The King's Grave ~ An insider look at an event

As one of the millions who were awake and on Twitter as the announcement came on Richard III's identity, I was excited and thrilled to get a review copy of the book from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. My Kindle and I happily became witnesses to a remarkable historic event through this book.

The authors, who held differing ideas about King Richard, made a more than adequate team  team as the facts were sequentially laid out before me. Ms. Langley's part of the tale was most appealing to me and was riveting. I found myself most excited at Philippa Langley's narration of the events and less so for the historical events compiled by the Jones/Langley team which at times created a disjunction. Probably Langley and the search, dig and resulting scientific conclusions by impeccable experts get five stars from me and the book as a whole three. You might chalk that up to the fact that I do a lot of work in genetic genealogy (DNA) and the facts of the search for and discovery of Richard are breathtaking for me.

That being said, it was a very good technique to bring balance and scholarly discourse to Richard's persona and the book itself. I enjoyed the psychological profiling and handwriting analysis which added depth to the two opinions. Richard seems to have been very much a product of his times and his convictions. He was and remains a courageous warrior and a chivalrous prince, the last English warrior king.