Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Here Be Dragons
Book Review: Thoroughly Enjoyable
Summary: 5 Stars
I usually don't read period novels but I've got to say that this book was one of my favorite books I've read. Ms Penman is a master of story writing and her historical knowledge of the period is second to none. You better get Falls The Shadow and The Reckoning while your at it because you WILL want to read them.Book Review: Top Ten Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Here be dragons is by far one of the top 10 books I have ever read. (I am an avid reader all my life). Sharon Kay Penman transports you back in time to adventures I can only dream about. Llewellyn The Great comes to life, and after reading about him, you end up feeling like you really know him. Truly a masterpiece. I have since read everything she wrote because of this one book, and bravo to her. Every single one of them was excellent.Book Review: WOW! What a Book!
Summary: 5 Stars
Having just discovered Sharon Kay Penman, I decided to start with Here Be Dragons. On a cold and rainy autumn day in front of a cozy fire, I was transported back in time to 13th Century England and Wales and I never wanted to leave! I literally could not put this book down and I finished it in one 16-hour sitting. I have not been able to stop thinking about it since and find myself picking it up again and again to re-read my favorite scenes. I went right back to the library and picked up the other two books in the trilogy and they are excellent, too.
At the heart of this book is a touching and compelling love story, made all the more so because it's a true story. A young woman torn between her love for her husband and her love for her father, who are bitter enemies. (SKP also does a great job of humanizing "the evil" King John, by the way.) Joanna and Llewelyn are so vivid, their triumphs and defeats are so touching and SKP does a terrific job of placing the reader inside the intimacies of their tempestuous relationship, in every scene between them, whether it be sex, love, arguments, reconcilliation, childbirth, child-rearing, politics or betrayal.
And to top it all off, it takes place amidst SKP's descriptions of Wales' rugged beauty and meticulously researched, fascinating history of two countries struggling to assert their place and power in the world. I knew next to nothing about Welsh history before reading this. I loved learning about Wales, and found myself going online afterwards and researching everything from Llewelyn's castles to the types of clothes they wore and the food they ate.
This book is beautifully written and has earned a permanent place on my list of all-time favorites.
Book Review: Welsh storytelling at its most beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars
Here be Dragons is a fautless interweaving of Welsh and English history at it's very best done by none other then Sharon Penman.
thirteenth century Wales is unbalanced to say the least and Kinh John is as power hungry as ever. Llewelyn is prince of wales in all but name trying to unite the people and hold King John at bay. Marrying Joanna creates a truce between Wales and England for Llewelyn. In the back ground King John is always constant causing rifts in their relationship. Thier story is beautiful and humbling as they go through life, betrayal, and forgivness together.
It's amazing how Penman is able to put into words the emotions of people from so long ago and yet as a reader you feel as if they are a part of you. Everytime I put the book down I felt like a peice of myself was put aside with it.
Book Review: Wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
This was the second book I've read by Sharon Kay Penman, and I must say that she is now one of my top five authors. Her writing is so descriptive and wonderful that I never want the story to end. Her stories are also very historically accurate which seems to be more hard to come by these days. Her characters are brought back from the dead and their stories told through their eyes, along with the little known time and place of 12th century Wales. I loved the love and sometimes hate relationship between Llewelyn and Joanna, and how their marriage defined an entire generation of Welsh and English relations. This is the first of the Welsh trilogy and I can't wait to read the next two.