A Feast for Crows

A Song of Ice & Fire, Book 4
by George R.R. Martin
753 pages

This fourth book in the Game of Thrones series is a little thinner than previous volumes.  Many new perspectives appear in this volume, though many are only minor voices.  These voices cover what is happening on the Iron Islands and in Dorne.  I will say that I was intrigued by the Dornish characters and hope to see more of them.  Cersei's and Brienne's perspectives are also shown in this novel.  Cersei proves in this novel that she is not fit to rule because she is short-sighted, impulsive, and stupid.

Many old characters are included as well.  Arya becomes a novice in a Braavosi temple.  Sansa is still posing as Littlefinger's bastard daughter.  Samwell is on his way to Oldtown (with Maester Aemon and Gilly) to become a maester.  Jamie is finally realizing the truth about Cersei and is becoming a better man for it.  All in all, our old favorites are changing and developing.

However, some of our favorites are missing from this novel.  Jon, Bran, Tyrion, Davos, & Daenerys are absent from this novel.  (At the end of the book, Martin explains why they are absent.  However, trying to figure out why all these characters were missing put me through unnecessary stress.)  They will reappear in Book 5.  Apparently, events in Book 4 and Book 5 are happening concurrently because Martin decided to divide the story into two books by character instead of chronologically.

Sex With the Queen

Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics
by Eleanor Herman
322 pages

The title pretty much says it all. This is a book  that goes behind the closed doors of the queens of Europe. It talks about Anne Boleyn, Catherine the Great, and some other lesser known queens and royalty.  It discusses how some queens took a lover looking for love, and how some queens accused of adultry (mainly Anne Boleyn) were actually innocent but other factions of court wanted to get rid of them.

This was a pretty interesting read, especially since it discussed queens that I had never learned of.  I'm obsessed with royal history so I found this book fascinating.

The Pleasure Palace

by Kate Emerson
358 pages


Jane Popyncourt is just eight years old when her mother hastily moves from France to England.  Once in England, Jane becomes enters royal service in order to help King Henry VII’s daughters learn French.  Jane’s mother dies shortly thereafter, leaving her an orphan with no inheritance and a ward of the king.  Jane grows into a young woman and becomes a lady-in-waiting to Princess Mary.  She longs to fall in love, get married, and find out more about her family’s past, but many roadblocks stand in her way.

Emerson obviously did quite a bit of research on this time period because this book includes details about dress, hygiene, and customs of the time period that are often lacking in other books.  The book also includes maps, royal family trees, and short biographical notes about the real people who appear in the novel.  Overall, I appreciated Emerson’s attention to detail, and I feel that her efforts made this book worth reading.