2.5 stars. The writing was fine, and the story should have been pretty interesting, but then it kind of just ended? Like, yes, the girl from the country who loves horses has the very obvious trajectory of such women in a royal court, but then it's never really resolved. What happened to you, Louise? (Yes, her name is basically the same as the king's name. I could just look it up (PSST BECAUSE IT'S HISTORY YOU GUYS) but that would defeat the main purpose of this book a little bit. One of your main characters doesn't even get an ending? Sad face. I'm all for doing rabbit hole deep dives into things after reading about something, but I want it to be on MY TERMS. I don't want to be held hostage by my NEED FOR INFORMATION. (I sound really ornery about this when I am, in fact, just kind of blah about it.)

That being said, I literally powered through this book like a champ. I didn't particularly enjoy it either. Lots of skipping paragraphs about decorations. Also lots of perspective switching in the middle of things. I didn't like that.