Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: king

  • Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown

    Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown

    Henry VIII, who wasn’t born to be King, is probably the most written about monarch in British history. Is there any more that can be said about him? Award winning authority on Tudor History, bestselling author Alison Weir, certainly thinks so!

    In her second book in the Tudor Rose series, ‘Henry VIII: The Heart & The Crown’, she skillfully blends historical facts with authentic and atmospheric descriptions to provide readers with a fictionalised but enthralling tale of the innermost thoughts and feelings of this infamous king.  

    Upon the death of his brother, Arthur in 1502, the woefully ill prepared Henry became heir to the throne. After the peaceful but austere reign of his miserly father Henry VII, a promising Golden Age was heralded with Coronation of the new King in 1509.  Celebrated for his intellectual and physical prowess, and with an overflowing treasury, Henry (Harry), who had dreamed of knights and chivalry, set about to make his mark on the world. Although his power and influence extended, his prayers for a male heir remain unanswered.

    Alison Weir, by writing this detailed, enthralling tome from Henry’s perspective, has given readers a comprehensive insight into why this autocratic, vain but initially popular, chivalrous, romantic king, over four decades evolved as one of the most brutal, murderous, tyrannical sovereigns in British history: he changed England and the established Church forever. With her vivid descriptions she paints a fascinating picture of Tudor life, court, dress, customs, pageantry and events which actually took place, thereby transporting her readers back to the early sixteenth century. 

    I highly recommend this balanced portrait of a well-known complexed character.

  • Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind The Crown

    Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind The Crown

    After Queen Elizabeth’s remarkable 70 plus years of service, the British Commonwealth now has a new monarch, King Charles III. The courtiers, who are entrusted to guide him have a complex time ahead of them; Prince Andrew’s future role and Harry’s pending release of his tell all book will challenge them.   

    For a balanced authorative summary of the life and roles of courtiers, go no further than ‘Courtiers The Hidden Power Behind the Crown’ written by Valentine Low, who has been reporting on the Royal Family for over 25 years. Although this book is his first on the British monarchy, as Royal correspondent, for The Times, he has spent many years closely studying them and the influence wielded by people behind the scenes.

    Throughout history, the British monarchy has relied on courtiers, who are the trusted advisers of the monarch. In this well researched book on the inner workings of the monarchy, the author provides a very detailed description, not only of the advisory personnel in royal household but also of the requirements of their roles. Palace protocol and politics are explored from the courtiers’ point of view. Low’s insightful discussion of the roles of courtiers, who have served the Royal family in both current times and historically, will provide a clearer understanding of the competitive nature of the three Royal households.

    Readers will enjoy obtaining a greater insight into the complexities of funding issues, ‘Megsit’, and the charitable endeavours of members of the Royal family. Unlike the magazines, which flood the market with sensational stories about the Royal Family, this informative book deals with facts.

    The author has included a comprehensive list of footnotes to identify the sources used.

  • The King’s Birthday Suit

    The King’s Birthday Suit

    In a fabulously funny retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson fable The Emperors New Clothes, the team of Peter Bentley and Claire Powell bring this much loved story into the modern arena in The King’s Birthday Suit.

    Written in rhyming text, the story takes a look at vanity and the power of encouraging people to believe anything you want, well sometimes. The King, Albert-Horatio-Otto the third has a very important birthday coming up and in spite of having so very many clothes, he decides he simply must have a new outfit to grace the occasion.

    As it was so important, mainly because visiting royalty would be there, he had to dress to impress, so the fashion designers came to the palace but nothing they could offer pleased the King. That is, until two villains, of the most interesting kind, said they would weave a cloth of the finest material and make a suit that would be the best suit ever.  Well, how could the very vain King resist!

    Bentley and Powell ham up this cautionary tale with the style and flair for which they are known. The bold, bright cartoon style characters are perfect to captivate the younger reader, with much happening on the pages as the antics of preparing the new suit unfold. Their clever use of double entendre adds another level adults will appreciate.

    Lovely rhyming language offers hours of reading fun, as the King looks forward to his lovely new suit but his subjects really do not know what to think about what is happening, because something seems to be decidedly odd! But what could it possibly be?

  • How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air series)

    How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air series)

    Fantasy: It’s an interesting genre and by interesting I mean I have had an interesting past with it, growing up reading Harry Potter which I loved, didn’t mind the Hunger Games and couldn’t get into the Twilight Saga. As for the Song of Fire and Ice series, I struggled to get through one book a year, despite it being such a good read. So it’s fair to say I have a conflicted relationship with the genre and now I can add How the King of Elfhame learned to hate stories to the fantasy books I have read.

    How the King of Elfhame learned to hate stories is a fantasy book by Holly Black and is the third book in The Folk of the Air series. Now I will be honest, I haven’t read the other three books in the series therefore I struggled with this book. The book is told from the perspective of a certain Prince Cardan, who taking from the blurb of the book, eventually becomes a High King of the land of Elfhame. The book reads as a bit of an origin story and Prince Cardan is an unpleasant person; a trait he apparently carries with him into adulthood.  Elfhame itself consists of a series of large islands rather like the Philippines or Indonesia. The story is told in third person. 

    Unlike other fantasy books I have read How the King of Elfhame learned to hate stories dedicates a quarter of its pages to illustrations.  The artwork in this book is done by Rovina Cai and is quite good. I won’t comment on the style of the illustrations as I am neither an artist nor have any academic knowledge in art. However, though the illustrations make the book physically more attractive I feel that it would have been better to have used those pages to add more to the story.

    As I said previously I struggled with this book, although had I read the other books then perhaps this wouldn’t have been the case. However the story is good and the illustrations add a nice, if slightly unnecessary, touch. The book is not that long and can easily be finished within a day. From reading it I believe it is more geared to a younger audience such as early teens rather than adults or young children.