A typo, perhaps, but the number of subsequent errors in the book suggests otherwise. These problems begin only a few pages into the book, when Breverton says Richard II was 22 at the time of his death (he was 33). With good editing and the elimination of extraneous information and unnecessary quotations, this book could have been half the length and a hundred times more effective.īeyond the flaws in the writing, however, are issues of accuracy. There are also numerous typos, incorrect or extraneous words, inconsistent spellings, confusing phrasing, and other sloppy errors throughout. Modernizing spelling in quoted sections would have greatly improved readability as well. There is an excessive use of very long quotations that add very little in most such cases it would have been much more effective to simply summarize the information, especially since Breverton generally repeats the most important points in his own words anyway. The same details appear multiple times, often almost word-for-word and only pages apart. Breverton jumps around chronologically, mentioning people and events in passing and only introducing or explaining them properly later on. The book's flaws are so numerous that it doesn't appear to have been edited at all. Much of this information is of little relevance to Jasper's life or even to the history as a whole. As another reviewer wrote, it seems as if he just cut and pasted a bunch of information in the hopes that someone might find it interesting. Of course it makes sense to discuss events in which Jasper did not take direct part if they affected his life or are necessary for an understanding of the overall history, but Breverton goes into far too much detail about people and events that are tangential at best. In fact, it hardly seemed to focus on Jasper at all most of the time, and there were long sections where he wasn't even mentioned, or was mentioned only very superficially in passing. Despite its title, it revealed nothing new about Jasper. Unfortunately, this book did not deliver. I've come across Jasper repeatedly in other books, but always as a secondary figure, so I was interested to learn more about him beyond the basic details of his life. I bought the book because it seemed to offer a different perspective on the Wars of the Roses and the rise of the Tudors, by focusing on Jasper Tudor, the uncle of Henry VII. Having spent the money, I was determined to finish it, but it was a slog. I regret buying it, but I was in a hurry in the bookstore and didn't have time to do my usual thorough sampling before purchasing. This is one of the most poorly written books I have ever read.
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