Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
Thirteenth-century Wales is a divided country, ever at the mercy of England's ruthless, power-hungry King John. Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, secures an uneasy truce by marrying the English king's beloved illegitimate daughter, Joanna, who slowly grows to love her charismatic and courageous husband. But as John's attentions turn again and again to subduing Wales---and Llewelyn---Joanna must decide where her love and loyalties truly lie.
The turbulent clashes of two disparate worlds and the destinies of the individuals caught between them spring to life in this magnificent novel of power and passion, loyalty and lies. The book that began the trilogy that includes Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning, Here Be Dragons brings thirteenth-century England, France, and Wales to tangled, tempestuous life.
Only her second book (the first being the quintessential Ricardian novel, The Sunne in Splendour,) the reader would be hard pressed to know that. The writing is superb as she brings the characters to life, many of which I knew next to nothing about.
The book covers both Joanna’s and Llewelyn’s lives, from childhood until almost the end. And though it comes in at slightly over 700 pages, the story never drags as the reader is swept into their world of divided loyalties and betrayals. Not once did I feel the need to skip ahead. There isn’t a dull moment.
And while Joanna and Llewelyn take center stage, there are plenty of other characters who become just as real. Joanna’s father, John, especially, is written here as I’ve never read before. While there is a cruel, almost evil, side to the man, he’s also shown to be a loving father, and, usually not noted, a man who had more concern for the people of England than his brother, Richard (the so-called Lionheart,) ever did.
There are also those who were friend, or foe, to the couple, as well as the children they had together and those Llewelyn had with other women. His oldest son, especially, will be a thorn in the couple’s side. While these characters are based on actual people, a few aren’t. But they add so much to the story, that one can understand why they were created. They fill an area left empty by the capriciousness of historical records. One event I was certain the author had made up; she hadn’t.
The book is historical fiction at its finest, and I highly recommend any of Penman’s books. We lost her much too early.
Mount TBR 2024 Book Links
Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.
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2. Holly by Stephen King
3. Inferno (Inferno#1) by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
4. Fallout (Lois Lane #1) by Gwenda Bond
5. The Secret People by John Wyndham
6. Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
7. Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
8. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
9. Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara
10. Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts by Shanna H. Swan, Stacey Colino
11. Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
12. Night Songs by Charles L. Grant
13. President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier by C.W. Goodyear
14. The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin
15. Mine by Robert R. McCammon
16. Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt
17. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
18. The Plots Against the President: FDR, A Nation in Crisis, and the Rise of the American Right by Sally Denton
19. The North Woods by Douglass Hoover
20. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
21. Upon Dark Waters by Robert Radcliffe
22. Dread: 22 Tales of Terror by Kevin Bachar
23. Escape from Hell (Inferno #2) by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Jennifer Hanover (Illustrator)
24. Vicksburg: Grant's Campaign That Broke the Confederacy by Donald L. Miller
25. The Portent by Marilyn Harris
26. Just After Sunset by Stephen King
27. The Lighthouse Keeper Kindle Edition by Alan K. Baker
28. I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away by Bill Bryson
29. The Road Not Travelled : Alternative Tales of the Wars of the Roses by Joanne R. Larner
30. King's Fool by Margaret Campbell Barnes
31. The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
32. Taming the Street: The Old Guard, the New Deal, and FDR's Fight to Regulate American Capitalism by Diana B. Henriques
33. Seven Perfect Things by Catherine Ryan Hyde
34. Legends by Robert Silverberg (Editor/Contributor)
35. The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next 1) by Jasper Fforde
36. Echoes of an Alien Sky by James P. Hogan
37. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
38. The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
39. The Hike by Susi Holliday
40. The Opal-Eyed Fan by Andre Norton
41. Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith
42. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan
43. Yankee Privateer (Lyon Family #1) by Andre Norton
44. Say Goodbye for Now by Catherine Ryan Hyde
45. Midnight Mass by F. Paul Wilson
46. Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
OCT- Vampire, Here, Mist, Death, One, Missing, Bite, Witch
Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman