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A King's Ransom (2014)

by Sharon Kay Penman(Favorite Author)

4.35 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0399159223 (ISBN13: 9780399159220)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

A Marian Wood Book/Putnam

series

Plantagenets

review 1: It took me months to finish this book, but never once did I want to stop reading it. Sharon Kay Penman is an excellent author and while there was a great deal of material I really couldn't get into in this book, I learned many things that I never knew about Richard I. I knew, for instance, that he died from a crossbow wound, but I didn't realize that he lived for over a week with the wound which festered because the doctor trying to remove the crossbow butchered him and the larger wound became gangrenous which is actually what killed him. The ending was so sad with Richard's death and then the death of his sister, Joanne. There was a lot of historical materials that I really liked and the Afterwards and Author's Note were very helpful. Ms. Penman did a lot of research... more for this book and I appreciate her efforts.
review 2: This is the second book Sharon Penman has written about Richard the Lionheart, and the fifth in her series about the Plantagenets. She writes detailed, historically accurate books which I find fascinating. Of course the books are fiction, but there are many written sources available about this period, especially concerning the king and the royal family and she makes use of them all. Richard, on his way home to England to defend his crown from his brother John, and Phillip of France, is captured and held for ransom in Germany for 15 months. His indefatigable mother Eleanor raises his ransom and holds his realm for him. There are battles, lovers, treachery and wonderful characters, not to mention a sweeping and gripping story. Unfortunately this is the last in this series, we can but hope Ms. Penman will find someone else to write about. Highly recommended. less

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