Dan Jones

An epic history of the Plantagenet royal dynasty traces its first king's inheritance of a violence-stricken realm through the family's growth of a powerful empire that stretched from Scotland to Jerusalem, citing the enduring influences of such figures as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard II and King John.

The Warrior Kings and Queens who Made England

The Plantagenets

Monicap

I listened to the 20-hour audiobook, and I have to say it was one of the best audiobooks I've listened to, mainly because this book had no characters/dialogue and the narrator didn't use annoying voices. 

By the by, does anyone have recommendations for audiobook narrators who don't do voices for characters? There have to be some, because it's not necessary. At most a different tone for characters would do, and that's the main reason why I hated the audiobook for A Darker Shade of Magic. 

Regardless, I felt much smarter and much more pretentious while I listened to this audiobook.

This brilliant new book explores the lives of eight generations of the greatest kings and queens that this country has ever seen, and the worst. The Plantagenets - their story is the story of Britain.

The Kings who Made England

Georgia Carr

Compared to some of the other books I've read that focus on this period of history, this was one of the better ones. There are some interesting sections regarding comparisons between kings and their leadership styles, particularly in regards to their successes or downfalls, and I really enjoyed that analysis. It does slip into the overly descriptive at times, but for what I needed, Dan Jones offered a well-written, well-researched account of the Plantagenet monarchs.

Tracey O’Rourke

This is a very hard book to review, as there were many things I liked about it, and many things I did not. On the one hand it was a very interesting history of the English kings in the middle ages, an age I've always been fascinated by. On the other it was both too much and too little at once. Too many characters too keep track of, too many wars, and too many years. I found myself referring to the family tree at the beginning throughout my read as it was more and more difficult to figure out which Edward, Henry, Joan or Eleanor the author was discussing, when the mother, the sister and the wife were all Eleanor. 

On the other hand, because it was trying to do so much, it just skimmed the surface of much of it. There were many times when I wanted more depth, more information that was hinted at but never got to. And there were several instances where some particularly interesting tidbit was mentioned and then dropped. For instance, as the army boarded the ships from England to France at one point, it was mentioned that there was a transvestite on board - AND??? These bits are dropped with no context and no explanation, making the reader wonder why they were mentioned at all. 

It was interesting, and had blessedly short chapters which is great when you are being bombarded with tons of information, but it took me three weeks to get through - not quite a slog, but nearly.

The Plantagenets The Warrior Kings and Queens who Made England

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