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  • Lionheart

  • Written by: Ben Kane
  • Narrated by: Philip Stevens
  • Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (15 ratings)

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Lionheart

Written by: Ben Kane
Narrated by: Philip Stevens
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Publisher's Summary

Rebel. Leader. Brother. King.

1179. Henry II is King of England, Wales, Ireland, Normandy, Brittany and Aquitaine. The House of Plantagenet reigns supreme.

But there is unrest in Henry's house. Not for the first time, his family talks of rebellion.

Ferdia - an Irish nobleman taken captive during the conquest of his homeland - saves the life of Richard, the king's son. In reward for his bravery, he is made squire to Richard, who is already a renowned warrior.

Crossing the English Channel, the two are plunged into a campaign to crush rebels in Aquitaine. The bloody battles and gruelling sieges which followed would earn Richard the legendary name of Lionheart.

But Richard's older brother, Henry, is infuriated by his sibling's newfound fame. Soon it becomes clear that the biggest threat to Richard's life may not be rebel or French armies, but his own family....

©2020 Ben Kane (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group

What the critics say

"A rip-roaring epic, filled with arrows and spattered with blood. Gird yourself with mail when you start." (Paul Finch)

"Ben's deeply authoritative depiction of the time is delivered in a deft manner." (Simon Scarrow)

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What listeners say about Lionheart

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Great series

This is a great series , Ben Kane is as good as it gets in historical fiction.

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  • Craig
  • 2021-01-15

Painfully Droll Historical Fiction

This novel listens/reads like Juvenile Ouija Board Prophecy. The narrator, a squire to Richard the 1st, is a toady, even though he suspects that his allies are implicated in the killing of his family (tangentially at least). Uhhh...this is not a novel of revenge, it is a supernumerary's sideshow, made relevant by the narrator's (an Irish Royal Hostage) loyalty to an important historical figure. His indifference to injustice is overplayed stoicism...totally fake and unbelievable. Bad actors are unrealistically bad and good ones are gruff caricatures of righteous historical icons.

There is nothing new here. A bad Robin Hood novel would tell the same story, The prose and descriptions of 1187 are lacking poetic power or historic relevance. The cliches are painful...wiley vixen to describe a girlfriend, and mornings are crisp and fresh....all the droll cliches and uninterested prose to sell pulp, but not enough to fool a connoisseur of tantalizing British historical fiction.

Don't bother starting this novel unless you are bored and expect little from your text. Two Swords Down!

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  • K. Wilson
  • 2020-07-27

History during the middle ages is a dauntingly ...

morass of politics. alliances formed then broken within a couple of years, even months. The physical distances are deceptively small yet even small areas become crucial. then the dimension of time increases the details exponitionally. the USA 250yr history is relatively short compared to 1000 years of very limited written and momentous historical events.
Mr Kane brings areas of conflict into focus especially for the avid amateur history buff. I 'see' them as real people doing extraordinary things, yet born into a world very different from my own. Thank you Mr. Kane

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  • Dalton Knisley
  • 2023-05-23

Great book!

Great book! Easy to follow! Interesting from start to finish!! I will continue the series!

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2023-05-23

Terrible narration

This narrator is hard to listen to. Its to bad when you have a good story but you can't listen because the narrator ruins it. This is the case with this book.

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  • MICHAEL CRAMER
  • 2023-04-12

A look at Richard

A Pre-Crusade look at Richard as well as his armies and his archers. The backbone of the English during the 100 year War The Archers. very good book.

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  • Mike B.
  • 2023-03-29

great story

couldn't stop listening. really enjoyed it and how well paced the story was. great job

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  • Amanda Edwards
  • 2023-01-28

Fantastic book and Narration

Great pace and well thought out story line!! Can’t wait to start the next one in 5 min

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  • Anthony Koller
  • 2022-11-30

Great!

Really great historical fiction! It was very enjoyable and I look forward to the rest of the series.

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  • Kindle Customer
  • 2022-10-08

Great story

Never a boring moment and a page burner. I look forward to the next story. It's a fun way to learn about some history while not having to read boring text books.

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  • Michael Cabral
  • 2022-09-07

Love Historical Fiction

I have enjoyed previous work by Ben Kane I love his Roman based Eagle series. Medieval history is not my area however, I really enjoy historical fiction if not taken to far afield. Bringing interesting characters alive inside a thread of history just brings me enjoyment. If known a bit about the true historical characters following a good story within the history is just fun. Done well you can learn some interesting things about the lives of the time.

Ben does this very well. I spent years reading nonfiction it gets a bit dry after many years. Historical fiction is creative work and in some cases as good a guess as any historian can make in some time period. I enjoyed this book and have listened to it a few times.

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