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Louis X is dead of poisoning after hardly more than a year of being King, leaving the question of succession in turmoil – split between a daughter accused of being a bastard and the widow Queen’s unborn child. Now the race is on to determine who will be regent until the Queen’s child reaches majority. Yet why settle for regent when it is but one step from being King?
There’s something of a change of pace in this fourth novel of the accursed kings series – for the first time our main protagonists are actually competent and, in many cases, have the best interests of France at heart. Now is the time for Phillipe of Poitiers, the second son of Phillipe the Fair and the only one of the three sons not a complete idiot, to try and put things back in order.
This was the book that made me finally made me realise that soap operas were invented by a group of historians who sat together and said “what we should do is create something like history but more believable.” Murders, swapped babies, massive family rows in public places: Eastenders has nothing on the Capet family. It’s great fun, made even more so by the exasperation of Phillipe of Poitiers, who at times one suspects is the only rational man in France.
Thus, for once, we have central characters that we a rooting for – but knowing how things usually go we are in a constant state of tension. Anyone could die at any moment. Power that seems certain can fall to pieces with a badly placed phrase. And everyone, no matter how noble, gets blood on their hands. Much as I enjoyed reading about the bumblings of Louis X, this is the book I have most enjoyed in the series for the simple delight of watching someone who is not a total moron try to deal with the mess that is heredity monarchy.
