No man is impervious to the poisons of the crown...Having murdered his wife and exiled his mistress, King Louis X of France becomes besotted with Princess Clemence of Hungary and makes her his new Queen. However, though the matter of the succession should be assured, it is far from so, as Louis embarks on an ill-fated war against Flanders. Where his father, Philip IV, was strong, Louis is weak, and the ambitions of his proud, profligate barons threaten his power and the future of a kingdom once ruled by an Iron King. This is the third book in the author's Accursed Kings series of novels set in the early 14th century during the period of crisis within the ruling Capetian dynasty when after the death of the Iron King, Philip IV, his three sons ruled for short periods, thus encouraging England's King Edward III to claim the French throne through his mother, thereby precipitating the conflict known later as the Hundred Years War. The first of these sons, Louis X is the subject of this novel, and in particular his relationship with his second wife Clementia of Hungary. More plotting, scandal and family tensions abound, though the plot of this novel seems a little lighter than that of the first two books.

“This is the original Game of Thrones.” George R.R. Martin. A collection of the first three books in Maurice Druon’s epic historical fiction series, The Accursed Kings.

“This is the original Game of Thrones.” George R.R. Martin.

“This is the original Game of Thrones.” George R.R. Martin.

‘This is the original game of thrones’ George R.R. Martin From the publishers that brought you A Game of Thrones comes the series that inspired George R.R. Martin’s epic work.

It began ages past in fabled Atlantis, when a mad, power-hungry queen forged a key to a door never meant to be opened by mortal man--its inception would hasten her own death and the extinction of her vainglorious race. For millennia the key lay forgotten beneath the waves, lost amid the ruins of what had been the most beautiful city on Earth. But however jealously the sea hoards its secrets, sooner or later it yields them up. Now, in present-day Yorkshire, that time has come. And for young Fernanda Capel, life will never be the same again . . .

A struggle for the crown of France follows the death of Louis X in 1316 and culminates in the coronation of Philip V.