If you thought the first novel was packed with suspense, then this second novel in the Isabella and Ferdinand trilogy is brimming with action. The book opens with war on Portugal and ends with a victorious siege against Granada and the Moors. There's a lot of ground covered in just a little over 300 pages: Ferdinand's ascension to the Aragonese throne, the start of the royal family, Christopher Columbus's voyage, and the devastation of the Inquisition. Compared to the previous book in the trilogy, there's a lot more to unpack here.

More than any other Plaidy book I've read, this book is just brutal. The Spanish Inquisition was a horrible process that targeted the Jewish population and anyone else who was vulnerable. It's very difficult to read that part of the book. Torquemada takes center stage as a bigoted zealot, and Plaidy makes it clear that his views are dangerous and unpopular. Nevertheless, they impress Queen Isabella.

Isabella has always been presented as a shrewd politician. However, when it comes to the matter of religion, it's impossible to see her as anything other than a bigot. Plaidy doesn't go into why this religious fanaticism is so important to Isabella. It's not that I want her flaws softened so much as I want to understand the madness. All we know is she made a vow in her youth to make an "all Christian Spain", and so she is determined to see it through to the end. While the torture of the Jewish citizens isn't described in detail, Plaidy does make it very clear what's happening, and I found it difficult to read because of how tragic it was.

It wasn't just with the Inquisition that Isabella seemed two-dimensional. When she finds out Ferdinand has been unfaithful, she seems to accept it almost instantly. She rarely displays any emotion beyond serene determination, and it's quite frustrating as a reader because you never really understand the person behind the crown.

This two-dimensional view is again applied to a character of legend: La Susana, the natural daughter of a prominent Jewish man who becomes a victim of the Inquisition. Obviously, authors exaggerate history for artistic license, and normally that's fine. However, Plaidy's characterization of La Susana reeks of misogyny. Essentially, the character - a young woman who is afraid of being cast out by her father for being pregnant out of wedlock - is blamed for the entire Inquisition. Sure, Torquemada is the sadistic leader, but she's the one who made it possible by turning in her neighbors. Not only that, she's depicted as a heartless whore instead of a sympathetic character. It's quite shocking and departs from Plaidy's usual characterization of women. As a result, this and the simple characterization of Isabella made this novel passable and not as good as its predecessor.

In summary, this book is a great intro to Spanish history and the major players of the game, but be warned. This is not at all light-hearted fiction, and while Plaidy doesn't seem particularly biased towards Isabella, there's very little complexity in the character to make her even seem real. ( )

He aquí la apasionante vida de Isabel de Castilla y Fernando de Aragón, los Reyes Católicos. Juntos ascendieron al trono, juntos gobernaron lo que se convertiría en un glorioso imperio.

“Spain for the Sovereigns”, Book 2 of the Isabella and Ferdinand series, focuses on the holy war that the royal pair declared on the Jews and Moslems who occupied certain areas of Spain. In their bid to eradicate anyone who was not a Catholic, they united all provinces of Spain, thus their rule of Castile and Aragon increased until they became monarchs of the whole country.

Isabella comes across as a flawed heroine. In many respects she is a noble queen and a good person, yet at the same time she has no love or pity for those who do not share her faith. She agrees to install the Spanish Inquisition in Castile, believing that the inhuman tortures that non-Christians endure will purge their sins and, she hopes, they may even see the errors of their ways at the last moment, thus avoiding the eternal suffering they would otherwise experience in the fires of Hell.

As for burning people at the stake, Isabella’s attitude – like with many others during the medieval period – is: what’s a brief spell of agony endured on earth compared to an eternity of burning in Hell?

Ferdinand is a great soldier and a brave man, yet he’s also greedy for money and an unfaithful husband. He and Isabella make a formidable pair and are arguably Spain’s most famous royal couple. They did good things for the country, yet their treatment of people who did not share their religious beliefs was inhumane.

This novel features a wider scope than the first book, featuring more key figures from this period of the fifteenth century, the most notable of which being Christopher Columbus, who appealed to Isabella for funding to allow him to search for a new world – even people who dislike history won’t need me to state what he discovered!

On the whole I felt this book was not as good as its prequel; however, as the 4 stars indicate, I still really liked it. ( )

I found this book to be a bit of a disappointment compared with the first book of the series. I found the first book to be very interesting and this one just seemed very slow and boring. It covered some very interesting events of the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand but it does it very dryly. Overall the book was okay but I would not recommend it as much as the first. I'm not sure whether or not I will read the third book. ( )