Rating: 
Summary: The best book I ever read
Review: Here Be Dragons is a fantastic book. It sounds like a fantasy book, but in truth, it is a historical fiction novel. It seems like a huge book, but I read it in about a week and a half. I'm a teenager, and it still was fascinating for me. Even if you are not much of a reader, I would still recommend this book to you. The language may be a bit confusing at first (seeing as it is set in the 11th century) but you get used to it quickly. You will be glad you dedicated time to sit down and read it. I had trouble putting it down. It was fabulous.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Journey!
Review: This book was fantastic. The characters and the images just came alive across the pages and by the end I was staying up later and later to learn about where each characters path would lead them. Its been a week since I finished and so often its images have entered my mind again and again, which to me is the sign of only the best books, the ones that stay with you long after you have read them.I highly recommend to anyone who loves a good story, regardless of whether or not they enjoy historical fiction, so much of English historical fact seems like fiction anyway! Don't be intimidated by the size of this book either, it is a very quick and easy read.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best historical novels I've read
Review: This book is a wonderful tapestry of Norman/Angevin England and Wales. The characters are well-developed and complex. For example, historical treatments of King John invariably cast him as a villain, but here we see him as a character with many facets. The plot follows Joanna, or Joan, the illegitimate daughter of John, through her life from about age five to her late thirties. A reader of this book will learn much about culture clash, women, the Angevins, and England and Wales in the Middle Ages. The book is captivating -- I was hardly able to put it down.
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Summary: WOW!
Review: I can't tell you enough how great this book is! Now I won't lie, I do know a great deal about englanish history, but even someone who doesn't know anything will love this book! I am 13 years old, and today we had a suply teacher so I read all day. As I was approaching the end I was crying. I got so attached to these characters. And unfortunatly there's no other book written on Joanna or Llewelyn! There isn't much information on these two remarcable people either. So this is your chance! Just PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read this book.
Rating:
Summary: One of my all-time favorites
Review: Penman's ability to bring alive characters--real and fictional--from 11th/12th century Great Britain and France is compelling. The best way to learn history.
Rating:
Summary: The start of a great trilogy
Review: Most historical novelists tend to forget that Wales existed in the 12th century, other than for convenient raids. Sharon Kay Penman evokes Wales so well you are there. As always, she employs stunning research and a sense of fairness, so even the much-maligned King John comes across as, well, better than usual. And her Llewelyn is a man to die for, flaws and all. History made entertaining without being shallow--that is Sharon Kay Penman's niche.
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Summary: I read this when I was 11, and loved it!
Review: I am only 12, but I don't stick to "young adult" books. I LOVE historical fiction and will read anything of that topic. Last year, I picked up this book off our shelf, with no expectations, to find that I was utterly captivated with the first words! I read through the whole book in a few days and enjoyed it so much! It is about King John's illegitimite daughter, Joanna,and her husband,Llewelyn. They marry as complete strangers, a political marriage, but soon find themselves deeply in love. Her dad and husband soon break off the attempt of a treaty, and she must choose between the two men she loves. It was the kind of book that doesn't tell you the whole ending. It left me deep in thought for days, so utterly speechless, in such a way that I thought was impossible for any author to do. I stand corrected! I read the next two books in the trilogy, Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning soon after, and enjoyed them just as much! A great read!
Rating:
Summary: Captivating . . .
Review: . . . from the very beginning to the very end. Ms. Penman grabs hold of you and never lets go. Her writing is flawless, and both her description of Wales and her characterizations make her story come vividly alive, evoking 13th century England and Wales in all its horror and glory. It's impossible not to fall madly in love with Llewelyn, and Joanna is a heroine for all times. Ms. Penman even makes King John so passionately human that I found myself feeling sorry for him. I wanted the book to never end, but am thrilled that I have yet to read her next 2 books in this series. Ms. Penman has a truly remarkable talent for weaving history and fiction into a brilliant story. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: Here Be Dragons
Review: This is a truly wonderful historical novel, certainly one of the best I've ever read. This is a grand story of love, loyalty, family, honor, trajedy and war. The characters of Llewelyn, Joanna and John will be forever memorable to me, for their strengths and their weaknesses. Completely entertaining. I hated to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: brilliant!
Review: This is just a brilliant book. From the title's meaning all the way through to the end. I had misgivings about liking the female lead, Joanna, after reading Barbara' Erskine's fantastic "Child of the Phoenix", where Joanna is the cold, distant mother of Eleyne, who narrates that story. However, I think it made me enjoy it more. I loved Llewelyn and his friends, despised King John,laughed and cried through the pages. I look forward to the remainder of the trilogy! I also agree with the previous reviewer, go and get Diana Gabaldon's books!
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