I've been waiting for this book to come out for almost two years now, and I was jiggling with impatience - and juggling with the usual routine of exams and recruiting right when it was out, so it was Fall break before I got a chance to actually read it. So in a (not so) little cabin in Ohio, under the red and gold leaves (appropriate somehow for the Angevins), I read about the King who'd captured my imagination when I was really, really young, when I first read my mother's school-days history book -'The March of Time', and got all caught up in the idea of the medieval romance. Not so much in the current sense of 'falling in love' romance - but more the romantic sense of adventure and knights and kings and queens.
Sadly, it seems Penman has fallen in love with the concept too. I loved her books before, for joining the realism - the grit and violence, the moral ambiguity of the times. But this time around, her heroes and villians are in black and white, there's none of the blood and gore you'd expect of a war - the women are strong - which is great - but they also seem to be a little too modern - or is it my prejudice that they should be more reflective of their times?
What was good though (as always), was her understanding of the political machinations of that time. The changing loyalties - the understanding of the many things that may make or break an army at war - allies, strategy, politics, supply chain (something my prof would love to know about). But I did find Penman's political correctness a little annoying. Yes, she's writing it now, but I find it hard to believe that there were people who existed then, who were as open minded, of other cultures and ideas as she describes.
What was amazing to see was how much of what - if it had been pure fiction - I would have considered to be a plot device - was actually based on real events! A case of reality being stranger than fiction.
Altogether, a fairly good book. Unlike Penman's earlier ones, it wasn't a really heavy read - more like light literature - but I'm still looking forward to continuing Richard's story, his capture and ransom, and ending in King John.
Sadly, it seems Penman has fallen in love with the concept too. I loved her books before, for joining the realism - the grit and violence, the moral ambiguity of the times. But this time around, her heroes and villians are in black and white, there's none of the blood and gore you'd expect of a war - the women are strong - which is great - but they also seem to be a little too modern - or is it my prejudice that they should be more reflective of their times?
What was good though (as always), was her understanding of the political machinations of that time. The changing loyalties - the understanding of the many things that may make or break an army at war - allies, strategy, politics, supply chain (something my prof would love to know about). But I did find Penman's political correctness a little annoying. Yes, she's writing it now, but I find it hard to believe that there were people who existed then, who were as open minded, of other cultures and ideas as she describes.
What was amazing to see was how much of what - if it had been pure fiction - I would have considered to be a plot device - was actually based on real events! A case of reality being stranger than fiction.
Altogether, a fairly good book. Unlike Penman's earlier ones, it wasn't a really heavy read - more like light literature - but I'm still looking forward to continuing Richard's story, his capture and ransom, and ending in King John.
2 comments:
Sounds like fun! Would love to get my hands on it but I have to write a book chapter myself before the end of the month (just some random technical stuff).
Do you buy all your books? Paperback or e-book?
Not all of them... I've started reading more and more e-books, but there's nothing like a nice solid book in my hands...
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