Finally Sharon Penman on Audio!

Lionheart the review
I have read Lionheart twice and have just had the extreme pleasure of listening to it. Yes finally a Penman novel on audio. The Narrator Emily Grey does a fine job and one of the things I like most about listening to an audio book is for the pronunciation of languages I am unfamiliar with.
Ms. Penmen’s works are dense and take concentration, the world often fades away as I read or in this case listen to her work, and when I am interrupted it takes time for me to come back to myself.
Lionheart is the 4th book in the Angevin saga which will end up spanning 5 books. The 5th book is also a bridge to her earlier work: Here be Dragons and the accompanying books collectively known as the Welsh trilogy. But all of Ms. Penman’s books can stand alone. I am a devotee of Penman’s work and have read and reread all of her books. She never ceases to amaze me with her skill; her writing is as close to perfection as one could ask. She is a novelist true but she offers characters so fully etched that at times you have to remember to tell yourself that besides the thorough research, the rest is supposition. She gets the psychology of the characters right, and their reactions to situations are so real that it is uncanny. She knows the history, customs, morals, the religion and the political climate of the time period, I feel very comfortable with her conclusions.

75 people found this helpful

OK but could have been so much better.

Year's ago I read several Penman books and loved them. Many years later I read a comment by her on her website. She was asked why none of her books had been produced as audio books. She said she thought her books were too long and complex to be successfully transferred to audio. At the time I thought that was ridiculous. Other BIG books were huge audio book hits.

I was excited when I found that one of her books was to be released as an audiobook. I read it and realized she was right. For some reason this book was dry, dull and difficult to finish. There were moments when it shone. And some of the supporting characters were fascinatingly portrayed, especially Richard's mother and sister. But they were fascinating in real life too. History tells us that Richard was larger than life, charismatic, a born leader and dead before his time. He should have been an amazingly interesting character in this novel. Instead he was one dimensional and boring.

I don't know why this book did not translate well into audio format. Perhaps the novel itself was not up to par with her earlier work. I would still be thrilled if her trilogy Here Be Dragons, Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning ever made it to audio. But now I am worried they might disappoint.

37 people found this helpful

Penman in audio, finally...

I've been hoping Penman's novels would appear in audio for years; I'm still hoping her earlier novels will. While I found Lionheart to be a little disappointing after a long wait (for both story and format), it's still miles above the bodice-ripping dreck that usually passes for historical fiction, and Emily Gray's narration is outstanding. In all her novels, Penman's historical detail is generally accurate and outstanding--and provides the setting, but otherwise lives in the details, where it belongs; her characters, both historical and fictional are fairly well-developed--given the enormous number of complex inter-relationships involved in a novel of this scope, it's pretty amazing to find anyone besides a central figure with any discernible personality. Lionheart falls somewhat short on those counts, having quite a lot of exposition, which I don't recall noticing in Penman before, and quite a lot of one-dimensional major characters (several of the secondary characters, however--Philip in particular--are much more interestingly faceted), and, worse, reduces Richard to a colorless warrior-king. This may actually be one of the more realistic portrayals of him, but what makes Coeur de Lion such a fascinating figure is the all the high adventure and romantic fable. Even in proper historical analyses, including those acknowledging he was a pretty dreadful monarch, he comes across larger than life. This deconstructed version of him seems uninspired at best. Granted, Pamela Kaufman's Shield of Three Lions (alas, unavailable in audio) is a tough act to follow, but Penman's own When Christ and his Saints Slept set high expectations for her treatment of the Angevins. Her novels since have been successively less fulfilling, and this latest in the series just lacks poetry.

Perhaps it got my attention mainly because other authors taking on Richard generally make much of his legendary homosexuality (whether to celebrate it, excuse it, or dismiss it) and very, very little of his marriage, but with Penman's treatment of Richard's relationship with Berengaria, it struck me that most of the significant marriages in her works have a little too much in common. Her created characters all marry for love (and they tend to fall in love with other created characters whose circumstances--e.g., blindness, illegitimate birth--would have otherwise limited their marital prospects despite their innate goodness as people), and that's all right, but there are just too many arranged and/or royal marriages in Penman's novels involving deep and abiding love despite a fundamental mismatch, say age, outlook, political association, family ties, all of the above... Even where marriages are meant to be loveless, there appears to be at the very least unrequited love, whatever the character in question may tell herself. The marriages that end unhappily tend to be between two very strong characters (such as Henry and Eleanor) whose deep and abiding love is understandable, as is their eventual conflict, but the transitions from bliss to hostility tend to be glossed over, if not ignored altogether. And everyone still loves each other in the end. The only marriages I can think of off the top of my head that are effectively loveless are those that will end in annulment. The exception that makes the rule is Maude and Geoffrey (and even they have some sort of grudging and unacknowledged moments), who just hated each other. I do not doubt that love could often grow out of arranged marriages, but Richard and Berengaria are the straw that broke the camel's suspension of disbelief that it happened so regularly, especially in a period when love was neither required nor expected in noble marriages (it was, after all, a conceit of courtly love, that the object of one's affection could not be one's own spouse). Penman's novels are really historical fiction and not period romance, but with Lionheart, it seems like she's trying too obviously to throw a sop to attract those who read Chadwick and Gregory. Also: despite everything, this Berengaria is so pious, filial, self-effacing, and just generally insipid that it was hard to want her to win Richard's heart. She's one of Penman's least interesting female protagonists ever.

This is not Penman's best. Even so, it's testament to her skill that this relatively pedestrian account of the Third Crusade is much, much better than most anything else you'll find in the genre. If you like historical romance, you may find this plodding and tedious, but if you like more accuracy, personality, and less attention to clothes and jewels (and far less sex), Penman is one of the best authors of historical fiction out there, and Lionheart, though not great, is pretty darn good.

28 people found this helpful

We Need More Offerings From Sharon Kay Penman!

What made the experience of listening to Lionheart the most enjoyable?

I love the style and thoroughness of this author. Her books are lengthy, and truthfully I just don't have the time to sit down long enough to read them although I really enjoyed her book about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Time and Chance. It took me forever to finish because life kept interrupting whenever I sat down to pick it up. With the audio version of Lionheart, however, it was wonderful to put on my earphones, turn on the iPod, and lose myself in the saga of Richard I while going about my tasks. I'd really like to do this with the rest of her books. Hopefully they will become available in audiobook format soon.

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed listening to the language, descriptions, and historic detail in this book. The characters were portrayed as complex and flawed which brought to life these distant and often murky historical people.

Which scene was your favorite?

I just enjoyed the total tapestry created by the author and really couldn't choose a favorite section. It all fit together which is one of the things that made the book so excellent.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

The narrator's performance enhanced the book for me. Listening to this book in one sitting was not possible because it was over 24 hours in length. However, I did have trouble turning of my iPod when I needed to.

Any additional comments?

I learned a great deal from listening to Lionheart and really hope audible can provide the sequel when it becomes available as well as at least some of Penman's other novels.

20 people found this helpful

It took a while to grow on me...

Would you listen to Lionheart again? Why?

...but I'll relisten to it in a few years. This narrative is more events driven like a history than character driven like fiction. The opening chapters moved a bit slowly as Penman laid out the history required but eventually I fell into the cadence of the novel and by the end was quite enjoying it.

Any additional comments?

If you are looking for epic battle scenes like you might find with the works of Bernard Cornwell or Pressman, this won't deliver. However, if you want a well structured story, a feeling of historical accuracy and good prose, Penman delivers that in abundance.

11 people found this helpful

story just ok and characters bland

Would you try another book from Sharon Kay Penman and/or Emily Gray?

I have read many books by Ms. Penman. She is a master of historical fiction. But this book felt more like a history text than fiction set in history. I enjoy when characters drive the story -- and with people who were so much larger than life like King Richard and his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine, there was so much room for characters to drive this tome. Unfortunately that didn't happen. I found Richard boring and even a bit whiny. Eleanor was bland and lacking her characteristic strength. Sadly, the character I found most interesting was Berengaria.

I hope that more of Ms Penman's books will be released on audio, but I cannot recommend that you spend your credits on this one.

7 people found this helpful

Lionheart

What made the experience of listening to Lionheart the most enjoyable?

Penman really knows the Middle ages, and she took me back to those chaotic times. Emily Gray made it even more real.

What did you like best about this story?

The pageantry, the descriptions, the suspense.

Have you listened to any of Emily Gray’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

Any additional comments?

This is the fourth book by Sharon Kay Penman I've read, first one on audio. Although I loved the reader, I found it hard to follow on audio -- I needed a list of the characters and a map, so I recommend that others get the book in paperback, hardbound or e-book unless you have a photographic mind, as I'm sure many audio fans have!

7 people found this helpful

Epic

A new Sharon Kay Penman book is like a fine wine-to be savored slowly and drawn out as long as possible to prolong the enjoyment. RIchard I definitely is a major player on the stage of Britain's monarchy. Penman creates a Richard that is sympathetic without being too unlike what we know of the real man.

6 people found this helpful

A new favorite author

I wish Audible would include more books from Sharon Penman, I couldn't wait for the follow up, A Kings Ransome.

5 people found this helpful

Uncompelling

I was really looking forward to this after finishing the Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell. Unfortunately, after a few chapters I just had to stop listening. While Emily Gray does a decent job narrating, she couldn't save my interest.

5 people found this helpful