A review by shroudofthesea
Accession by Livi Michael

2.0

finished just in time for the 535th anniversary of bosworth! i feel a little bad giving this book two stars, because when i enjoyed it i truly did enjoy it, but i think it lost enough steam in its middle section that i can't quite give it the same rating i gave to [b:Rebellion|25242120|Rebellion|Livi Michael|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438791585l/25242120._SY75_.jpg|44961507]. where the second entry in this series succeeded in capturing the lives of these historical figures in a way that fully utilized the chosen medium, this novel felt a lot messier. early on, the dreamy scenes of margaret beaufort and henry tudor's twin introspection, as well as the chilling depiction of margaret of anjou's post-tewkesbury existence, served as the perfect continuation from the previous book. however, it gets a little lost in the chaos surrounding edward iv's death, and i think that some of this comes from the fact that one of the series' two principle focuses suddenly leaves the narrative, and elizabeth woodville is never quite fleshed-out enough to fill that margaret-of-anjou-shaped hole. instead, we go from perspective to perspective with few of the little moments of characterization that really made the earlier parts of the series tick--for example, the scene where hastings is beheaded reminded me a lot of the previous execution of henry duke of somerset in [b:Rebellion|25242120|Rebellion|Livi Michael|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438791585l/25242120._SY75_.jpg|44961507], but the magic of that earlier scene, where the condemned man staring at the dirt below finds wonder in the vastness of even the smallest of existences, wasn't quite captured again. when we finally do return to margaret beaufort's perspective, it's unclear exactly how much of a role she is or isn't playing in the mystery of the princes, and i didn't necessarily mind that ambiguity, but as a reader it meant feeling a sudden distance from margaret that hadn't previously been there, even in the very private agonies of her early life. ultimately, i didn't feel that the author had added much to the conversation around this part of the wars of the roses that hadn't already been said by the chronicles, even if i really enjoyed a couple stand-out scenes towards the beginning, in addition to a few scattered throughout, such as elizabeth of york forced into comforting anne neville after the death of her son. in short, a complicated 2 stars.