The King Without a Kingdom (The Accursed Kings, Book 7) cover art

The King Without a Kingdom (The Accursed Kings, Book 7)

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The King Without a Kingdom (The Accursed Kings, Book 7)

By: Maurice Druon
Narrated by: Peter Joyce
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About this listen

‘This was the original GAME OF THRONES’ George R.R. Martin

Available for the first time in English, THE KING WITHOUT A KINGDOM is the seventh and final volume of The Accursed Kings series.

The reign of the Capetian kings has ended and John II, ‘The Good’, second of the Valois dynasty, has taken the throne.
Under his leadership the Hundred Years War, one of the longest and bloodiest conflicts in history, escalates and England and France begin to tear each other apart.

Cardinal Périgord, narrating the drama, shows us a monarch as vain and cruel as he is incompetent. Under his turbulent reign, warring factions plunder the land, famine threatens the people and the Black Death spreads far and wide. France is bleeding to death around the new king.

©2014 Maurice Druon (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Military Royalty War & Military Middle Ages War

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Critic reviews

‘Iron kings and strangled queens, battles and betrayals, lies and lust, the curse of the Templars, the doom of a great dynasty – and all of it (well, most of it) straight from the pages of history, and believe me, the Starks and the Lannisters have nothing on the Capets and Plantagenets. Whether you are a history buff or a fantasy fan, Druon's epic will keep you turning pages. This was the original game of thrones’
GEORGE R.R. MARTIN

‘Blood-curdling tale of intrigue, murder, corruption and sexual passion’
SUNDAY TIMES

‘Barbaric, sensual, teeming with life, based in wide reading and sound scholarship…among the best historical novels’ TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
All stars
Most relevant  
I loved the early books in this series but this one was harder going than the rest. The first person narrative was an interesting but deeply artificial way of recounting history.

great narrator but over stylised narrative

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This novel was published seventeen years after the others and was written in a far different style as it is completely narrated by one character, a vain Cardinal Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord, an important diplomat for the Avignon Papacy who relays the story of the failed monarch Jean II the Good and very successful campaign of Edward the Black Prince. The differing points of view of the characters with their different motives was what made the earlier books so enjoyable and by only having the one characters viewpoint in this book the story becomes much weaker. Its a disappointing finish to a great series.

Different and weaker than the earlier books

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I didn’t enjoy the narration style choice or the story. While the previous books had multiple characters and points of view presented, with lots of intrigue, this one is just a story told by one travelling character, occasionally interrupted by a few sentences of complaint about the events on the road. Really boring compared to the previous books.

Not as Good as the Previous Books

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Last book of the series and just a massive let down. I feel like the author wanted to try something new in this last book but it just doesn't work, especially when the rest of the series are completely different. Whereas the previous novels contain a plethora of characters, narrators, stories and intrigue, the concluding novel is narrated by one single person who tells the remainder of the story in retrospect. Just doesn't work. I'm afraid to say that I wasn't able to finish it...

Let Down

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