Ravenspur: Rise of the Tudors

Conn Iggulden

May 2016 · The Wars of the Roses Book 4 · Penguin UK

About this ebook

Witness the rise of the Tudors in the stunning conclusion to Conn Iggulden's powerful retelling of the Wars of the Roses.

'An utterly compelling page-turner full of historical facts. A fascinating read' Sun

England, 1470. A divided kingdom cannot stand.

King Edward of York has been driven out of England. Queen Elizabeth and her children tremble in sanctuary at Westminster Abbey. The House of Lancaster has won the crown, but York will not go quietly.

Desperate to reclaim his throne, Edward lands at Ravenspur with a half-drowned army and his brother Richard at his side. Every hand is against them, every city gate is shut, yet the brothers York go on the attack.

But neither sees that their true enemy is Henry Tudor, now grown into a man. As the Red Dragon - 'the man of destiny' - his claim to the throne leads to Bosworth Field and a battle that will call an end to the Wars of the Roses . . .

'A tough, pacy chronicle of bloody encounters, betrayals and cruelties. Superb' Daily Mail

'Iggulden is in a class of his own when it comes to epic, historical fiction' Daily Mirror

'Superb, fantastic, extraordinary' Sunday Express

Ratings and reviews

Conn Iggulden is one of the best authors of historical fiction alive. When he works hard at it, his narratives are riveting and highly enjoyable. The trouble is that he writes series of historical novels, and although he will work hard on the first one, the sequels are much less artfully conceived. Ravenspur is the fourth in the series, and he's obviously bored of it now. There's an none of the colour and drama that make his best writing so electrifying. I couldn't finish it.

With all the main characters being named either Edward, Richard or Henry. This in combination with the old tried and trusted "scene switching" style has ment the author has had to spend a lot of effort setting the context when switching between story lines, because the characters name is not sufficient to identify who we're reading about. This means less column inches has gone into engaging the reader with the story. As a result the normally gripping action sequences have gone off the boil. Sorry Conn :-( 2

The series needed this book. All things must come to an end. Everything has led to these events... and unless you don't know English history, you won't realize how important this ending is. I was so sad when I finished the final pages. I wanted much more. But that's what the Internet is for! And history itself! Thank you Conn for opening my eyes to this Era of western civilization. Great read overall. I do not regret one minute I spent reading this series.

About the author

CONN IGGULDEN is one of the most successful authors of historical fiction writing today, with bestselling series on Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan and the Wars of the Roses, as well as two stand-alone novels: Dunstan, set in the red-blooded world of tenth-century England, and The Falcon of Sparta, in which Iggulden returns to the Ancient World. Both instalments of his Athenian series, The Gates of Athens and Protector, and his recent Golden Age series, Lion and Empire, are Sunday Times bestsellers.