Warwick: The Man Behind The Wars of the Roses

Tackling the Wars of the Roses can be a daunting task; I imagine it is even more so for an author. The number of battles and shifting loyalties was staggering. Through an advantageous marriage, Richard Neville became the Earl of Warwick and one of the wealthiest men in the kingdom. During the early struggles Richard managed to stay on top of things until his young protégé, Edward of York turned King of England and took it into his head to marry for love...without telling anyone. Richard got pushed around by the changing factions at court until he was squeezed out of Edward's confidence altogether; by then, things started to turn ugly and he took matters into his own hands.The author convincingly details Warwick's disillusionment and speculates how he could come to terms with Queen Margaret who is usually depicted as his arch-enemy. I even sympathized with his feelings. However, I felt a bit removed from the story, as though watching from a distance; it was more like reading a book of non-fiction rather than a novel. I rarely felt that I was inside the story and did not get a good grasp of the personalities of the other characters...or even Warwick himself. The time-line had progressed quite a bit before I realized that he had aged several years and was no longer a young man. I had little sense of how long it took to get from one event to the next.Because I have studied the subject over the years, I was able to keep track of developments and fill in the details from my own knowledge. If this was the first book I had read on the subject, I fear I may have gotten lost along the way. Nonetheless, the book moved along quickly for me without getting bogged down.

It was wonderful to read a book about Richard Neville as the main character rather as the supporting one. The story gives great insight to the type of man he was and what motivated him. I also loved Luke Tully - what a delightful surprise. A must read for any Plantagenet fans.

Very factual Warwick the kingmaker such a huge part of my countries history. I took Tudor history in university and did check one or two of his statements and found him to be correct, so obviously he does his homework. Plus being Welsh he has an advantage, the story flows well and keeps the reader engaged. I bought all four books together but felt Warwick was the one to start with. First lesson Warwick is pronounced War rick

I enjoyed this novel immensely. The characters from the Lancastrian and Yorkist sides come alive and Warwick's personality shines through with all his strengths and weaknesses. Also, for those not familiar with the Wars of the Roses there are correct renderings of all the important battles which are described in clear detail so in that sense it has a strong historical value. The style of writing is not pedantic in the slightest. A story worth telling which is shared in just the right way for the reader to immerse himself in one of the most turbulent periods in English history.

A couple of errors, but all and all, a well written story. The author humanized the main character and gives a good account of what may have been going through Warwick's head during this time period.

I wasn't sure I would like it...I am more of a reader of the Queens/female characters, but this was a great book. Quick and exciting read.

I enjoyed this book enough to purchase another by the author. I think this one is actually better than the other book I am currently reading. I enjoy the time period of the story and the different take on the characters. Not quite on par with some of my favorite authors (Phillipa Gregory, Allison Weir and others), but definitely a fun read.

If you want to pick up on how life existed in medieval England, this book is sprinkled with that kind of information. However, the attempt to make it a historical novel - creating a story off of fact - falls flat as it is not well written, with the dialogue being stiff and as if it is coming from overly scripted actors in a mediocre play.....and the author is unable to successfully convey the feeling of romance as much as he tries.

I did enjoy this book. But I may be biased. The thing is, I love this period of history and enjoy reading fictional accounts about the era that explore thoughts and feelings and add flesh to the bones of characters I've come across in some rather less than colourful history books. This book did that for me and I really wanted to give it more stars - but I couldn't.I wouldn't question the author's wisdom in choosing the subject for this his second book. And it is only surprising, what with the recent crop of fiction on this era, that one of the most important and colourful characters in any period of English history could have fallen below the radar of other more established authors currently 'turning medieval'. And it wasn't the typo errors, layout problems... the usual things that crop up in self-published books. I can live with that in small doses, as here: fiction writers are employing the creative process after all, not the technical; and proofreaders and editors are restrictively expensive for most. I would rather have these books out there with all their shortcomings, than not at all, and it didn't spoil my enjoyment of this one.But as I read on, I found I was increasingly making up for the shortcomings in the plot, filling in details with my own knowledge of the period. Far too many essential episodes in the history are missing here. Of course, the War of the Roses is a mind-boggling maze of political twists and turns and, yes, it would be a challenge to write the missing episodes, even more so to sprinkle them about the text without the whole thing turning into a weightier epic. But I found the central characters well-developed and with enough depth and potential to carry this off and if added the episodes would give substance and reason for some of the characters' actions, that must seem odd to a less well-informed reader. These challenges are what any author taking on any aspect of the War of the Roses simply cannot avoid and it was a mistake to leave them out here.But as said, I like Tony Ritches' book, and his ideas of Warwick. And so I hope he will beat others to it by going back to this work, fleshing it out to twice its length, and giving the story and his characters the full credit they deserve. In its present form I couldn't rate it any more highly than 3 stars since, to paraphrase Shakespeare's Richard III, I found it 'unfinished, sent before its time into the world... scarce half made up!'

I have read so much about the Great Kingmaker in other historical characters stories, but never just about him. I found this book interesting and easy to read. It retell his life from his birth to his tragic death. He came from what seemed to be a happy family, beloved parents and siblings. It all seemed to come apart when the jealousy of the council of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou became greedy and wanted all the power and refused to share any of it with the powerful York family. The friendships and love between the family were pulled apart. Then Edward IV made his own decisions about marriage and ruling the country to Warwick's detriment. Elizabeth Woodville married her huge family into all the aristocracy and never forgave Warwick for her father's and brother's death and was bent on revenge. Edward seemed quite happy to hand over all responsibilities to Elizabeth which annoyed and upset his family including Warwick. He seemed to just enjoy 'wine, women and song', once he was crowned King. He could have been a good king who reunited all the factions of his extended family, instead he opted out and died at a young age. Warwick obviously felt that he should have had some say in the running of the country whereas Elizabeth thought otherwise. A sad story that persisted into the next generation as well. Well done Mr. Riches for another good read.

Another extremely good historical fiction. I have read historical accounts before and sometimes find I need to read over facts again to familiarize myself with historical characters. I found this book clearly defined the characters superbly and it didn't take me long to work out what each other was doing and their purpose during this turbulent period in history. There were so many revolts I can only admire how the author has told of these conflicts articulately and emotively as their is a lot going on during this period in England and France to understand. It could have been difficult to follow but I found the book flowed smoothly. Richard Neville, a Warwick who helped his cousin Edward become King was infuriated when he married Elizabeth Woodville.The relatives of Elizabeth were given more authority and this affected The Warwick line, wealth and assets and also his position in how the country was run. This caused Richard then having to try and dispose of Edward, by asking John his brother and George duke of Clarence his cousin to put Henry VI back on the throne who at this time is being held captive in the tower of London. George duke of Clarence and his army soon changes sides and joins Edward and his brother Richard duke of Gloucester and their armies after sensing defeat leaving John and Richard to fight a lost cause. They both end up mortally wounded in their final battle at Barnet. It was a very absorbing read and superbly told. Well worth buying, I have read two books now and they are Excellent.

I enjoyed Warwick immensely, warming to the well portrayed character of Warwick himself. As a lover of history it was wonderful to be absorbed in a period I knew little of and the depth of Tony Riches' research shines through every page. I grew up in St Albans and felt ashamed that I was totally unaware of the battles which once raged there, and reading Warwick has prompted me to find out more.It was the mark of a good teller of historical fiction that I was so absorbed with the story I felt an irrational annoyance of Warwick for changing sides so easily at the end and saddened by his demise ~ even though my rational brain kept saying, 'this is what actually happened!'

The book tries to combine far too many events into a shorter length narrative, I feel that is limits the impact or complexity of the major events during the War of the Roses. Although the narrative was easy to follow most of the characters felt very 1 dimensional with very little depth. The book does not acknowledge the complex relationship between Warwick and either Margaret of Anjou or Elizabeth Woodville, making his subsequent moves lack any drama or weight.If you are a keen reader of this period in history I feel it lacks in context and relationships.