Fluid and easy to follow

Jean des Cars has a style that is both comfortable and effective: the text is very rich in information but without ever giving the impresion to read a manual. I also appreciated the attention given to both the personal lives of family members and the great political and historical events that they had so much influence. We are far from a book "people": the intimate life of the sovereigns is used when it illuminates the events, or to anchor the story in the concrete. If the beginning of the book may seem a bit dry, "it is only because we necessarily have fewer anecdotes about the early times. But very quickly, we come to a period that historians know very many details, from which Jean des Cars will draw to paint very vivid portraits.

The saga of the Habsburgs is also easy to follow, even for those who, like me, do not have a very developped historical culture. One regret: the territories in which the family has reigned experienced very many additions and amputations, some cards were therefore very useful to navigate.

However, I recommend this book without hesitation.