The War of the Roses is a historical drama in four volumes by Conn Iggulden on the wars in the fifteenth century in England

I love reading historical novels. History books, by giving just facts, too often leave us with no sense of reality. The human part of the story is left out. A great historical novelist, like Conn Iggulden, makes history come alive by giving the facts but at the same time fleshing out the story with a more human angle.

It is easy to read about a war fought in winter in England in the fifteenth century but quite different to read about the realities of an army of thousands on the march and the difficulties to feed them. The way a country suffers under a passing army is easily forgotten. There aspects of are all accentuated by the books of Conn Iggulden on the War of the Roses.

The books are beautifully passed that makes them difficult to put down once you start reading them. The human drama unfolds before your eyes. It is written so that you can have understanding of both sides of the story.

The most important part for me is that the story becomes memorable. King Henty and King Edward becames real people people. Not just more names in a line of successive kings of England.

It is said that the fantasy books of The Game of Thrones are based on The War of the Roses. This is real drama, real war, love, murder, betrayal and revenge. Why read fantasy if you can live the real thing?