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Les Rois Maudits - L'intégrale (1955)

by Maurice Druon(Favorite Author)

4.45 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Plon

review 1: A fantastic chunk of the royal history of France. A matter-of-fact approach of all the cruelty, plots, tragedy, deceit, drama and intrigues taking place among royal personages. A simple and shocking way to trade anything for power, a time and place where human lives held less value than a title for those always ready to kill and betray. I've rarely read such a controversial and shocking book, the more so as it is inspired by real facts and people: the cursed dynasty of the French kings.
review 2: Because I can't rate it 3.5, I resign myself to rate it 4 stars. On the whole, I found it to be a very good historical novel series that taught me a lot about this fascinating period as well as moved and thrilled me. Set over a period of 29 years (from 1314 to 1343), t... morehe story focuses primarily on the rivalry and clash between Robert d'Artois (undoubtedly the series' main protagonist) and his aunt Mahaut over the disputed county of Artois, which contributed to the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War. The power struggle between these two ruthless and relentless kin would impact the fate of kings, dynasties, and nations. The political intrigue that is abundant in this critical juncture of both French and English history is expertly described, explained, and portrayed. Maurice Druon quite astutely always made sure to point out the underlying trends and dynamics behind each political rivalry, underlining the clash between legalists and traditionalists, reformists and reactionaries, as crucial in understanding these power clashes. Its cast of characters is vast and I found a lot of them interesting, such as Robert d'Artois, Mahaut, Edouard III, Enguerrand de Marigny, and Spinello Tolomei. My two favorite characters are definitely Philippe IV le Bel and his son Philippe V le Long (de Potiers before his coronation). Admittedly however, some characters did not captivate me nearly as much. I am thinking primarily of Guccio and Marie, whose romantic subplot was in my humble opinion not so intriguing. Although I enjoy the series as a whole, I also feel like the last 3 novels were not as good as the first 4. As is seemingly universally agreed upon, the last novel "Quand un Roi perd la France," was an unnecessary and mediocre addition to what was already a concluded story. Its 2 predecessors "La Louve de France" and "Le Lis et le Lion", while both good, were not as thrilling and captivating as the novels that came before. My favorite 2 are definitely the first one, "Le Roi de Fer", and the 4rth, "La Loi des Mâles." Overall it was a delight to read this series that I found both very informative and very entertaining. less

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