I am adding author notes because, SKP's are always so interesting, and she said that they are her longest to date.

I loved the Author's note, I read it before reading the book, and then savored it last night when I finished the book.

I really liked "Lionheart" as Sharla mentioned, I'd heard a bit about it bogging down, so I was kind of on the lookout for it. However, I felt that by rotating her perpectives, she kept the battle scenes from getting laborious. Great job and what a wonderful read. 

I'm almost done now--I'll finish tonight.  I do agree with some who've said this has part that feels more like strict history than a novel.  It does have some, but they are very short, and it didn't drag or feel like an information dump.  I love this book.  It didn't hold me as entranced as Devil's Brood, reading faster and faster to see what happened, even when I already knew, basically, what happened. But this was very, very good.  Not at all disappointed. 

Oh, man, I'm reading Richard's rescue of Jaffa right now.  Hot DAMN did SKP out-do herself!  I'm just ... wow.  As a reader, you FEEL why his men adored him and would fight their way INTO hell if he decided to storm it.  His nephew Henri says to Morgan "you don't need to believe in miracles; just believe in my uncle.'  oh, yeah.  I think if I could choose five events to time travel back to, and watch from the sidelines, I think Jaffa would be one of them. RIght now, I feel like it would be Top 3, but I'm still in the afterthrows.

Yes, Sharla -- that was a great scene -- and one of my favorite lines in the book. 

"As a reader, you FEEL why his men adored him and would fight their way INTO hell if he decided to storm it." 

Well-said and so true!

I first became a Richard I fan as a pre-teen when I read most of the "We Were There" series from our publich library, including

This was in no way general treatment of Richard; it was the Crusade from the POV of a young squire to ... I don't remember who.  Might have been Richard himself. The Richard you saw was the great warrior and battle commander.  But I became a fan.  So I found it gratifying that SKP began from the "bad son, bad husband, bad king" perspective and that her research of the real, primary sources so completely changed her opinion as to the son and king, if not the husband. 

I have about 50 more pages to read yet and as I'm reading and almost actually feeling Richard's frustration and weariness at hearing of  the subterfuge that is going on in his own kingdom as well as what is happening in the Holy Land, I cannot help but admire his tenacity to still try to keep things under control! What endurance! How that man kept not only his life but his mind is amazing to me.

I think the thing I always surprises me is that she is just that much better than anyone else I read. I mean the woman is genius plain and simple.  Wouldn't you just love to hear her thought process while she is writing.

The one thing historians all agree on he was a brilliant battle commander, and what surprised me was just how much diplomacy was involved. 

She is genius.  I wish I could somehow know just how accurately she has assessed the personalities, relationships, and motivations of those involved in this whole chunk of history.  It just makes so much sense that you have a hard time imagining it going any other way.

Exactly Sharla.

I'm just about finished with Lionheart and I have to say I am VERY impressed.  I love SKP's writing overall, but she has done a wonderful job with all the battle scenes that are such an integral part of this story.  I can really picture them in my imagination just like I can with BC's writing.  I agree with Jeanne that you really feel Richard's frustration and fatigue by the end of the book as opposed to that blazing golden figure in the beginning.  Loved that line too, Sharla!  I also really enjoyed the fact that the author fleshed out the women in this story, they seem to be such afterthoughts in history.  Now I have to wait for A King's Ransom to be completed.

I was wondering if anyone had any final thought? 

Any disappointments?

Any revelations?

I will say I missed the emotional love story of past SKP books.  But I have been thinking about this and I think that the love story here is between Richard's men and he as their commander as well as King.

I love the way she portrayed Phillip's feeling towards Richard and how he was willing to sabotage this crusade rather than to see it succeed.  The psychology behind that is one of the things I always admire about SKP's work.

I loved the relationship between Joanna and Richard, she certainly was her mothers daughter.

Is there any one else that you would like to see Sharon tackle?

I know she is doing a book about  the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the story of Balian d’Ibelin.  But I would like to know more about Eleanor's daughters with Louis.

I would love to see her tackle Robert the Bruce.  I have no idea if she would even be interested.   But Robert the Bruce could, possibly, be the one warrior king who might, almost rival Richard.  He didn't have as broad a rep as Richard, and he never took it to the Holy Land for such an opportunity. But I would be so interested to see how she came to see the Bruce.

You know Sharla I though of him as well.  He was such a pain in Edward the I and II's bum.  He really gave the Scot's their pride back.  Also I didn't realize just how many buildings he funded, he would rival Henry III in that way.

I'm intrigued by the idea that she is going to do a book about Balion.  I loved the character in the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" but I know it didn't have much basis in fact.  He is an interesting person, though.  I agree that a book about the Bruce by SKP could be really fantastic.  He WAS an amazing person.