I really do find the overly romanticised versions of Richard III tedious.
As I read, I really did try to keep in mind the characters as people of the time, without instantaneous communication, the knowledge of history books, and etc. These were Yorkists, through and through, and their support for Richard makes sense - but I still think we got the plaster-saint version of Richard, and that just irks me.
Eleanor was a fabulous character. The connections to the Courtneys are going to make things interesting as the series goes along, and her strength and determination were well calculated to catch my attention. It was a good thing - from my perspective - that Harrod-Eagles decided to focus on a female character for the first book. If I had instead been confronted by the male characters as the focus, I might have given up already. (I've already commented, in my first post about book two, how little respect I have for Ned and Paul Morland, son and grandson of Eleanor, and this is because of their lack of respect for women.)
I told a colleague I wasn't sure I'd stick with the series. Perhaps I was having a generally negative day that day, or feeling hurt on behalf of Henry Tudor (and more to the point, Margaret Beaufort and Elizabeth Woodville - both women I have a great deal of time for, but who were rather hard done by in the latter parts of this book.) As I write this I'm more than halfway through the second book: The Dark Rose, and have the third, The Princeling, on loan to start reading straight away.
So I may not be *loving* this series, but I'm finding enough in it to enjoy critiqueing and exercising my mind that I'll keep going for the moment.
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