When Christ and His Saints Slept

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Summary: Totally billiant!
Review: In depth, well researched, easily read; an extremely enjoyable way to spend a few days (or weeks) 'touring' England and France with Stephen and Maud. Every charactor was realistically portrayed- even down to the fictious ones! Although the end of the 'story' was known I read every word with great concentration. Now the sequel is being waited for rather impatiently...even though I know how that 'story' ends, too. This novel is well worth anyone's time who enjoys the early Plantagenet era.

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Summary: Well researched & wonderfully told story!!!
Review: I usually shy away from historical fiction because having read so much non-fiction on medieval subjects, I find the inaccuracies to be very distracting. However, this story is well researched and so well told, that even when they did appear, they were minor and certainly plausible scenarios. Some may argue the book begins to become tedious, yet I think that the monotony of the book (such as the constant iterruptions of plot by urgent messages and so many battles deterred) further illustrates the general feeling of a time when so many battles proved to be indecisive and the populace was tired of the stalemate between the two sides. Ms. Penman does a wonderful job of bringing the Empress Matilda to life on the pages, often defying the conventional (and slanted) opinion of her. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in this series as I am sure the stories of Henry II's reign will equally lend themselves to historical writing.

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Summary: A Realistic adventure of an age gone by! Great fun!!
Review: Sharon Kay Penman has brought readers a novel of great adventure and romance! Bringing to life the English monarcy and a strugle for a crown, setting the stage for the beginnings of a great nation. An excellent read.

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Summary: A marvelous read!
Review: It took me a full month and a week to read this book. It was so full of information and emotion that I wanted to dwell in each chapter. The characters are vividly portrayed and personalized. I was just very upset to discover Ranulf was ficticious--goes to show that most perfect men are!

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Summary: Excellent reading, compelling, magical.
Review: A wonderful book, not unlike any of Ms. Penman's work. I am impatiently waiting the second book to this epic story.

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Summary: Glued to my fingers! Could not put it down!
Review: I'm 15 years old yet I love all of Penman's books, Christ especially! It joined a love of history that I've always had with the fiction I've always desired! I truly think this is required reading for everyone! Read it to your kids even, well.....

Rating:
Summary: Tedious at best
Review: The author is to be commended on the amount of research she must have done for this book. However, she makes a fascinating story extremely dull and tedious. The only realistic character was Ranulf and he was totally fictitious! If the subject matter itself hadn't been of prior interest to me, I'd never have gotten through this book.

Rating:
Summary: No one covers this period like Ms. Penman
Review: All of these books are huge stories with an enormous cast of charecters. I must say that my personal favorite is the Wales Trilogy; however, this is equally entertaining. Historical novels are exceedingly tricky, but Ms. Penman succeeds primarily due to her relentless research and willingness to take a position on an historical figure -- and overlay a good plot on the whole affair. Read it -- and then read all of her others. Just be prepared to lose an afternoon or two because you couldn't put it down.

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Summary: All hail Saint Eleanor of Aquitaine...
Review: All the things I found faulty about Ms. Penman's writing, which disappeared mysteriously in the Wales Trilogy (read it!!!), have been resurected in full force for this latest novel, unfortunately. While Ms. Penman's research and understanding of the time in which she writes are incredible, she has this annoying tendancy to get involved in TOO many characters. She should just stick to a handful of the most important and tell the story from their eyes alone. Instead, we get the opinions of every clergyman, servingwoman, alehouse companion, whore, and knight in midieval England and Normandy, which really distracts the reader from the concerns of the main characters. Still, Ms. Penman must be commended for bringing such a distant time to life and for bringing to light the life and character of Maude, a strong, fascinating woman unfortunately ignored by history textbooks. About the little blurb above... Ms. Penman also has an amusing tendancy to deify Eleanor of Aquitaine. Nothing wrong with that, however; I do it, too. I should say the book really picks up once young Eleanor hits the scene. I love the way she and Henry II meet for the first time...like Bonnie meeting Clyde...awesome! I think Ms. Penman portrays Eleanor the way we all picture her, and despite my disappointment with the book, if Ms. Penman choses to write further about Eleanor's and Henry's exploits, I shall read them gladly.

Rating:
Summary: The best writer most people have never heard of
Review: Penman is a fantastic writer, who keeps a high degree of historical accuracy. This is what makes her stories so much better than most historical fiction. This is her best work to date. Her characters are very true to the Middle Ages. Stephen and Matilda and Robert, Earl of Gloucester are real people, and you feel like you know them personally. It is too bad she has decided to turn to straight fiction. She made me love medieval history. Read all her books!