Thoughts on: Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman

About:
“Lion­heart” by Sharon Kay Pen­man is a his­tor­i­cal fic­tion book about Richard I and the Third cru­sade. This is a well researched book which is fas­ci­nat­ing and exciting.

My rat­ing for Lion­heart — 5

Buy & Save on “Lion­heart" through the ManOfLa­Book affil­i­ate account on:
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Thoughts:
“Lion­heart” by Sharon Kay Pen­man (web­site | Blog | Face­book) is his­tor­i­cal fic­tion at its best. The research is impres­sive and Ms. Pen­man doesn’t try to fit the his­tory to her story, but writes the story around history.

I have always been fas­ci­nated by Richard I or as he is bet­ter known Richard the Lion­heart. It was prob­a­bly the nick­name and “guest appear­ance” in Robin Hood which spurred up the imag­i­na­tion of an eight year old boy more than his deeds.

The author brings King Richard to life, not only his bat­tle glory, but also the man in all his splen­dor, his sar­donic wit, bat­tle com­man­der genius and mis­un­der­stand­ing of women. Some­thing most men share. Richard, which thinks of noth­ing of sac­ri­fic­ing his own life, ago­nized to no end about his bat­tle plans and min­i­miz­ing casu­al­ties. The bat­tle scarred solider who under­stands and respects his ene­mies, but still under­stands the impor­tance of mak­ing an entrance, whether by land or by sea.

"Richard began to curse, "Bleed­ing Christ! I wsa so sure that raven swine would hit us from the rear! Take over, Jaufre!"

I enjoyed the descrip­tions of bat­tles, large and small, the tac­tics involved, the ago­niz­ing deci­sions com­man­ders must endure as well as the impos­si­ble logis­tics of tak­ing an army across the ocean with no means of sup­port. The author’s goes into great length describ­ing Richard’s suc­cess, some of it was luck, but most of it was metic­u­lous plan­ning and audac­ity both in the field of diplo­macy and war.

While Richard I is cer­tainly the main fig­ure in the book, there are many oth­ers his­tor­i­cal fig­ures. Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, his mother, Richard’s sis­ter Joana and his wife Beren­garia all have a major role in the novel, and are depicted in an inter­est­ing and involved manner.

Entrance to The Church of the Holy Sepul­chre in Jerusalem
(photo by yours truly)

I enjoyed this book tremen­dously, but be aware that this is not an easy novel to read. There are many char­ac­ters, each of them a world of their own, com­plex, multi-faceted with strange and fas­ci­nat­ing rela­tion­ships among them. The book also includes polit­i­cal strug­gles and intense back-stories, together with the fight­ing (they always go together, don’t they?).

The book ended at the end of the Third Cru­sade, Ms. Pen­man stated that Richard I’s life was so full that it would take more books to cover. I, for one, am look­ing for­ward to the rest.

One of the ben­e­fits of hav­ing this blog is that I get intro­duced to writ­ers, new and estab­lished, which I never got the chance to read. I'm extremely glad that I had a chance to review this book and am plan­ning to read more of Ms. Penman's books in the future. Not only are her books well received but her blog is one of the best author's blogs I have encoun­tered. She writes about many inter­est­ing sub­jects and best of all, about her his­tor­i­cal research.

So tell me, have you "dis­cov­ered" any estab­lished writers?

Syn­op­sis:
Richard I, bet­ter known in his nom de guerre “Lion­heart” takes his vows seri­ously includ­ing the one to free Jerusalem from Salah-a-Din. He leaves his king­dom and together with King Philip of France they make their way, with their armies, to the holy land.

Buy & Save on “Lion­heart" through the ManOfLa­Book affil­i­ate account on:
Ama­zon | Kin­dle | Book Depos­i­tory US | Book Depos­i­tory UK

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer — I got this book for free.
Arti­cle first pub­lished as Book Review: Lion­heart by Sharon Kay Pen­man on Blog­crit­ics.

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• Book Review: Lion­heart by Sharon Kay Pen­man (blogcritics.org)
• Lion­heart by Sharon Kay Pen­man (misfitandmom.wordpress.com)
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• Happy Birth­day, Lion­heart (martinlakewriting.wordpress.com)
• Richard the Lion­heart (apostcardaday.blogspot.com)

BOOK BLOGGERS — Have you read "Lion­heart"? If so link up your review below:

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