-
Lionheart
- Narrated by: Emily Gray
- Length: 27 hrs and 49 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $45.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
A King's Ransom
- By: Sharon Kay Penman
- Narrated by: Emily Gray
- Length: 27 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This long-anticipated sequel to the national best seller Lionheart is a vivid and heart-wrenching story of the last event-filled years in the life of Richard, Coeur de Lion. Taken captive by the Holy Roman Emperor while en route home - in violation of the papal decree protecting all crusaders - he was to spend fifteen months imprisoned, much of it in the notorious fortress at Trefils, from which few men ever left alive, while Eleanor of Aquitaine moved heaven and earth to raise the exorbitant ransom.
-
-
unfortunate narration
- By happy on 05-07-14
-
The Land Beyond the Sea
- By: Sharon Kay Penman
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 31 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as Outremer, is the land far beyond the sea. Baptized in blood when the men of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem from the Saracens in the early 12th century, the kingdom defined an utterly new world, a land of blazing heat and a medley of cultures, a place where enemies were neighbors and neighbors became enemies. At the helm of this growing kingdom sits young Baldwin IV, an intelligent and courageous boy committed to the welfare and protection of his people.
-
-
Not Penman's best.
- By Katie Hammond on 03-14-20
-
The Steel Beneath the Silk
- A Novel
- By: Patricia Bracewell
- Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the year 1012, England’s Norman-born Queen Emma has been ten years wed to an aging, ruthless, haunted King Æthelred. The marriage is a bitterly unhappy one, between a queen who seeks to create her own sphere of influence within the court and a suspicious king who eyes her efforts with hostility and resentment. But royal discord shifts to grudging alliance when Cnut of Denmark, with the secret collusion of his English concubine Elgiva, invades England at the head of a massive viking army.
-
-
Felt like it ended too soon
- By Debrah on 04-16-21
-
The Summer Queen
- Eleanor of Aquitaine Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Elizabeth Chadwick
- Narrated by: Katie Scarfe
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleanor of Aquitaine's story is legendary. She is an icon who has fascinated readers for over 800 years. But the real Eleanor remains elusive - until now. Based on the most up-to-date research, best-selling novelist Elizabeth Chadwick brings Eleanor's magnificent story to life, as never before. Young, vibrant, privileged, Eleanor's future is golden as the heiress to wealthy Aquitaine. But when her beloved father dies suddenly in the summer of 1137, her childhood ends abruptly.
-
-
Heavy on the Fiction, Light on the History.
- By Kelly on 12-10-16
-
Here Be Dragons
- A Parent's Guide to Rediscovering Purpose, Adventure, and the Unfathomable Joy of the Journey
- By: Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh, Ken Harbaugh
- Narrated by: Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh, Ken Harbaugh
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two parents challenge one another to find balance between work and family life. Their stories are both uproarious and poignant as they raise children and strive to leave their mark on the wider world. Filled with tender moments and plenty of laughs, Here Be Dragons recounts the adventures of a family trying to stay afloat, and offers a life raft to the rest of us in choppy waters.
-
-
Love love love!
- By AR on 01-18-17
By: Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh, and others
-
A Tapestry of Treason
- By: Anne O'Brien
- Narrated by: Gloria Sanders
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1399: Constance of York, Lady Despenser, proves herself more than a mere observer in the devious intrigues of her magnificently dysfunctional family, the House of York. Surrounded by power-hungry men, including her aggressively self-centred husband, Thomas, and ruthless siblings, Edward and Richard, Constance places herself at the heart of two treasonous plots against King Henry IV. Will it be possible for this Plantagenet family to safeguard its own political power by restoring either King Richard II to the throne, or the precarious Mortimer claimant?
-
-
Fascinating story
- By Janet on 09-02-19
By: Anne O'Brien
-
A King's Ransom
- By: Sharon Kay Penman
- Narrated by: Emily Gray
- Length: 27 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This long-anticipated sequel to the national best seller Lionheart is a vivid and heart-wrenching story of the last event-filled years in the life of Richard, Coeur de Lion. Taken captive by the Holy Roman Emperor while en route home - in violation of the papal decree protecting all crusaders - he was to spend fifteen months imprisoned, much of it in the notorious fortress at Trefils, from which few men ever left alive, while Eleanor of Aquitaine moved heaven and earth to raise the exorbitant ransom.
-
-
unfortunate narration
- By happy on 05-07-14
-
The Land Beyond the Sea
- By: Sharon Kay Penman
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 31 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as Outremer, is the land far beyond the sea. Baptized in blood when the men of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem from the Saracens in the early 12th century, the kingdom defined an utterly new world, a land of blazing heat and a medley of cultures, a place where enemies were neighbors and neighbors became enemies. At the helm of this growing kingdom sits young Baldwin IV, an intelligent and courageous boy committed to the welfare and protection of his people.
-
-
Not Penman's best.
- By Katie Hammond on 03-14-20
-
The Steel Beneath the Silk
- A Novel
- By: Patricia Bracewell
- Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the year 1012, England’s Norman-born Queen Emma has been ten years wed to an aging, ruthless, haunted King Æthelred. The marriage is a bitterly unhappy one, between a queen who seeks to create her own sphere of influence within the court and a suspicious king who eyes her efforts with hostility and resentment. But royal discord shifts to grudging alliance when Cnut of Denmark, with the secret collusion of his English concubine Elgiva, invades England at the head of a massive viking army.
-
-
Felt like it ended too soon
- By Debrah on 04-16-21
-
The Summer Queen
- Eleanor of Aquitaine Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Elizabeth Chadwick
- Narrated by: Katie Scarfe
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleanor of Aquitaine's story is legendary. She is an icon who has fascinated readers for over 800 years. But the real Eleanor remains elusive - until now. Based on the most up-to-date research, best-selling novelist Elizabeth Chadwick brings Eleanor's magnificent story to life, as never before. Young, vibrant, privileged, Eleanor's future is golden as the heiress to wealthy Aquitaine. But when her beloved father dies suddenly in the summer of 1137, her childhood ends abruptly.
-
-
Heavy on the Fiction, Light on the History.
- By Kelly on 12-10-16
-
Here Be Dragons
- A Parent's Guide to Rediscovering Purpose, Adventure, and the Unfathomable Joy of the Journey
- By: Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh, Ken Harbaugh
- Narrated by: Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh, Ken Harbaugh
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two parents challenge one another to find balance between work and family life. Their stories are both uproarious and poignant as they raise children and strive to leave their mark on the wider world. Filled with tender moments and plenty of laughs, Here Be Dragons recounts the adventures of a family trying to stay afloat, and offers a life raft to the rest of us in choppy waters.
-
-
Love love love!
- By AR on 01-18-17
By: Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh, and others
-
A Tapestry of Treason
- By: Anne O'Brien
- Narrated by: Gloria Sanders
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1399: Constance of York, Lady Despenser, proves herself more than a mere observer in the devious intrigues of her magnificently dysfunctional family, the House of York. Surrounded by power-hungry men, including her aggressively self-centred husband, Thomas, and ruthless siblings, Edward and Richard, Constance places herself at the heart of two treasonous plots against King Henry IV. Will it be possible for this Plantagenet family to safeguard its own political power by restoring either King Richard II to the throne, or the precarious Mortimer claimant?
-
-
Fascinating story
- By Janet on 09-02-19
By: Anne O'Brien
-
The Queen’s Rival
- By: Anne O'Brien
- Narrated by: Elaine Claxton
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1459: Cecily, duchess of York, is embroiled in a plot to topple the weak-minded King Henry VI from the throne. But when the Yorkists are defeated at the Battle of Ludford Bridge, Cecily’s family flee and abandon her to face a marauding Lancastrian army on her own. Cecily can only watch as her lands are torn apart and divided up by the ruthless Queen Marguerite.
-
-
Not a fsvorite
- By Mary Lynn Cox on 05-24-21
By: Anne O'Brien
-
A Place Beyond Courage
- By: Elizabeth Chadwick
- Narrated by: Peter Wickham
- Length: 24 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is a time for ambitious men to prosper, and royal servant John FitzGilbert Marshal is one of them. Raised high, as the kin of the deceased King Henry battle each other for England's throne, John reaps rich rewards but pays a terrible price for the choices he makes - as does his family. His wife, fragile, naïve Aline is hopelessly unequipped to cope with the demands of a life lived on the edge and, when John is seriously injured in battle, her worst nightmare is realised.
-
-
A Must for Chadwick fans
- By Kemdi on 10-02-14
-
Sarum
- The Novel of England
- By: Edward Rutherfurd
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 45 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Sarum, Edward Rutherfurd weaves a compelling saga of five English families whose fates become intertwined over the course of centuries. While each family has its own distinct characteristics, the successive generations reflect the changing character of Britain. We become drawn not only into the fortunes of the individual family members, but also the larger destinies of each family line.
-
-
One big fat sweet historical epic
- By David on 11-28-13
-
A Rose for the Crown
- By: Anne Easter Smith
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 25 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In A Rose for the Crown, we meet one of history's alleged villains through the eyes of a captivating new heroine, the woman who was the mother of his illegitimate children, a woman who loved him for who he really was, no matter what the cost to herself.
-
-
love story
- By suzanne on 04-24-08
-
The Agincourt Bride
- By: Joanna Hickson
- Narrated by: Catherine Harvey
- Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When her own first child is tragically still-born, the young Mette is pressed into service as a wet-nurse at the court of the mad king, Charles VI of France. Her young charge is the princess, Catherine de Valois, caught up in the turbulence and chaos of life at court. Mette and the child forge a bond, one that transcends Mette’s lowly position. But as Catherine approaches womanhood, her unique position seals her fate as a pawn between two powerful dynasties.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Michelle on 02-16-13
By: Joanna Hickson
-
King John
- Treachery and Tyranny in Medieval England: The Road to Magna Carta
- By: Marc Morris
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
King John is familiar to everyone as the villain from the tales of Robin Hood - greedy, cowardly, despicable, and cruel. But who was the man behind the legend? Was he a monster or a capable ruler cursed by bad luck? In this new book, best-selling historian Marc Morris draws on contemporary chronicles and the king's own letters to bring the real King John vividly to life. John was dynamic, inventive, and relentless but also a figure with terrible flaws.
-
-
Interesting, but confusing
- By mkl929 on 08-09-21
By: Marc Morris
-
The Way of Kings
- The Stormlight Archive, Book 1
- By: Brandon Sanderson
- Narrated by: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
- Length: 45 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter. It has been centuries since the fall of the 10 consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor.
-
-
Great Story!! Cons: slow start & poor narration
- By Monica on 01-17-17
-
The Circle of Ceridwen
- The Circle of Ceridwen Saga, Book 1
- By: Octavia Randolph
- Narrated by: Nano Nagle
- Length: 21 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the year 871, when England was Angle-Land. Of seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, five have fallen to the invading Vikings. No trait is more valued than loyalty, and no possession more precious than one's steel. Across this war-torn landscape travels 15-year-old Ceridwen, now thrust into the lives of the conquerors.
-
-
I feel like I've waited FOREVER for this day!
- By bluestategirl on 01-05-17
By: Octavia Randolph
-
The Story of Medieval England: From King Arthur to the Tudor Conquest
- By: Jennifer Paxton, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Jennifer Paxton
- Length: 19 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These 36 lectures tell the remarkable story of a tumultuous thousand-year period in the history of England. Dominated by war, conquest, and the struggle to balance the stability brought by royal power with the rights of the governed, it was a period that put into place the foundation of much of the world we know today. As you journey through this largely chronological narrative you'll see key themes emerge, including the assimilation of successive waves of invaders, the tense relationship between kings and the nobility, and the constant battles over money and taxation.
-
-
Table of contents
- By Anonymous User on 07-24-19
By: Jennifer Paxton, and others
-
The Reckoning
- A Novel
- By: John Grisham
- Narrated by: Michael Beck
- Length: 17 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pete Banning was Clanton's favorite son, a returning war hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, a father, a neighbor, and a faithful member of the Methodist church. Then one cool October morning in 1946, he rose early, drove into town, walked into the church, and calmly shot and killed the Reverend Dexter Bell.
-
-
NOT a legal thriller in the least
- By Kelly G. on 10-25-18
By: John Grisham
-
The Name of the Wind
- Kingkiller Chronicle, Book 1
- By: Patrick Rothfuss
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 27 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man's search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.
-
-
This is why I joined Audible!
- By customer on 02-14-20
By: Patrick Rothfuss
-
Dreaming the Eagle
- A Novel of Boudica, the Warrior Queen
- By: Manda Scott
- Narrated by: Josephine Bailey
- Length: 22 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 33 AD, and 11-year-old Breaca (later named Boudica), the red-haired daughter of one of the leaders of the Eceni tribe, is on the cusp between girl and womanhood. She longs to be a Dreamer, a mystical leader who can foretell the future, but having killed the man who has attacked and killed her mother, she has proven herself a warrior.
-
-
FANTASTIC!!!
- By RavenHarte on 09-02-04
By: Manda Scott
Publisher's Summary
From New York Times best-selling novelist Sharon Kay Penman comes the stunning story of a great medieval warrior-king, the accomplished and controversial son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine: Richard the Lionheart. A powerful tale of intrigue, war, and diplomacy, Lionheart plays out against the roiling conflicts of love and loyalty, passion and treachery, all set against the rich textures of the Holy Land.
More from the same
What listeners say about Lionheart
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- jerelyn
- 01-10-12
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- N. Rogers
- 09-01-12
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- C
- 12-26-11
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lulu
- 05-03-12
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kelly
- 12-08-13
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sandy
- 02-01-13
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Laura
- 04-09-14
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dan
- 06-12-12
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Debineezer
- 06-09-14
Sharon K Penman on Audio!
Would you listen to Lionheart again? Why?
No. It was EXTREMELY long and enjoyable, but did I mention EXTREMELY long?
What did you like best about this story?
I really knew nothing about the Crusades and this has inspired me to learn more.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jill
- 06-15-14
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