In some of her books, Penman begins with a simple poem or verse instead of a Prologue, as she does in Falls the Shadow using a Stanza from TS Eliot's The Hollow Man:
"Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow"
Falls the Shadow was the first book I read of Sharon Kay Penman's, not knowing it was the middle book of a series that started with Here be Dragons and ended with The Reckoning. As a 15 year old teen, I fell in love; I already loved reading, and I loved history. Penman combined the two and with such attention to detail and due diligence how could I help but admire her ability to make history come alive, especially when I lived in Europe, close to where I was reading about everything?
As soon as I finished Falls the Shadow, I made my mother read it - for I got my love of reading and of history from both my parents. Then I was pestering my grandmother back in the States (we were living in the Czech Republic at the time) to send me all of Penman's published books, and she did, finishing off the series! She also sent When Christ and His Saints Slept going back chronologically before her trilogy began, and beginning a new trilogy, and Sunne in Splendour a novel of Richard the III and Penman's first book, hundreds of years later, a stand alone.
The books inspired me to ask for my high school graduation trip to be to the British Isles (including most definitely Wales) and Ireland. Before we left, before even we knew for sure we were going, I informed my younger brother that he also had to read the books; he devoured them.
My trip to England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland would not have been the same if not for Penman. Her books are the difference between dry accounts by historians, and even sometimes conflicting accounts of what happened hundreds of years ago and what can make it real to us here, now.
Between then and now Penman has written two more books, Time and Chance and Devil's Brood finishing up her trilogy that began with When Christ and His Saints Slept. It doesn't quite seem like a trilogy or an ending though, when Lionheart segues rather cleanly from Devil's Brood.
Lionheart - on to the book itself - let me put this disclaimer on my review, adding to my thoughts above. Not only have I been reading Penman since I was 15, as well as encouraging my family to do so, but everyone else as well. My poor paperback books were so falling apart from my own re-reading that my husband found me hardback copies, even for Sunne in Splendour. I only have two paperbacks left, Falls the Shadow and Here be Dragons. My love of Sharon Kay Penman books is no passing fancy, nor a read then put on the shelf to collect dust.
Now - at the beginning of this review I touched on the subject of prologues. In Lionheart, instead of using a simple verse or poem, which is something I enjoy, she does something I love, she summarizes using an almost poetic prose style like some of the old historical accounts do, but using more modernized language. Either way, I love it so much I had to read it to my husband one night.
Let me say this - my only issue with the book is not what say many other people are saying, that Penman tries to "do too much" or has "too little character development" etc. I mean, c'mon, how stupid are you? Her other books have a lot less to deal with - Welsh and English and French intrigues. This book has to deal with the intrigues Richard left "back home"; the intrigues of those who came with him to campaign, but were not so trustworthy (see French King); the intrigues of the poulain lords; as well as the intrigues of the Saracens. In my opinion, the readers who couldn't keep up just didn't like that they were thrust into a new territory, one reader even begs Penman to "go back to the Welsh." In Penman's other books she didn't need to worry quite as much about introducing so many new things because her readers were already familiar with them from prior books.
There are other things that I could waste my time explaining - such as why does Penman introduce Alicia at the beginning of the book only to not really use her again? I'm not sure why she's not used much later, but to me the child is used as an introduction to the Templars, to Sicily, to Saracens who "worshiped the cross." Doing something such as this is kind of a modus operandi for Penman, instead of an info dump.
That aside, back to my issue with the book, and it's not a strong enough one to keep the book from getting 5+ stars - Penman's character's have changed since she first started writing them in the Welsh Trilogy. Namely Eleanor and Richard. I'm not saying I don't understand why - the more research she does on Richard, the more her opinion has changed of him, and the more she can write a full almost 3D flesh and blood view of him. Yet as much as I can reconcile Richard changing, how can I reconcile Eleanour's changes from an embittered old woman who holds no fond thoughts for Henry to one while old, possesses grace and wiles and in her POV often has fond thoughts of her life, even with Henry? Yet the answer is probably the same as to why Richard has developed into almost a different person - the more research that Penman has done in Eleanor, the more Penman's own view of her has changed so differences are to be expected.
Do I recommend this book? Yes and highly - to those who want an awesome read about history, the Crusades (specifically the Third Crusade), or Richard the I. As a book that can bring history to life while keeping historical accuracy intact there is none to surpass it - yet I do not recommend it lightly for Penman does take her accuracy seriously, this is no historical romance, but true historical fiction. I'm inured to how many people are in the books and the fact that often Lords are called by their titles as well as their Christian names - i.e. Hugh/Burgundy, but it might take a bit to get used to. If you are leery of using this as your first taste of Penman and the Angevin Dynasty (which, this book doesn't need the others as background at all, or if you're looking for more history on the others) don't start with The Sunne in Splendour as so oft' recommended, start with When Christ and His Saints Slept, it's the start of the Angevin Dynasty. Sunne is a great book about the War of the Roses, but it's also Penman's first and it's a bit unwieldy at times, in later books Penman gets much more consistent and I wouldn't want anyone unfamiliar with her style put off on their first read .
5+ stars
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