Review: The Cold Light of Dawn by Anna Belfrage

After Henry of Lancaster’s rebellion has been crushed early in 1329, a restless peace settles over England. However, the young Edward III is no longer content with being his regents’ puppet, no matter that neither Queen Isabella nor Roger Mortimer show any inclination to give up their power. Caught in between is Adam de Guirande, torn between his loyalty to the young king and that to his former lord, Roger Mortimer.  

Edward III is growing up fast. No longer a boy to be manipulated, he resents the power of his mother, Queen Isabella, and Mortimer. His regents show little inclination of handing over their power to him, the rightful king, and Edward suspects they never will unless he forces their hand.

Adam de Guirande is first and foremost Edward’s man, and he too is of the opinion that the young king is capable of ruling on his own. But for Adam siding with his king causes heartache, as he still loves Roger Mortimer, the man who shaped him into who he is.

Inevitably, Edward and his regents march towards a final confrontation. And there is nothing Adam can do but pray and hope that somehow things will work out. Unfortunately, prayers don’t always help.

The Cold Light of Dawn is the fourth in Anna Belfrage’s series, The King’s Greatest Enemy, the story of a man torn apart by his loyalties to his lord and his king.

Publication Date: February 16, 2018

Matador & TimeLight Press

eBook & Paperback; 434 Pages

Series: The King's Greatest Enemy, Book #4

Genre: Historical Fiction

*****

Anna Belfrage is a very talented author, she is one of my favorites for so many reasons,  I wish more people knew about her and her two wonderful series, The King's Greatest Enemy and The Graham Saga.  She can draw a reader right in and not let go until the final pages, even the Author's Note hold my attention.

  The Cold Light of Dawn is the fourth book in the King's Greatest Enemy Series, my understanding was that this would be the final one, but while it concluded nicely this reader would like the series to continue, I've connected with the characters and would love to see what life has in store.  

Anna has created characters here and put them in a time when there is unrest in England and has made me care about them, actually wishing that they were real historical figures. It’s the timeperiod when Edward III wears the crown but the country really seems to be ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.  Coming in at 593 pages and, with great attention to detail  there is so much depth here that it wasn’t hard to be totally captivated and the hours just whizzed by.  

There is a lot of activity taking place, whether it's between Kit and Adam, Edward III and his wife Philippa and of course Queen Isabella and Mortimer, that revolve around real historical events. The ending wasn’t a real surprise and honestly I was hoping for a different outcome but alas you can’t change history.  It's evident that not just a lot of research went into this series but also emotion, you can feel the author's passion in her writing.

If I made repeat myself, this is a wonderful series, it's best to start at the beginning with In the Shadow of the Storm and continue on. Trust me, if you are a lover of historical fiction then this is a series for you.

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes and Noble

Anna was raised abroad, on a pungent mix of Latin American culture, English history and Swedish traditions. As a result she’s multilingual and most of her reading is historical- both non-fiction and fiction. Possessed of a lively imagination, she has drawers full of potential stories, all of them set in the past. She was always going to be a writer – or a historian, preferably both. Ideally, Anna aspired to becoming a pioneer time traveller, but science has as yet not advanced to the point of making that possible. Instead she ended up with a degree in Business and Finance, with very little time to spare for her most favourite pursuit. Still, one does as one must, and in between juggling a challenging career Anna raised her four children on a potent combination of invented stories, historical debates and masses of good food and homemade cakes. They seem to thrive…

For years she combined a challenging career with four children and the odd snatched moment of writing. Nowadays Anna spends most of her spare time at her writing desk. The children are half grown, the house is at times eerily silent and she slips away into her imaginary world, with her imaginary characters. Every now and then the one and only man in her life pops his head in to ensure she’s still there.

Other than on her website, www.annabelfrage.com, Anna can mostly be found on her blog, http://annabelfrage.wordpress.com – unless, of course, she is submerged in writing her next novel.

You can also connect with Anna on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Giveaway

During the Blog Tour we will be giving away a complete set of The King's Greatest Enemy series to one winner & two winners will win a paperback copy of The Cold Light of Dawn!

To enter, please enter via the Gleam form below.

  Giveaway Rules – Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on March 30th. You must be 18 or older to enter. – Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY. –


  The Cold Light of Dawn

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