It’s probably weird to read the first and third books in a series before the second, but that’s how I read the Emma of Normandy series by Patricia Bracewell. Given how much I enjoyed Shadow on the Crown (Book 1) and The Steel Beneath the Silk (Book 3), it will come as no surprise that I also enjoyed The Price of Blood.

The Price of Blood covers Emma’s years in England from 1006 to 1012. Here, Emma is building up her sphere of influence, especially with the bishops and other members of the Church, while Elgiva (her enemy from Book 1), clinging on to the prophecy that she will be the mother of kings, marries Cnut, son of Swein Forkbeard.

In terms of plot, The Price of Blood carries on from where Shadow on the Crown ended and we see the continual devolution of the relationship between Æthelred and his sons, especially Æthelstan and Edmund. The Danes continue to wreck havoc, and because Elgiva is married to one of them, we get a better look at what they are planning. It definitely raises the stakes for me, and the threat from the Danes feels more immediate.

Emma remains a sympathetic character, and my heart broke to see Æthelred purposely drive a wedge between her and her son. I don’t have a lot of say about her because it’s pretty much all good, but I do have something to say about the villains. In Book One, Elgiva was the main villain because Emma was still establishing her footing in court. Now that Emma is acknowledged as Queen, the people threatening her power are, apart from Æthelred, Ealdorman Eadric and his wife, Edyth. For some reason, Edyth has taken a dislike to Emma and decided to marry Eadric, who has all the trust of Æthelred. The fact that they have the king’s ear makes them the more dangerous villains, and I have absolutely no sympathy for them, given the atrocious acts that Eadric commits.

And then we have Elgiva. If you remember, I didn’t like her in the first book, but I felt like I could somewhat sympathise with her in the third. This positive feeling somewhat carries over to The Price of Blood because unlike the other two villains in this book, I found myself fairly sympathetic towards Elgiva. Sure, she’s just as scheming and power hungry as ever, but I can see that she’s doing her best to move herself from the position of pawn to player, and I appreciate where she’s coming from. She’s undervalued, her worth defined in terms of the marriage she makes, who she’s the daughter of, and if she can bear sons, and no one is listening to what she has to say. It’s no wonder that she tries to seize power the ways that she knows how.

If you’re into historical fiction, strong female characters and court politics (with some fighting thrown in for good measure), I think you’d enjoy this trilogy. I’ve enjoyed all three books and if you think you’d enjoy this, I’d strongly recommend you pick up the first book and try it.