I did like this book, but it had many problems for me.

First and foremost, Anne's passivity. I understand that most historical accounts of her portray her like this, and the events that shaped her life confirm it, but I was expecting more. Great part of my expectations were the result of having read the author's note, at the end of the book, before reading the book itself: Philippa says she tried to make Anne into "more a player than a pawn"; but that's not how she comes across. I don't know if it could have been done differently, but I was disappointed.

Second, the repetition. It looks as if Philippa was trying to hit her word count. Does she really have to say everything at least three times? Especially since she's telling, essentially, the same event. For the fourth time.

Finally, in my opinion, the relationships between the characters were very poorly exploited. By themselves, the characters were well-written and complex, but the interactions between them were trivial at best; forced, over dramatic and unrealistic at worst. I was especially disappointed by how she portrayed the break-up between the two sisters. That relationship was very well constructed at the beginning of the book, and developed well, but the breakup is sudden and has little effect on either of them. Personally, I love to read about the relationship between sisters, and I know that a breakup in this case hurts much more than a romantic breakup ever could.

In spite of these problems, I very much enjoyed reading it. Like I said, the characters are well made, even if the interactions between them are lacking. The plot is exactly the "other side" of the story in [b:The White Queen|5971165|The White Queen (The Cousins' War, #1)|Philippa Gregory|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406950364s/5971165.jpg|13560666], and it's a nice balance. I'd give it 3.75 stars.

This is another vivid portrayal of Plantagenet Britain, and the political intrigues and personal tragedies bound up in the manoeuvring for power and the expectations of children tutored by ambitious parents.
At first sight Richard appears to be the only character genuinely not out for himself constantly, and able to look beyond his personal ambitions. Will he descend to the lowest common denominator? Will his and Anne's love story remain a happy one throughout their marriage?
It seems that the documented evidence was fairly thin on the ground, and for a historian Philippa Gregory had quite a lot of scope in this volume to turn the story and its motivations as she would. Occasionally this led me to feel that there were some slightly false notes - perhaps the emotions and motivations of the characters were just insufficiently delineated for my personal taste.
Nevertheless on the whole a gripping read, and a clear depiction of a period of troubled British history.

Bowled over.

Possibly one of the best books in The Cousins' War series, and, ironically, it was the only one I initially had very little interest in.

It ends everything; it brings everything together; the sisters of the Kingmaker's Daughter; echoes of the mysticism of The Lady of the Rivers; the history of The White Queen and The Red Queen; the crucial understanding of the transfer of power. And even the setting up of the plot for The Constant Princess and of the personalities of the Tudors that Philippa later explores in her works on Henry VIII.

 

How difficult and complex, indeed, it must have been for Elizabeth of York; born a princess of York; married to the "usurper" Tudor who defeated her uncle at Bosworth Field.

 

Creating a new dynasty that is both terrified of how to wield its new power and is spiteful of the old York influence and charm must have been a gargantuan political task---and Elizabeth of York takes personal targeting in this book for her house, her blood, and her allegiances.

 

And we see those allegiances evolve---as she goes from York princess to mother of Tudor royalty. She begins a new life, and she has children she loves.

 

When the time comes (though it pervades the book), which is she: York or Tudor?

Whom does she love more: her Tudor children or her York brother?

 

Would she see someone who claims to be her dead brother overthrow her husband and her childrens' inheritance in order to claim back the throne for the family into which she was born?

 

Or would she rather stand with the new faction to which she forcibly belongs and has learned to live in; the one that defines her beloved children?

 

Where are her allegiances?

 

Philippa Gregory does an astounding job---putting a human face on the very political machinations of crossed allegiances, confused identity, and transfers of dynastic power.

This is superb.

 

AND, for the record, I think her use of mysticism in the way certain dynasties are prophesied to be cursed depending on their involvement in the murder of the princes in the tower is brilliant.

 

This book took me FOREVER to read because I started it during the school year and then I got caught up in my book club books and just kind of neglected it for like 6 months, haha. However, this is not a reflection on the quality of the book at ALL - it's actually a really good book and a great part of the Cousins' War series. 

I got into the series because of reading the White Queen, and as soon as this book came out on Kindle I made sure to download it. Once again, I was fascinated by Philippa Gregory's ability to take an obscure historical figure who we know almost nothing about and bring her to life. Her portrayal of Anne Neville was believable, and she created a woman who is both likeable and flawed - just like she probably was in real life. 

What I was most impressed by was the way that Philippa Gregory is able to tie everything in the series together. This isn't a typical series, because instead of having each book be a continuation of a story, each book is a different woman's version of the same story. I don't know if I just never picked up on it in the other books or if things are finally coming together with this one, but Gregory was able to take tiny details from other books and pull them out and explain them so we got to see a completely different explanation of the role that each event played in the Cousins' War. She explores the mystery of the princes in the Tower and she's slowly ruling out each potential suspect, which is really interesting, as a lover of history, to read. I was especially interested in Gregory's portrayal of Richard III. In most versions of his story, authors make him seem like some sort of power-hungry monster, but in this, he was an ambitious man, but one who ultimately was loyal to his family. 

I definitely recommend this book, first to people who enjoy romance novels - because this book does have romance in it - but also to lovers of history, especially Plantagenet/Tudor history. I don't know if the Cousins' War is very studied in England, but in America, one rarely hears of it. I think it's a very interesting topic and definitely worth taking the time to learn about!

I have been a big fan of Philippa Gregory since first discovering her book THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL at a local garage sale. She writes in such a way that her stories seem to suck the reader in from the very first page. The care she has for each book that she writes is definitely shown by the research she does. She tries her hardest to write each character in as realistic a light possible, and that is what makes her an amazing historical fiction writer.

THE KINGMAKER'S DAUGHTER basically tells the story of Anne Neville. A girl who experiences much including loss, treachery, defeat, and victory throughout her journey to the throne. Her voice is the narrative of each page, and her thoughts are the driving force. 

The story begins with Anne as a nine-year-old girl witnessing the crowning of a new King and Queen of England. The reader finds her, in those beginning pages, completely in awe of Elizabeth Woodville, a woman with a meager past who captured the King's heart. However, that awe is soon short-lived when Queen Elizabeth starts to show her true colors in order to try and secure her family's place as royalty. She consults her husband, King Edward, in many treacherous acts in order to gain familial domination throughout England and its surrounding neighbors.

Anne, and her sister Isabel, soon become pawns in their father's game to overthrow the current King and his tyrannic Queen in order to place one of his own on the throne. However, unlike her sister, Anne is brought from one side of the battle to the other becoming first an ally, then an enemy, and back again. She longs to be able to decide her own fate on her own terms, but soon finds that this is much harder to do than one might think.

I quite enjoyed this book. Just the fact that it was Anne's own point of view made it seem more real to me. It was as if I were her, fighting for my place in a world full of people willing to lie and kill just to be able to rule. It was as if I were the one losing so much for my chance to be Queen.
One of Philippa Grepory's best.