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Time and Chance by: S. Penman |
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Binding: Library Binding Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54 EAN: 9781417737536 ISBN: 1417737530 Label: Topeka Bindery Manufacturer: Topeka Bindery Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 515 Publication Date: 2003-02 Publisher: Topeka Bindery Studio: Topeka Bindery Related Items:
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Good book, but drags a bit at timesAnother enjoyable book from SKP, but I didn't find this quite as interesting as her others, and a bit slower than When Christ and His Saints Slept. It's probably just me, but I didn't find the whole Thomas Becket saga all that fascinating, albeit it is an important part of English history. I did like the fact that the author continued with the Welsh side of the story, as so many authors of English history paint the Welsh as pagen barbarians. I am anxiously awaiting the publishing of the last in this series, The Devil's Brood, which I suspect will be the most fascinating, as it covers the period when the animosity between Henry and Eleanor heats up and the power plays for her sons. I read on the author's website that ... Read More: Rating:  - Least convincing of Penman's talesI loved The Sunne in Splendour but unfortunately Penman's books have been declining since then. The Welsh trilogy is still good, though it has it's weak parts, but the last two books (of another supposed trilogy) is significantly weaker. This is the weakest, which is quite odd as in Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine Penman has, arguably, two of the strongest and most fascinating characters of the middle ages, so in a way it's even more disappointing that she never manages to bring them to life or make them more than 2-dimensional cardboard cut-outs who do all the things they're supposed to from the historical sources but don;t ever manage to have an inner life of their own. As some of the other reviewers here have said, the addition ... Read More: Rating: - Unstoppable force meets immovable object"What miserable drones and traitors I have nourished and promoted in my household, who let their lord be mocked so shamefully by a lowborn clerk!" Thus, in TIME AND CHANCE, is author Sharon Kay Penman's version of the angry words that compelled four of Henry II's knights to commit one of the most famous assassinations in Western European history, that of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. The second in an ostensible series of three works of historical fiction - the last has yet to appear - about the first Plantagenet King of England and his consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine, this volume spans the period 1156 - 1171. Woven into the plot are the four pivotal events (for historians, novelists and screenwriters, at least) of that ... Read More: Rating: - BlissThese books are amazing, Penman has a gift for bringing her characters back to life. The scope of the story is huge, and fascinating not least because these people actually lived, you get a real sense of the history and colour. The only criticism I have is the huge gaps between books, I wish the author would concentrate more on this series and less on the fictional medieval mysteries. Rating: - They Do Not Come Much BetterI always look forward to a Sharon Penman novel that I have not read before. This one kept me interested throughout the book. She has the ability to make the reader feel they are there with the characters, no mean feat. The story is about the turbulent relationship between Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Starting in 1156 the couple have been married for four years. The birth of their sons has ensured the succession to the throne, but civil war has seen the country torn apart. Henry needs to defend the borders of England against France and Wales, but his most daunting task is his fight with the church to stop them from infringing on his power. This conflict culminates with his one time friend Thomas Becket, whom Henry ... Read More: |
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