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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
informative
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
another enjoyable historical novelization by Sharon Kay Penman. it's super-romanticized, lots of battles and sex and intrigue, all rooted in thorough research. i loved the "Here Be Dragons" series about Wales, looking forward to reading the next book in this series (The Plantagenets) now! perfect long-haul train ride reading.
Suffice it to say that I want to read everything Penman has ever written! Very long book, but I loved it. Her characters (though there are A LOT of them) are so vibrant and real and so human. Excellent read.
Very long and detailed. Didn't get really good until the end when Henry and Eleanor meet up.
I admit that I might have wished a few times that the middle of this book went quicker and that I perhaps got a bit tired of it all. However, I can hardly blame Penman for a war that lasted 19 years! At least her book wasn’t that soul destroying! The beginning of this novel, and the last 3rd when we meet up with Henry again is exactly why I love well written historical novels. I spent many hours googling names and reading more accounts of their history just to learn more and to better soak up Penman’s writing. I really look forward to reading more of Henry and his Queen. I have long been a fan of Eleanor!
Really loved the descriptions, how you invest in the characters, and the depiction of Eleanor (one of my favorite historical figures!)
Docking stars for how bogged down it gets in the middle. I skipped several hours of listening and felt the book was better for i
Docking stars for how bogged down it gets in the middle. I skipped several hours of listening and felt the book was better for i
If you carry your books around like me, be prepared to carry a big purse or backpack. This book is huge. Hugely worth it. Is it weird that I think that the afterword was the best part of the book?
The book was so long and detailed that by the end of it, I felt like I really knew the lives and times of all the characters and places. The afterword felt like closure of the loss of a good friend, a friend I could go to in times of boredom or public transit.
The warfare between Maude and Stephen is the central plot but I find that the intrigue of the lesser characters more...intriguing :p.
The book was so long and detailed that by the end of it, I felt like I really knew the lives and times of all the characters and places. The afterword felt like closure of the loss of a good friend, a friend I could go to in times of boredom or public transit.
The warfare between Maude and Stephen is the central plot but I find that the intrigue of the lesser characters more...intriguing :p.
At times I thought that I would wish that this book was able to tell its story in fewer pages. Ultimately, though, the tangles of history could not have probably been told effectively using that logic. Imagine that you are a child of a potential queen of vast lands and that no childhood memory is without your mother and uncle fighting for claim to national rule. Then, visualize yourself, at 21 of becoming king of England and France with enough sense and command for your people to wish this to be so. Small wonder, then, that this is one of my favorite times in history to study.
Excellent book- just straightforward historical fiction the way I like it. Even though the main character is a queen before her time, the attitudes are not modern but feel authentic for the most part. No true villians in this book, except a few minor characters - all very human.