Lionheart

by Sharon Kay Penman

Reviewed by Coral

Coming to the throne after his father’s death, Richard is determined to recapture Jerusalem from Saladin. But, allied to an increasingly bitter French King and with his scheming younger brother John back in England, Richard’s devotion to his cause may cost him his crown.

The English monarchy was never really a period of history that I had focused on, tending to find myself more drawn to the more ancient settings in Greece, Rome and Egypt (as examples). It’s only in recent years that I have found myself more interested in the English monarchs (I think it started with The Tudors). That being said, from history class, Richard the Lionheart wasn’t one of my favourite monarchs and I finished this book liking him less.

I felt more sympathetic to the French King, who seems to be overshadowed by Richard all the time. Maybe it’s because I did not live during that time period, but I could understand why he was placing more importance on France (with having only one young and sick son during this novel) than with the Crusade. I didn’t like everything that he thought or did in his pettiness, but I did feel more empathetic with his character than with Richard’s.

I thought the novel did a good job of recounting the historical intrigue without it feeling like too dry a retelling of historical fact.

I found it interesting to get chapters from the point of view of Richard’s wife, who I’ve found very overlooked in everything I’ve read previous to this. That being said, I do wish there would have been more focus on Richard’s point of view throughout the book. While I’m not against reading from the point of view of Richard’s sister, wife or mother, I felt there really wasn’t enough told from his point of view, which left me feeling that I didn’t really know him by the end of the book.

Having read The Sunne in Splendour when I was in high school, I was interested to see if she would have a different, non-villainous interpretation of John, as she did with Richard III; again, I don’t know as much about the actual history as I would like, so maybe there really isn’t another way to interpret John’s actions whereas with Richard III it seems like he was slandered by his enemies after his death. Either way, I think I will need to wait for the sequel to see about this point, because John wasn’t present for much of the book and his actions were being relayed through messages.

Grade: B