Requiem of the Rose King, Volume 3
By Aya Kanno
Reviewed June 2022
And more manga mania!
Let me be perfectly honest with you. If this were a novel, I’d be tossing it into the circular filing cabinet, muttering “This is trash!” But instead, because of how the author presents it and its graphic novel format with fabulous illustrations, I’m hooked on it. I guess you could say it’s a kind of guilty pleasure, something I shouldn’t like...but I do. In fact, I’ve created “guilty pleasure” as a new category for my books on Goodreads.
In volume 3 of Requiem of the Rose King, the plot thickens as the saying goes.
Elizabeth has Edward IV totally in her thrall; while Edward is in lust...er...love with Elizabeth, she in turn wants only to destroy the House of York and avenge the death of her beloved husband, John Grey.
At the same time, Lord Warwick is in France negotiating a marriage for Big Ed (E4) with Louis’s sister-in-law, Bona of Savoy. And what can I say about this picture of Louis XI other than that he is one handsome dude! Certainly not the Spider King of history! Then again, everybody’s pretty in this fantasy world.
The proverbial shite hits the fan when Warwick returns to England with what he believes is great news, only to be told by Big Ed that he’s already married a *gasp* commoner! And this is done publicly, further humiliating Warwick who looks upon this as a betrayal. This part is actually very close to the historical record, although whether Elizabeth married Edward IV in order to destroy the House of York is the author’s own twist on things.
Richard and Henry have another encounter and spend a rainy weekend together in a hunting lodge, neither yet realizing who the other really is. Because Henry, who is happy no longer being king of England is wandering around the countryside, presenting himself as a common shepherd.
Margaret of Anjou sends her son Edward (I know, another Edward) with a small search party to find his father and bring him home. While searching, son Edward comes upon Henry and Richard, and spies them in an affectionate embrace. This doesn’t sit well with young Edward because ... yikes! ... he’s attracted to Richard!
And now, it’s on to volume 4, after which I’ll probably take a break and get back to reading something more traditional, because too much of a guilty pleasure can take away the delight. So I will be doling out future volumes a couple at a time.
Again, this won’t be every Ricardian’s cuppa tea, but in its own strange way is quite fun to read.