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Lionheart

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Wed August 31st, 2011, 3:28 pm

I dunno -- When Christ and His Saints Slept has several sections that are total snoozers. I like SKP generally, but confess that I have not made it all the way through that one. IMHO the Welsh Trilogy (Here Be Dragons, Falls the Shadow, and The Reckoning) is her best work.

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Nefret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2994
Joined: February 2009
Favourite HF book: Welsh Princes trilogy
Preferred HF: The Middle Ages (England), New Kingdom Egypt, Medieval France
Location: Temple of Isis

Post by Nefret » Wed August 31st, 2011, 3:53 pm

Yeah, I loved the Welsh trilogy.
Into battle we ride with Gods by our side
We are strong and not afraid to die
We have an urge to kill and our lust for blood has to be fulfilled
WE´LL FIGHT TILL THE END! And send our enemies straight to Hell!
- "Into Battle"
{Ensiferum}

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LCW
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 756
Joined: August 2008
Location: Southern California

Post by LCW » Wed August 31st, 2011, 8:26 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]Welcome back. Lionheart follows Devil's Brood. The series order is When Christ and His Saints Slept, Time and Chance, DB and now Lionheart. There is one more planned as I understand it.

That is some cooking lesson Berengaria gets :D [/quote]


OK now I remember! I had totally forgotten that another book was going to follow Devil's Brood. I'm even more excited now!
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them. --Arnold Lobel

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LCW
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 756
Joined: August 2008
Location: Southern California

Post by LCW » Wed August 31st, 2011, 8:28 pm

[quote=""Nefret""]Yeah, I loved the Welsh trilogy.[/quote]

Me too! Here Be Dragon's ranks as one of my favorite books. Definitely in the top three. And it is hands down my favorite title of all time!
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them. --Arnold Lobel

User avatar
MLE (Emily Cotton)
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Wed August 31st, 2011, 10:16 pm

[quote=""LCW""]Me too! Here Be Dragon's ranks as one of my favorite books. Definitely in the top three. And it is hands down my favorite title of all time![/quote]
It's a good handle, but for title tops, I'd pick The World, the Flesh and the Devil.

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LCW
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 756
Joined: August 2008
Location: Southern California

Post by LCW » Thu September 1st, 2011, 12:08 am

[quote=""Sharz""]Sunne is completely stand alone. You can read it whenever. But I recommend starting at the beginning of the series Lionheart is in, with When Christ and His Saints Slept. The family and the politics are pretty complex. SKP does an incredible job of making it all make sense, but I'd start at the beginning.[/quote]

Oh absolutely! I've read When Christ and His Saints Slept and Time and Chance. I enjoyed Time and Chance a lot more than I thought I would actually. The only book, other than her mysteries, of hers that I haven't read is Sunne.
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them. --Arnold Lobel

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Saxon1974
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Joined: January 2010

Post by Saxon1974 » Wed February 1st, 2012, 11:34 pm

So any impressions about Lionheart yet?

I am waiting for boook II so I can read them together.

I read Sharon's Sunne in splendour and loved it. I didn't care much for the welsh books especially here be dragons. I didn't much like Joanna and it seemed like the whole book was about Joana and her feelings between her husband and her father. I wanted more about the battle for Wales but it was mostly a love story. I liked the one about Demontfort better. And I couldn't get through the reckoning.

Im guessing based on what I know that the lionheart book wont be a big romance book.

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Misfit
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Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Thu February 2nd, 2012, 12:40 am

[quote=""Saxon1974""]So any impressions about Lionheart yet?

I am waiting for boook II so I can read them together.

I read Sharon's Sunne in splendour and loved it. I didn't care much for the welsh books especially here be dragons. I didn't much like Joanna and it seemed like the whole book was about Joana and her feelings between her husband and her father. I wanted more about the battle for Wales but it was mostly a love story. I liked the one about Demontfort better. And I couldn't get through the reckoning.

Im guessing based on what I know that the lionheart book wont be a big romance book.[/quote]

I loved it, but opinions have been mixed. There is definitely less romance and more battles and skirmishes and military doings.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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boswellbaxter
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Location: North Carolina
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Post by boswellbaxter » Thu February 2nd, 2012, 4:11 am

I'll be honest and say I thought that it was the weakest of her "straight" historical novels (I've only read one of the mysteries). I found the characters very one-dimensional and one-note--Joanna was feisty and outspoken, Berengaria was quietly strong, Philippe was whiny and petulant, and that was the sum total of their personalities. I really didn't give a flip what happened to any of them (even Berengaria, and I really wanted to like Berengaria, since she's usually portrayed as a limp dishrag by novelists). The love story between a couple of the purely fictional characters felt shoehorned in and was barely developed. I know many readers loved this book, but I only finished it because this was an author I've enjoyed in the past and I kept hoping it would get better. I think the author was having health problems while it was being written, and I hope that might account for its shortcomings.

Saxon1974, you are the only other person besides me I've encountered who has admitted to disliking Joanna in Here Be Dragons. I was beginning to think I was alone in this. But at least Joanna's characterization was a vivid one, otherwise my dislike of her wouldn't have been so intense. With Lionheart, I didn't dislike or like any of the characters, and that was the book's main problem for me.
Susan Higginbotham
Coming in October: The Woodvilles


http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/
http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/blog/

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Saxon1974
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Joined: January 2010

Post by Saxon1974 » Thu February 2nd, 2012, 6:17 am

Interesting, ok thanks for the opinions. I'm still gonna read it because I don't think I have read a novel about Richard but I think I will wait until both books are out.

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