This is the second installment of Maurice Druon's The Accursed Kings, perhaps better known these days as the French historical fiction series that played a part in inspiring George R. This is the kind of colourful history that I sometimes think makes fantasy novels almost irrelevant (great though series like Game of Thrones are) when historical reality reads as so unlikely in some respects, why have fantasy novels that try to emulate aspects of that reality? Great stuff, and my only minor criticism is that the translation from the French is rather stilted in places. The plot turns around the scheming of factions of nobles against Enguerrand de Marigny, Philip IV's chief Minister, and plans for Louis to obtain an end to his marriage and find a new wife to give him an heir (given the title of the novel, no prizes for guessing how that marriage ending is ultimately obtained). This novel opens with the death of the Iron King, Philip IV, and the accession of his son Louis X le Hutin in late 1314, a much weaker King, whose wife Marguerite of Burgundy, the titular queen, was imprisoned in the first book for committing adultery (as was the wife of Louis's younger brother). I read the first in Druon's series immediately after reading the first Game of Thrones book two years ago, and at the time I thought I would be reading the second of Druon's before the second of Martin's, but having read book 4 of Martin's before this, it hasn't quite turned out that way. This is the second book in The Accursed Kings series of French historical novels by Maurice Druon set in the early 14th century, cited by George R R Martin as one of the inspirations for Game of Thrones.
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