I loved this book! The history itself is so fascinating, and the way Dougherty presented it here made it so easy to follow and pulled you right in to the stories. Fantastic.

I only picked this up because of the subject matter, but I thoroughly hate marketing that tries to tie everything to "Game of Thrones." Yeah, I know the Lancaster vs York wars for the crown were supposedly the inspiration for the series, but this book is why I don't like the attempts to tie them together. It doesn't go too deeply into the webs and machinations and reasons for the struggle. Disappointed.

Enjoyed this overview of the war of the roses. I'm unfamiliar with the era and I think the author did a good job telling the reader about the basic overview!

A well researched book on the war of the roses.I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in English history. A book that has been real page turner for me.

📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚

The Wars of the Roses ⚔️🛡️

Written by: Martin J Dougherty 📝

Publisher: @amberbooksltd

I Arc read this copy for @netgalley in exchange for an honest review 📖

🌟🌟🌟

I would like to think that I have a pretty good all round grasp on & understanding of the Wars of the Roses by means of the key players, politics, events etc but never the less - am always keen to learn and & glean new information where possible.

I was hopeful going by the description of the book that I would indeed learn something new about the fascinating cousins war, but unfortunately I didn't read anything that I wasn't already aware of.

I'd recommend this book to anyone new to the period & the Wars of the Roses in general; it is a good introduction to the time, climate, key players etc - but I personally would of liked a much more fleshed out and in depth view on said wars.

I was disappointed to come across many a grammatical error, as well as mistakes with various roman numerals repeated through out, actually confusing them with some of the Kings featured.

My biggest criticism is that Margaret Beaufort - an absolutely huge, influencial & key player in the wars of the roses was barely mentioned apart from birthing her son Henry VII; Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth & Jaquetta Woodville, Cecily Neville - the list goes on, these absolute power houses were only credited for their birthing duties through out - Scandalous!

To summarise - a good read for beginners to the period & strife, the foundations are there, though I would not recommend to anyone familiar with events looking for new insight.

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#york
#redrose
#whiterose
#history
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#plantagenets
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There is not a lot of new information in this book. If you are familiar with the history most of this information will already be familiar. What this book does well is includes a lot of information in a concise manner. If you are not familiar with the history this book is a good starting place. Along with the text there are also lots of wonderful illustrations.

Bringing back to the shop shelves a book first out in 2015, this paperback is the usual highly pictorial effort from Amber, and does pretty much what it says on the tin. I found the first section unfortunately off-putting, with several words from the higher end of the Scrabble dictionary (if that) used to convey the complexities of all the courtly machinations, hierarchical considerations and so on. That context concluded, we do then get the history of the Plantagenets where relevant and the ins and outs and marches here and there and sailings across the Channel (where possible) that led to the several battles that ended up as the Wars of the Roses.

Now, I come to this very much as a layman, the odd performance in front of 3000 people at Bosworth Battlefield regardless. So I can't state how accurate or definitive this is, but I found it all highly readable, and definitely successfully aimed at the general browser. It's easy to take on board who is who, what they're doing with/against whom, and why, meaning this must surely be a success. I note that one negative review on amazon of the 2015 hardback just said it was a low level of detail, and not that there were mistakes on these pages. I can only take that as evidence there are few flaws, then, for the low level of detail – together with the consummate picture library research Amber give all their titles – was what I would have signed up for. I didn't expect a complex barrage of minutiae, but the blunt simplicity and readability of the better, general audience-serving history reads. So I'll conclude with an equally concise:- four and a half stars.

Great book providing a solid overview of a very important period in British history! It will be an excellent resource for anyone wanting to know the details of the multi-generational "Red Rose vs White Rose" conflict between the houses of York and Lancaster -- a conflict been immortalised through Shakespeare's history plays and even spawned modern works such as Game of Thrones. The only drawback is that the pictures are all in grey-scale; full colour would have made the reading experience more rewarding, especially for studying the intricate details of the original artwork and maps.

A riveting yet accessible overview of the war of the roses. I enjoyed how easy the history was to follow, the mini biographies of main players throughout the book, and the high quality pictures. Since this is a quick read, it left me wanting more, but I believe this speaks to how interesting the conflict is and how well the author introduces the subject. As the title suggests, this will be a good companion for any GoT related content. As a history nerd, I would have liked more primary sources and citations, but I understand that might get in the way of the accessibility of the book. I recommend!

Get ready for the original Game of Thrones! Martin J, Dougherty brings a fascinating view of the Wars of the Roses. You get to see the major players, and the causes of the war. It would not be complete without a king who was unable to rule his own country, a queen who attempted to take over, and unhappy nobles.

Absolutely LOVED this book. Anything with the Wars of the Roses fascinates me, and Dougherty's book does not disappoint! Grab a copy!

I have been on a nonfiction kick recently and this one stood out for many reasons. I loved the honesty and emotion. I felt like I was in the moment with the author and I felt like the articulation of the circumstances were easy to understand which I appreciated with such a complex issue.

I'm really disappointed as I can't use the app on my Kindle fire. This book looks fabulous. I will look out for a Kindle version. Cover looks fantastic and it is a fascinating period in history.

A very good reference book on all of the War of the Roses - the background going all the way back to William the Conqueror, the rival factions, the people, the politics, the main events, etc. And all of it distilled into an easy to read manner that anyone could find accessible, even if you don't already know the history.

The Wars of the Roses is one of those parts of history that I didn't learn much about during my youth. Mostly I learned about the Tudors, more specifically from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I. Very recently I heard a series of podcasts all about this period and it caught my interest in a big way. So I was pretty excited to find this book listed on Netgalley so I could investigate further.

The book starts before the conflict, giving some background to Henry VI and the York and Lancastrian histories and follows the ins and outs of who was in power for the thirty or so years this took place. There are chapters on the major players and then there are insets with specific biographies of interest. I must admit some of the story was hard to follow in the ebook version I read because of the way several pages of illustration and insets were stuck in the middle of various chapters. I think I managed okay in the end but I suspect having a hard copy might have been easier for the purposes of flipping pages. Still, it sometimes felt like the story was going forwards and backwards at times with some descriptions of people and events in insets showing up before those events took place in the main chapter. I suspect there are some tradeoffs for providing the large-page illustrations and other detail in what seems to printed book.

I found the book quite informative and I like the way it emphasised early on how the structure of the kingdoms was quite different from what it was much later. I think to some extent we think of history as just a succession of kings and queens. But a kingdom at this time didn't resemble the kingdom two or three hundred years late. Illustrations were numerous and varied. Often they were full or half page which allowed one to see the detail.

Overall this was a good introductory work for those who have an interest in this period of English history and I will give this 3.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and Amber Books for the free advanced reader copy. I have provided this review voluntarily.

This book is advertised as being based on "the struggle which inspired Game of Thrones.'' This is sort of true, but also very misleading. You certainly won't find any dragons or 'white walkers' in this account. On the plus side, the ending is arguably rather more satisfactory.
The Wars of the Roses are the name given to the dynastic struggles which engulfed England in the second half of the 15th century. When studying the wars, it is important to remember two things:
a) the wars were really not about flowers at all. The role played by botany in the conflict has been greatly overstated.
b) they were essentially a struggle between different armies led by different men called either Henry, Richard or Edward, who were all vaguely related to each other.
1399: Henry Bollngbroke overthrows and kills Richard II and becomes Henry IV, the first king of the House of Lannister, sorry, I mean, Lancaster. Nobody minds much at the time: Richard was a tyrant. But this leads to problems fifty years later...
1450s: By now Henry IV's grandson, Henry VI is king. Although a good man, he is weak and sometime insane and has effectively lost the Hundred Years' War to France. He has also fallen out with his old ally, Richard of York who can claim royal descent from the earlier Richard II. Richard rises against Henry. The wars begin!
146os: Richard of York gave battle in vain. He is killed at the Battle of Stoke in 1460. But his son, Edward overthrows Henry VI a few months later. Edward IV becomes the first king of the House of Stark. I mean, York!
1470s: Edward annoys his old ally, the Earl of Warwick (actual name: Richard) known as 'the Kingmaker' who teams up with the old Lancastrian bunch to reinstate the now completely mad Henry VI. This doesn't last long: Edward IV reclaims the throne. Warwick dies in battle. Henry VI is discretely killed off.
1480s: Edward IV dies suddenly. His son, Edward V is now king but is still a boy. Edward IV's brother places Edward V and his brother (another Richard!) under 'protection'. The two young ''princes in the tower' are never seen again. Gloucester becomes Richard III and depending on your view was either good or evil. Two years' later, Lancastrian exile, Henry Tudor defeats Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. Richard is killed and ends up being dug up in a 21st century Leicester car park. Henry is married to Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth of York theoretically uniting the warring Houses of York and Lancaster. The wars, in practice, continue for a little while longer but as far as 1485 goes, Henry VII is enshrined as the first Tudor king.
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A good overview which may inspire readers to look into the era further. I have read quite a lot about this period so there was not a great deal of new information for me personally, but I found it a good account and think people new to the era will find it accessible and enjoyable.

This was a great introduction to the subject. I have always had a hard time keeping my Henrys straight and my Edwards correct. This book helps an American keep English history in line in his head.

A thoroughly enjoyable presentation of a turbulent era in British history. Full of illustrations and easy to read/understand text, "The Wars of the Roses: The Conflict That Inspired A Game of Thrones" is a wonderful way to learn about the history that inspired such an iconic series. Definitely a must-read for history buffs and fans of Game of Thrones.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amber Books Ltd for this advanced copy, which I voluntarily read and reviewed.

A good overview for those new to the topic. Not very in-depth for those more knowledgeable of the era, and doesn't propose any new theories, but I'd still give this 4 stars for readability and accessibility.

This helped put many things into perspective however the writing and pacing were completely off. This may be trying to usurp the GoT details that they were clearly inspired by but this added nothing to my experience of the book.