Anne and Louis: Forever Bound Review

Before I begin this review, I need to apologize for its lateness. I fully intended to have this book finished and reviewed in May, but family health issues and my own employment situation took up so much of my time this summer that I'm yet again late with my writing schedule.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I was also personally asked for a review by the author, Rozsa Gaston.

Title: Anne and Louis Forever Bound: The Final Years of Anne of Brittany's Marriage to Louis XII of France
Series: Anne of Brittany, book 4
Author: Rozsa Gaston
Rating: 3.5/5

Rozsa Gaston's series following the life of Anne of Brittany reaches its conclusion in Forever Bound, beginning in 1508 and ending in 1514 with Anne's untimely death at 36. I've reviewed its predecessor, Rulers and Lovers, in a post last year. 

The easiest way to begin is to look at what I liked. There are more narrative scenes and Anne has a much stronger personality than in the previous book and the ones before it. Claude has a whole chapter to herself, which will win me over any day. The eponymous Anne and Louis have a nuanced marriage -- loving and supportive, though often strained by their roles as politicians with contradicting goals. I loved the references to Louis's family, including his grandmother Valentina Visconti (appearing here as a painting Louis talks to for advice) and his father Charles d'Orleans, who I've written about my love for on this blog before. This ties in with the increased emphasis on family bonds, which is explored through Anne's fight for her daughters' inheritances, the loss of Louis's nephew Gaston of Foix, and Louise of Savoy's scheming for her own children.

Anne herself has some excellent moments-- especially with other characters. Her confrontation with Louis over his fight with the pope stands out, especially when she snaps and says she's not going to risk the souls of their subjects (France was facing the possibility of being placed under interdict, which would bar all subjects from taking part in the sacraments), and that Louis only cares about the Chruch when it's on his side. Her interrogation of a suspected spy in the household is also done well and has some great tension, and her finally meeting with her rival Louise of Savoy is also a delight. I also very much do enjoy the inclusion of historical images as illustrations and to give the reader a bit more context for the era and people.

This brings me to some issues I had with Anne and Louis.

My major issue with this book is one I have with most historical fiction, including my own attempts-- it is overwhelmingly exposition, with very little action. Most of the major events are related to us by the narrator, rather than through scenes of a story, and what events are deemed important enough to actually show is uneven. Hete we have scenes of the cook and kitchen maid discussing Anne's matchmaking, but the Battle of Saint-Mathieu and the loss of the Marie-la-Cordelière, one of the great tragedies of the era, as well as the reactions of Anne and Louis, are only briefly mentioned. I got the feeling I was reading a textbook rather than historical fiction and that the book wanted to be both. There is a bibliography at the back, but several books cited are completely unrelated, fiction, or both (like Anya Seton's Katherine). I noticed this with the previous books and I still do not understand why this is included. The dialog was decent but stilted-- Anne's habit of addressing Louis as "husband" was especially grating and made me glad when most of their conversations were over.

My second issue is with the portrayal of Louise of Savoy. Louise is Anne's main rival, now that Anne of Bejeau is no longer the major player she was in French politics. I don't object to portraying them as rivals, they obviously were, but I would liked to have seen a more nuanced take on Louise. She's the designated villain in this story, and I would accept that as just being from Anne's perspective except the book is from multiple third-person points of view. Louise was a rival to Anne, yes, and she was dedicated to her son (to the point of overprotective) but I think she had reason to be-- she was widowed at a young age with two small children, in a precarious political situation.

There's a lot you could do to compare her with Anne of Brittany, and nearing the end, Anne does realize that she also would do anything for her son had he lived, and she's already doing whatever she can for her daughters. A major issue that I found Anne and Louis XII dealing with was that they wanted what was best for their countries and those goals put them at odds, especially over their children, even though they want what's best for Claude and Renée. Louise is the same, we just don't get to sympathize with her.

Anne and Louis is a good read for nonspecialist readers interested in the era and the people, especially those who want a general overview given in a narrative format. Thanks again to NetGalley for the ARC and thanks to Rozsa for being interested in my feedback!

Anne and Louis: Rulers and Lovers - A Review

I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Title: Anne and Louis: Rulers and Lovers
Series: Anne of Brittany, book 3
Author: Rozsa Gaston
Rating: 2/5

I intended to have this read and reviewed much earlier in the year. Unfortunately everything that's happened in the last few months, coupled with school and work has put me very behind in reading and reviewing.

This book, like its predecessors Anne and Charles and Anne and Louis: Passion and Politics in Early Renaissance France: The First Years of Anne of Brittany's Marriage to Louis XII, follows the life of Anne of Brittany, the last fully independent Duke of Brittany. Rulers and Lovers begins in 1501, with the proceedings for the engagement of Claude of France and Charles of Luxembourg and ends, leaving us in suspense, with Anne pregnant in January 1508. It focuses on Anne's marriage to Louis XII of France, their daughter Claude, and Anne's struggles to secure the independence of her people of Brittany.

This book frustrated me a great deal. It has a great deal of potential, and there were several parts I enjoyed-- Anne's tour of her duchy was done well and I especially liked the conversation between her and Philippe de Montauban about the bond between father and daughter-- what she is frustrated with, Claude's adoration of her father, is the same thing she had for her own father Francis. I also liked the acknowledgement of the heartbreak of loss- Anne losing so many babies and Louis seeing his men die in combat. Louis seeing the similarities and differences of the two was moving-- it made me think how both have to suffer and see people they love be lost for them to do their duties. Little Claude was adorable and I accept her as my queen already. If I were a romance fan (kind of the target audience, people who like historical romance), I probably would have enjoyed Anne and Louis's relationship.
Despite these strengths, there was a great deal in it that disappointed me and prevents me from rating it higher-- which I really wanted to do. I had two main issues with this book.

First, the exposition. Exposition is admittedly difficult to avoid when writing historical fiction, and in fact impossible when writing historical fiction that covers long periods of time. The first few chapters were strong from a narrative standpoint and I hoped that would continue throughout the book, and it did intermittently, but so much of it was expository, especially Louis's campaigns in Italy. I got the feeling that I was reading an essay on the war, not a novel (or I was having quarantine-induced flashbacks to when I taught history, that may also be a possibility). My mind wandered frequently during these sections, and I would have enjoyed more of them had there been actual scenes of the wars-- battles, Louis planning, anything more than just telling me where the troops moved. However, these parts are, as far as I know, accurate. I confess I don't know a lot about Louis XII, I know far more about his father, but nothing seemed hugely amiss. This holds true for the whole book, and the ones before it. Gaston studied history and she does a great job of getting the facts down, which is far more than I can say for most historical novels I've read. As I'm a historian by trade, I read a lot of nonfictional treatments of things like these, and I would have enjoyed a break from that and had more story to go with the history.

The other issue, and probably the most serious, was Anne herself. I found myself several times asking myself "Why do I like Anne again?" which is a terrifying question. Gaston is kind to Anne, and one of the overarching themes of her writing is, as her biography says, is "women getting what they want out of life." Anne had a very rough life, and to her credit Gaston does not make it worse, and she seeks to find happy moments for the queen. However, while she's portrayed positively, I didn't enjoy Anne as a character. The narration tells us that she's feisty and smart, but most of that comes out just with her arguing with Louis. She rarely actually works with Louis, since the central issues are his campaigns in Italy (which she thinks are stupid) and the question of Claude's betrothal to Charles of Luxembourg or Francis the Dauphin, on which they disagree to say the least. I think this missed out on what makes them an interesting paring historically-- they worked well together, despite their disagreements about Claude's future, and I had looked forward to seeing that in story form. Anne also never seems to take any part in ruling, all she does is order works of art made, make matches for her cordelières, and try to make babies. Historically she served as regent for Louis twice when he was away at war or sick, but that never comes into the story. She also doesn't do any administrative work for Brittany, except fight against Claude being married into France. I forgot what it was that made Anne such a fascinating figure and was sorely disappointed with that part.

There were parts I enjoyed, as I say above, and Gaston has a strong footing in the history of the era, which as a historian I greatly appreciate. You can also tell she very much cares about Anne and wants to tell her story, which is also very important in historical fiction. This book is perhaps best suited to readers who just want an overview of the era without having to read a 700 page nonfiction book, and readers looking for a light romance with a historical setting. My impressions of Anne in this book will probably be completely different than those of the next person to read it. I hope Gaston continues to write about this era, each successive book in the series has improved on the last. This book as a whole just didn't work for me.