Lionheart

By: Ben Kane

Narrated by: Philip Stevens

Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Rebel. Leader. Brother. King.

1179. Henry II is King of England, Wales, Ireland, Normandy, Brittany and Aquitaine. The House of Plantagenet reigns supreme.

But there is unrest in Henry's house. Not for the first time, his family talks of rebellion.

Ferdia - an Irish nobleman taken captive during the conquest of his homeland - saves the life of Richard, the king's son. In reward for his bravery, he is made squire to Richard, who is already a renowned warrior.

Crossing the English Channel, the two are plunged into a campaign to crush rebels in Aquitaine. The bloody battles and gruelling sieges which followed would earn Richard the legendary name of Lionheart.

But Richard's older brother, Henry, is infuriated by his sibling's newfound fame. Soon it becomes clear that the biggest threat to Richard's life may not be rebel or French armies, but his own family....

©2020 Ben Kane (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"A rip-roaring epic, filled with arrows and spattered with blood. Gird yourself with mail when you start." (Paul Finch)

"Ben's deeply authoritative depiction of the time is delivered in a deft manner." (Simon Scarrow)

wow

shared your concerns with not doing a roman title yet this series was non the less entertaining. love listening to these while I work. look forward you your next book and I hope someday a movie preferably on the forgotten legion series.

Excellent

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I didn’t want to stop listening. Richard 1 is one of my favourite persons in history; my father supposedly named me after him. I look forward to the rest of the trilogy.

Another great story

I love Ben Kane. I've found him from his stories of Romans, and now I'm here with a new subject. Of course I knew who Richard the Lionheart was, but I never dived in this historical period as I did with Rome. And how happy I am I did it with this book!

Kane always strides for historical accuracy (and always discloses where he doesn't), so I listened to the book while checking myself on Wikipedia about who was who. It was a bit challenging, moreover English isn't my first language, so I struggled a bit (my dear English native speakers, what are you doing with all the French words, I'm almost dying here!). But I feel it was worth it. The story was very captivating, and thanks to Philip Stevens all the characters had their own voice and character. Sometimes I felt I was present for the dialogs between the King's sons, and I think I can say this is a sign of a great reading. Listen or read it by yourself, and even if (for some unknown reason) you don't like it you'd definitely have something to think about.

Another great Ben Kane novel

Kane is a master of historical fiction! I highly recommend this delve into medieval times

Exceedingly entertaining

Outstanding writing and narration. I can't wait for the next book in the (hopefully long) series.

Great historical adventure

Narrator was wonderful. A delight to listen.
I will be listening to more books by this author

Amazing

Ben Kane does it again. it seriously doesn't matter what time period he writes about because as always....gripping story, amazing character development, historically researched, and he has the ability to make you feel like you're there...i wish i could give more stars.

Narrator was top notch. However, I will always be biased and love Jonathan Keeble. he is the best of the best

Great story

Never a boring moment and a page burner. I look forward to the next story. It's a fun way to learn about some history while not having to read boring text books.

Amazing read

The story had a great pace from beginning to end. I like the research the author did for the book and how he clarified some language differences between those times and today's language. Overall a great read for those interested in drama and history.

thank you

I enjoyed book and narrator. Look forward to June 2021 and hopefully more of the same