herself and her family in a world that didn't allow women much power. It was also fascinating to me to learn more about the Princes in the Tower and to read Gregory's theory on the subject.