Review and Giveaway: "The Cold Light of Dawn" by Anna Belfrage

Synopsis:

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.

My Thoughts:  I'm going to try to not gush because I know that I always get a little over the top when I review an Anna Belfrage book.  That being said, The Cold Light of Dawn is probably my favorite installment in the series.  Kit and, especially Adam, faced some some pretty serious life-changing situations in this book and watching them navigate these situations was both beautiful and heart-breaking.

Adam was really the shining star of this book.  He really had to figure out who he was and what was most important to him more so than in the other books.  Adam's loyalties were really put to the test in this book and he really struggled to manage his work and loyalty to the king with his love for the man who raised him, Roger Mortimer.  It broke my heart to see him torn between the two men and his attempts to do his duty to them both.  I also hated how the king essentially betrayed Adam's loyalty because of his feelings toward Mortimer as well as because of his health issues.  The end of the story was terribly sad but so beautifully written.  I think the reader really got to see deep into Adam's soul; I already knew he was a good man but seeing the love and kindness he showed Mortimer was just so poignant. 

This book could very easily be the last in the series and if it is, then I think the story was tied up quite well.  However, Ms. Belfrage left a note at the end of the book indicating that we may get to see more of Adam and Kit in the future and I really hope that's the case.  I thoroughly enjoyed the historical note at the end of the book (I love a good historical note) and I ended up going out and reading more about Roger Mortimer when I finished this book.  I'm pretty intrigued by him now!

I will always love Ms. Belfrage's books and sing their praises but The Cold Light of Dawn is a really special read.  There's something magical when an author can evoke real emotion from the reader and that's what Ms. Belfrage was able to do here.  I'm so glad I got the opportunity to read this one! 4 1/2 stars.

About the Author:

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 

HERE.

Giveaway Rules

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

– Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY.

– Only one entry per household.

– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.

– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

 

I received this book from HFVBT in exchange for an honest review.