Oh, how I wish The Court of the Midnight King had existed back when I was a teenager obsessed with The Sunne in Splendour and all things Richard III-related; I probably would have read it ten times. As it is, I hope to re-read it again sometime in the future. It is a magnificent book, the perfect blend of historical and fantasy romance, as well as a psychological exploration into why certain historical figures grow to fascinate us so much.

I loved that a story with which I was already familiar managed to nonetheless keep me guessing right up until the end, thanks to the original twists Warrington wove into it. I found myself wanting to rush along to see how it would all wrap up, while at the same time wishing the book would go on forever because it was so, so good and so fun to read.

If you are at all into (i.e. fixated on) the story of Richard III, then you have to give this version of it a try. I doubt you’ll regret it. A solid and easy five stars. ( )

Hm, I'm torn on this one. It certainly has an interesting central concept, juxtaposing the fading days of a female-oriented, Earth Mother-worshipping religion with the last years of the Wars of the Roses, I've always been intrigued by Richard III (and by alternate histories), and it contains the author's usual elegant prose. But the characterisation is definitely a bit thinner than I'm used to in Warrington's work. Though there's some good material in them, the modern age bookends to chapters feel clumsy, and there's far too much talking about important historical events after the fact ("oh, by the way, this happened since the last chapter"), leeching the narrative of some great sources of tension. But what she does capture well is the wretchedness of the York family, tearing itself apart over and over, not to mention the biting, backstabbing world of (quasi-)15th century England, and the mild fantasy aspects of the novel are quite vivid and well-handled. ( )