The King Without a Kingdom by Maurice Druon

Whispers of the Story

King Jean II of France is impatient, egocentric and doesn’t listen to the advice of others. What happens when the King of Navarre clearly wants to take control? King Jean imprisons him and executes other 4 nobles. What happens when the King of England claims the throne? King Jean goes to war but is imprisoned himself. Morel of the story: King Jean II was brave while taking by surprise a party of nobles, not a very good tactician in warfare.

Review of The King Without a Kingdom by Maurice Druon

Let me start by saying I love the entire Accursed Kings series! I love the way the Capetian dynasty is portrayed, the suggestion of a curse to explain the downfall, the character growth, and the exquisite way the betrayals and political apparatus at the French court are brought to life. But this novel seemed to be completely different. The whole story was narrated by a cardinal, compared to the other novels where the action was present through the eyes of the main characters, and there was no clearly defined timeline.

The story seems simple, but it really is not. The way the events are described is confusing and there are many Johns, Jeans, Charles, and Edwards.  My advice is to treat this novel as a puzzle.

From the beginning, I had trouble understanding which king the story was about. The whole narrative was intertwined with the cardinal’s recollections of places he visited in his youth, his implications in the politics of the French court, his mission by the pope, and some information about different popes. Cardinal Talleyrand-Périgord was on the road and while telling the story of how King Jean lost his Kingdom, he also gave instructions to his secretary, his nephew, and talked about many side characters that either had a very small role to play in the events, or no role at all. It was of no help that many characters had the same name, and, in my translation at least, the king of France was either called Jean or John. I admit, after about 40 pages I started to recognize some of the names from the previous novels and I had a beginning point to look up the historical characters and read a little bit about the events. Half of the novel he talks about the role he played in the negotiations while stating that he is going to the negotiations, just to realize later that there are two separate circumstances. He talked about the imprisonment of the king of Navarre and how he was released long before actually describing the actions that led to his imprisonment and the actual episode. Only at the end of the novel I finally understood the events he described, but I still think I missed some parts.

This manner of storytelling not only made the novel to be confusing, but also boring. The other six books in the series were very engaging and I barely could put them down, but this final one was a disappointment. For me, the novel Lily and the Lion was a beautiful ending to the series, showing the end of the Capetian line, and the end of the main characters for over five novels.  The King Without a Kingdom felt like it was from another series, it did not bring an end to the story, nor did it bring a completion to the novel series.

Next for me is to watch the two TV shows made after this series, Les Rois Maudits from 2005 and The Accursed Kings from 1972. When you get some time, check them out.  

Happy reading!