Book Review: 5 Stars
**** SPOILERS ****
Richard II is one of those kings whose ending tends to overshadow everything that came before it.
I knew about Bolingbroke.
I knew about the deposition.
I knew Richard's reign did not exactly end happily.
What I hadn't really thought about was what happened to Richard before all of that, and A King Under Siege made me realise just how much I had skipped over.
Mercedes Rochelle begins with Richard as a fourteen-year-old king during the Peasants' Revolt, and that immediately changed the way I looked at him. Fourteen! He has been king for several years, but other people are still governing for him, dismissing his opinions and expecting him to watch and learn.
Then thousands of rebels arrive outside London and suddenly everyone expects the boy with the crown to solve the problem.
I thought the opening was excellent. There is so much happening during the revolt, but what interested me most was Richard himself. He is frightened, uncertain and very aware that the experienced men around him don't seem to know what to do either. Yet when it matters, he acts.
That courage doesn't magically turn him into a wise king afterwards, though.
And I liked that.
Richard can be thoughtful and surprisingly compassionate, but he also has a temper that could probably start a war all by itself. He wants desperately to be taken seriously, and sometimes the harder he tries to prove that he is the King, the more trouble he creates for himself.
There were quite a few occasions when I understood exactly why he was angry.
There were rather fewer occasions when I thought what he did about it was sensible.
His relationship with his uncles was fascinating. John of Gaunt surprised me because I expected him to be much more straightforwardly antagonistic towards Richard. Instead, their relationship moves between affection, frustration, suspicion and reconciliation. Gaunt can be overbearing, certainly, but there are also moments when you realise just how useful having somebody that powerful in your corner can be.
Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, was another matter.
I did not warm to Thomas.
At all.
Every time he appeared I felt my irritation levels rise slightly.
The royal family is actually one of my favourite things about the novel because nobody is simply a relative. They are also political players. A cousin might be a friend today and an opponent tomorrow. An uncle can protect you, lecture you or threaten your crown. Marriage, friendship and family loyalty all have political consequences.
And then there is Robert de Vere.
Oh, Robert.
I could understand why Richard loved him. Robert gives Richard something he desperately needs. He treats him like a king when so many other people still treat him like a child.
Unfortunately, being the person who always tells someone what they want to hear isn't necessarily the same thing as being the person whose advice they most need.
Simon Burley is very different.
He has known Richard since childhood and provides something much closer to paternal guidance. Richard trusts him completely, and that relationship became one of the emotional anchors of the book for me.
Which meant I was not remotely prepared for the Merciless Parliament.
I knew very little about this part of Richard's reign before reading the novel, and it was probably the section that affected me most. By this point the argument is no longer simply about an inexperienced king and troublesome favourites. Richard's opponents have the military and political advantage, and they intend to use it.
There is one exchange that sums up Richard's position horribly well. Richard insists that he is king and that his household and advisers are his own. Gloucester's answer is brutal:
“You have no power. You have no support. You have no army. You have no say! If you do not comply, you have no crown!”
For me, that is A King Under Siege in a few sentences.
Richard has the crown.
But what is a crown worth when somebody else has the army?
The scenes involving Anne of Bohemia also added another dimension to Richard. I really liked Anne. Their marriage gives him somewhere to escape from the endless arguments about government and royal authority, and she isn't simply there to admire her husband. She listens, advises and occasionally sees things far more clearly than Richard does.
I also loved the contrast between Richard's public and private selves. Publicly there are robes, crowns, ceremonies, titles and displays of royal authority. Privately there is a young man who cries with his mother, worries about whether he has broken his word, loves his wife and desperately wants to decide something without half the nobility of England telling him he is doing it wrong.
By the final part of the book, I felt as though I had watched Richard grow up.
Not necessarily become wiser in every respect.
But grow up.
And that distinction matters.
The ending was enormously satisfying because Richard finally understands something he hadn't fully grasped at fourteen. Kingship isn't simply about courage. It is also about patience, timing and knowing when you actually have enough support to act.
When Richard finally announces that he will appoint his own council, conduct his own business and make his own decisions, it feels earned because we have watched him fight for that right throughout the novel.
Of course, I also know enough about Richard II to know that this is not the end of the story.
Not even close.
And that's what makes the ending rather ominous.
Richard has learned patience.
He has also learned exactly who humiliated him.
Those are two lessons I suspect may prove an interesting combination.
A King Under Siege sent me straight down the historical rabbit hole afterwards, reading about the Lords Appellant, the Merciless Parliament and the young Richard II. That is always one of the biggest compliments I can give historical fiction.
I started the book knowing how Richard II's reign eventually ended.
I finished it wanting to know exactly how he got there.
An easy FIVE STARS.
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Mercedes Rochelle
Born in St. Louis, MO, with a degree from University of Missouri, Mercedes Rochelle learned about living history as a re-enactor and has been enamored with historical fiction ever since. A move to New York to do research and two careers ensued, but writing fiction remains her primary vocation. She lives in Sergeantsville, NJ with her husband in a log home they had built themselves.
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