Devil's Brood | Sharon Kay Penman | The end of a marriage, with tragic results.

Devil's Brood | Sharon Kay Penman | Penman outdoes herself with this amazing novel!

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Devil's Brood

	Devil's Brood Sharon Kay Penman Putnam Adult, 2008 - 752 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The long-awaited and highly anticipated final volume in Penman?s trilogy of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine?a tumultuous conclusion to this timeless story of love, power, ambition, and betrayal.

Where the second novel in the trilogy, Time And Chance, dealt with the extraordinary politics of the twelfth century, climaxing with the murder of Thomas Becket and Henry?s confrontation with the Church and self-imposed exile to Ireland, Devil?s Brood centers on the implosion of a family. And because it is a royal family whose domains span the English Channel and whose alliances encompass the Christian world, that collapse will have dire consequences. This is a story of betrayal as Henry?s three eldest sons and his wife enter into a rebellion against him, aligning themselves with his bitterest enemy, King Louis of France. But it is also the story of a great king whose brilliance forged an empire but whose personal blind spots led him into the most serious mistake of his life.

Sharon Kay Penman has created a novel of tremendous power, as two strong-willed, passionate people clash, a family divides, and a marriage ends in all but name. Curiously, it is a novel without villains?only flawed human beings caught up in misperceptions and bad judgment calls. Most devastating to Henry was not his sons? rebellion but his wife?s betrayal in joining them. How could it happen that two people whose love for each other was all consuming end up as bitter adversaries? That is the heart of Penman?s tale in Devil?s Brood.

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The end of a marriage, with tragic results.

I've been waiting quite a few years to read the conclusion of Sharon Kay Penman's trilogy about Henry II of England, and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. When my copy of The Devil's Brood arrived on my doorstep, everything else got set aside as I dove in.

Thomas Becket has been murdered, and Henry has taken himself off to Ireland to bring that troublesome country under control. While he is in Ireland, his wife, Eleanor, is taking the management of her duchy, Aquitaine, into her own hands, as well as raising their numerous brood of children. Her favourite, Richard, is already learning the arts of war and Eleanor has decided that he will be Duke of Aquitaine in time. Their eldest son, Hal, has been crowned king (a custom among the French kings to ensure a smooth succession), and married, but he is proving to have none of his parent's cunning and skill at politics. Quite the opposite in fact. And John, the youngest of the children, is too young to any influence, but he watches and waits, caught as he is between two very strong willed parents.

When the sons are thwarted of any real power, and Eleanor joins them in rebellion, it unleashes consequences that no one can imagine. Especially for Eleanor, who has led a life that most women could only dream of, and having the daring to divorce her first husband and forge with her second husband an empire that was the mightiest in the Europe of its time. Most history of the time tends to blame the rebellion on Eleanor discovering about her husband's mistress, Rosamund Clifford, but the reality is much more different -- Eleanor was far more pragmatic and very much a realist.

And thankfully, so is Ms. Penman. This tale of Eleanor and Henry II and their children goes in a far more different direction than most novels set in this period. And for fans of the film The Lion in Winter will find that this book varies quite a bit from the story presented in the movie -- and once I had read Penman's reasoning in her author's afterword, made a great deal of sense to me.

The several sequences in the book really hit me hard. One was of Henry at the tomb of Thomas Becket, doing penance in a night-long vigil; another was Eleanor coping with the reality of being Henry's prisoner, separated from her beloved sons and Aquitaine; the death of the young king, and most surprising of all, the depiction of the third son, Geoffrey, as he marries a woman just as ambitious as he is.

I found this to be a wonderful read, full of just the things I like in a historical novel -- a true sense of time and place that is different than our own; strong, interesting characters; lots of plot and new insights into a history that I knew well, and some very tight storytelling. Fans of Penman's previous novels will like the fact that this dovetails neatly into Here Be Dragons and there are hints that another novel about Eleanor, Richard and John are to come.

While it isn't quite necessary to have read the previous two novels in the trilogy -- Ms. Penman puts in enough background information to fill in the gaps -- it will help to understand more of Henry and Eleanor, and especially why Thomas Becket plays such a pivotal role in the story later.

Sharon Penman is an author that I happily recommend to anyone who wants their historical fiction to be full of adventure, conflict, and some truly amazing events. If you have read her work before, you already know how good she is; if you haven't tried any of her writing yet, this wouldn't be a horrible place to start, so go on ahead, clear some evenings ahead, and prepare to be entertained.

Five stars overall, and I would give it six if I could.

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Penman outdoes herself with this amazing novel!

If ever there was an appropriate title for a book, Devil's Brood surely must be it! Penman's best work yet chronicles the disintegration of one of the most powerful couples of all time, Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, as well as their squabbling brood of boys. Let me tell you, these kids would test the patience of a saint!

As the boys are growing to manhood Henry tries to let them stretch their wings by giving them their own lands and a small taste of power while making sure that it is his hands that are really firmly on the reigns of the British Empire as well as his lands across the channel in France. He crowns his eldest son, Hal, as the "young King" to squash any doubts as the to the British succession. A move he thinks will secure the throne and keep the peace. However, Hal chafes under this arrangement as he has no real power and no real income of his own. Meanwhile, Richard is Eleanor's heir to her lands in Aquitaine yet Henry tries to retain real control there too.

Regardless of the wisdom involved, the father in Henry struggles with the King and Henry tries to ensure lands and wealth for all his sons by marrying Geoffrey, the third son, to Constance, a wealthy heiress who brings him the lands of Brittany. This leaves his three eldest son's with just enough power and money to make trouble and when they are not warring with each other, they're declaring war on their father. In the first of these rebellions the unthinkable happens and they are joined by their mother, Eleanor, in taking arms against their father.

Henry puts down the rebellion, ends up forgiving his sons and the rebellious lords who helped them but he cannot forgive Eleanor, whose betrayal hurt worst of all. Eleanor pays dearly and ends up as Henry's prisoner for the next 15 years. While in prison we see a remarkable change in Eleanor. She has plenty of time to ponder the reasons for all the strife that occurs in their family and emerges as a wiser, softer, person who now realises all she took for granted.

I loved every minute of this fascinating story. Once again, Penman takes extremely complicated intricate history and turns in into a page turning novel. She manages to bring the reader inside the heads of these Historical figures making them come alive. Her writing was flawless and these characters had some of the best lines ever. You will laugh or wince at some of the zingers that the boys of the "Devil's Brood" throw at each other. You see the bittersweet relationship between Henry and Eleanor through their disintigration and how they manage to patch up some sort of parental alliance between them for the good of their children....better late than never!!

The secondary characters were so well written that they could each carry their own novel. I would not be dissapointed to read an entire novel about Geoffrey and Constance. Constance was a favorite of mine and the reader follows her from a bitter reluctant bride to a strong capable wife who is every bit as hungry for power and has the ambition of her larger than life mother in law.

Over the time I read this book I got so attatched to these characters. So much so that I was dreading the end...until I read the authors note where Penman states that she is writing yet another book continuing the story. How lucky for us! I only hope, as I settle myself in for the wait, that it won't be quite as long between this and the next one as it was between this and the last one.

This novel ranks as one of my top five of the year and I highly recommend it! 5/5 stars

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Well worth waiting for!

I just finished it last night, and oh this was so worth the wait. Penman has what so many other historical fiction writers don't - a sense of how to bring real events to life, and and the ability to draw characters from such a distant time so realistically that we can laugh and cry with them, and miss them when we finally put the book down. She manages to flesh out what they were thinking when they made their decisions, and how they respond to the repercussions of those decisions. The interactions between the characters brought home the complexity of the characters. I was especially intrigued with Eleanor and Henry's relationship after her participation in the rebellion; theirs was a love that somehow managed to survive through rebellions and misdeeds. I was also intrigued with Hal and Geoffrey, two of the sons we don't hear that much about, but who were major players in the history of that time period.

While I really enjoyed it, there were times when I got tired of this family. If this wasn't historical fiction, rather someones idea, it probably would have been a wallbanger about midway through - it would have been hard for me to belive that a family could be this dysfunctional. But that fact that it was historical, based on research of primary sources, made me just shake my head as I read - and made me think many times of that Hepburn line in Lion in Winter 'well, all families have their little ups and downs...'.

I was trying to determine if this was a book I could recommend to people with little or no background of the history. While Penman does an excellent job introducing her characters, I'm just not sure. I think you need to know what happened in the other two books to get the full appreciation of what is going on (either by reading the books or already having the background). I think I'd suggest starting at the trilogy before going here. Which isn't a bad place to start!

Eager for her new book, hope that we don't wait so long! I think that book will dovetail very nicely to her first, Here Be Dragons. That is one of the best historicl fiction books I have ever read, and has led many readers to become fans of all of her books.

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Live the Middle Ages

Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine lead a very hectic life. Between them, they control England and most of France, and in an age of very slow travel, they struggle in many ways, particularly where their children are concerned. Nearly everyone knows of the chaos that these four sons wreaked on the Angevin Empire; they embroiled it in warfare, usually against their father, and wound up losing much of it to the French king, Philip Augustus. In Devil's Brood, Sharon Kay Penman elucidates the very human struggle of sons against father, husband against wife, and country against country as all control slips out of Henry II's fingers, bit by bit.

I unequivocally love Sharon Kay Penman. She is the origin of my over-the-top love for everything Richard III and I have eagerly consumed all of her previous historical novels. This book is no exception. Her previous work in this trilogy, Time and Chance, was probably her weakest effort, but I still loved it, and I loved this one more. She allows us to immerse ourselves in a world that is distinctly not our own, but allows us to relate to historical characters that, after all, were just people.

The book does, at times, move slowly. At its length, that is virtually a given. On the other hand, though, this isn't an action oriented tale. It's about the people involved as Penman fleshes out historical personas and makes us feel for them as if they'd walked out of the page and into our lives. The struggle between Henry II and his sons could happen to anyone; how many of us know fathers (or mothers) who are hard-headed, children who are determined to rebel and can't see where they are wrong? What happens when you place that child on the world's stage with resources at his disposal? English history happens as sons turns against their father.

As always, my favorite character is Eleanor of Aquitaine. She's fascinating in both history and fiction and Penman certainly gives her what I believe is her due. The other characters are also well developed and fascinating, an exercise in what-might-have-been like all medieval historical fiction, but Eleanor steals the show. Some old friends return, including Penman's rare fully fictional main characters, Ranulf and his wife Rhiannon. Like I said before, this is definitely a book about characters. Wars and rebellions go on constantly, but it's all about them and their reactions to those events. There are heart-breaking moments and there are joyful moments for these characters and it's easy to get sucked in and feel how they feel.

It's not perfect. It does move slowly and Penman has an odd tendency to toss in "certes" and other medieval-esque words that aren't entirely necessary. In real life, these people were speaking Norman French usually, so it doesn't work for me. And she does romanticize history, but she never does it in a way that makes it inaccurate; just makes you feel for people you wouldn't have otherwise liked.

Would I recommend this? Most definitely. Not if you're looking for a quick read, but if you want to immerse yourself in a terrific historical novel, live and breathe the Middle Ages as best we're able, you should be looking for Sharon Kay Penman.

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One of the best

It's been a long time since a book has made me cry (actually since I read "The Reckoning" about 2 years ago), but this book did it. I loved the first two books in the series too, but this was by far the best. With the others the story was exciting, but I didn't care a whole lot when the characters died or betrayed one another (with the exception of thoroughly disliking Rosamund Clifford in "Time and Chance"). In this one though, the character development was fantastic and I loved them all. I really don't feel like the author favored one character over another. She really showed that all of them were very human with their own motives, failings, grudges, love, loyalties, and hurts. And at the end when Eleanor went into a church and reflected, I cried like a baby.

I know it's been said that this can be read without the other two, but I really recommend reading "When Christ and His Saints Slept" and "Time and Chance" first. You won't be lost otherwise because Penman does a great job of reviewing, but I think they add a lot. For example, the relationship Harry had with his dad helps explain what he expected from his sons and why he was so badly hurt by them.

And now I want to read the Welsh trilogy again since this leads so nicely into it :)

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reviews: page 1, 2

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