LIONHEART by Sharon Kay Penman, 2011.
Sweeping chronicle of Richard the Lionheart's crusade to re-capture Jerusalem from the Infidel in 1190-1192, better known to history as the Third Crusade or the Kings' Crusade. Although Penman's novel is a dense, sprawling saga with an enormous cast of characters that could be very daunting to many, the author, using her impeccable research and flair for realistic dialogue and creating memorable characters, pulls it all together with her usual distinctive style and storytelling skills and provides the reader with a vivid and fascinating depiction of the era and those who lived it.
   Having read the author's previous novels on the Plantagenets, I was fully prepared for reading this one and anxious to see how she dealt with Richard I and his experiences in the Holy Land. Penman's narrative deftly moves from drafty castles in France to exotic palaces in Sicily to the hot plains of Outremer, giving the reader a wonderful sense of time and place. Her descriptions are lush and vibrant (you can hear the marketplace sounds, smell and taste the foods served at the banquets), she creates memorable scenes (the capture of Cyprus and the siege of Acre stand out), she makes each character an individual (although with such an amazing amount of names, I admit I did have to keep checking her cast list), and she quite remarkably manages to weave together her various plotlines into a whole tapestry. Not being a huge military history buff, I felt that she also kept a good balance between battle scenes and non-military manipulations and maneuvers.
   Penman knows her characters: she gives them foibles and flaws and human attributes, creating real flesh and blood people for the reader to care about. I enjoyed her portrayal of Richard--he strides magnificently through the story as a fascinating and truly multifaceted individual--a combination of courageous military man, caring husband, loyal son and brother, and strong leader who genuinely felt compassion for his soldiers, who led by example, and who believed that they were on God's mission to wrest the Holy Land back for the Christians. She shows him with a great sense of humor and playfulness, and I thought her depiction of his marriage to Berengaria of Navarre was handled very well. The lesser known character of Joanna of Sicily was interesting to me, as well as Henri of Champagne; Eleanor of Aquitaine's appearance was much too brief; Philippe of France does not come off very well, nor do any of the de Lusignans, but none of them are one note characters, she gives them depth and reasons for their actions.
   I learned quite a bit about the conflict in Outremer: between the Turks and the Europeans, the French and the English, the English and the Cypriots, etc. Quite a lot of information, but Penman informs the reader in a nice flowing narrative with a decent pace; I never felt overwhelmed by the amount of detail. Perhaps my only criticism would be that while the Infidel leader Saladin seemed ever-present, he never really came to life for me as a character, possibly because Penman kept him sort of off-stage. But this is a minor quibble. Overall, this was a vastly entertaining novel for me, and I'm looking forward to the author's next installment.