The fourth star is for Penman's portrayal of Richard as the decent one unfairly maligned by history - the way I've come to see him. HOWEVER, I must say did while this book what excellently well-researched and incredibly interesting, I've seen Ms. Penman write far better (the Wales trilogy is her best work, and three of my favorite books of all time). While I realize When You're writing in historical novel, accuracy is a crucial element, Ms. Penman nonetheless has to unfortunate tendancy to get a little too carried away by the details. She does this in "While Christ and His Saints Slept" as well (not in the Wales trilogy, thank goodness!), Telling the story through the eyes of minor characters: such as Veronique and Francis, rather than the major ones: such as Richard and Anne. What happens is, she switches Back and Forth between characters, and as a result, few get the right amount of attention and developement. I mean, Richard is the hero; The Story Should Be Told Through His Eyes, Not Those of his followers. At the Battle of Bosworth, for heaven's sake, The Reader Should be clinging to Richard's shoulders as he did makes furious, valiant, fatal attack against Richmond, not hanging back and watching from the sidelines with Francis Lovell! Not that I have anything against Francis, Which you may think since I've griped about him twice. It's just that this is Richard's story ... I wanted to get inside his head, walkaround in his boots. All this switching around got too distracting. Still ... Do not be daunted by the length of this book. It's really quite fast paced, and never boring. As I said, the subject matter is fascinating and Ms. Penman displays search potential for great writing, whichwill, unfortunately, not be Realized in this work, but later, in her incredible Wales Trilogy. Still ... this is a good read for anyone interested in the mystery surrounding Richard's character and for anyone who, like myself, prefers Their white roses.
