Requiem of the Rose King, Volume 4
By Aya Kanno
Reviewed June 21, 2022
Here we are, already up to volume 4 in this series, and things just keep getting better and better.
Warwick, angered at Edward’s choice of a wife, plots against the man he once helped gain the throne. Just like in real life, this Kingmaker goes to France and enlists the aid of the French king and Margaret of Anjou. Margaret tells him that she will accept him into the Lancastrian circle only if he marries his daughter, Anne, to her son, Edward.
Back at Middleham, Richard and Anne form a tentative relationship. But Richard, with his conflicted feelings about himself, hesitates to fully accept that she could truly like him for who and what he is. Later, Anne’s father informs her she is going to have to marry Edward of Lancaster (who has formed a strong fascination for Richard).
The uprising by Warwick and Lancaster ousts Edward from the throne. Secretly, Elizabeth is pleased. Richard, who was fighting at his brother’s side, is nearly captured himself but escapes by disguising himself as a woman, and an old comrade – Catesby, who had left service with the Yorks to become Lord Hasting’s man.
During all of this, Richard ponders who, in his opinion, would be the better king. His conclusion? It’s not Edward, and it’s not his other brother George. Yup, we’ve got the beginnings of raw ambition making itself known.
Also, in this issue, we are introduced to young Harry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. Having recently read several novels that feature Bucky as a main character, it will be interesting to see how Aya Kanno handles Buckingham’s initial support of and then rebellion against Richard.
Here we have another action filled installment in this epic retelling of Shakespeare’s Richard III, close enough to the original to enable someone familiar with the story to follow along without much difficulty, yet with enough twists and turns to keep it from being stale.
As for the cover art for this one? That’s Edward IV, and it looks like there could be some bondage involved! But no, not really. Yes, Big Ed is taken prisoner and chained up, but not quite like this in the book. In this case, I think the cover is a big tease, meant to entice potential readers to buy the book. There is, however, an attempted rape that is not too terribly graphic but left me feeling uneasy for the character involved all the same.
This will probably be my last reading in this series for at least a little while, not because I don’t like it. I do!!! But because I’m going to have to wait until next month’s pension check to buy the next couple of issues.