Wednesday, July 20

Audiobook Review: The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick



Author: Elizabeth Chadwick
Narrator: Christopher Scott
Title: The Scarlet Lion
(William Marshal #3)
Genre: Historical Fiction
Format: Audiobook
Published: December 7th 2006
Where I got It: My shelf (audible) 

Summary: 
Following early beginnings as a knight in the English royal household and a champion of the tourneys, William Marshal's prowess and loyalty have been rewarded by the hand in marriage of Isabelle de Clare, heiress to great estates in England, Normandy and Ireland. Now a powerful magnate, William has weathered the difficult years of King Richard's absence on crusade and is currently serving him on campaign in Normandy while Isabelle governs their estates. All the stability William and Isabelle have enjoyed with their young and growing family comes crashing down as Richard dies and his brother John becomes King. Rebellion is stirring throughout the Angevin domains and although John has created William Earl of Pembroke, the friction between the two men leads William and Isabelle to distance themselves in Ireland. The situation escalates, with John holding their sons as hostages and seizing their English lands. The conflict between remaining loyal and rebelling over injustices committed, threatens to tear apart William and Isabelle's marriage and their family.



Review:
Literally been wanting to read this for yearsssssssssss. Thanks to the TBR pile challenge, I decided to get my hands on a copy of this and read it. 

Years have passed and all the stability William and his wife, Isabelle, have enjoyed with their young family comes crashing down. Richard is dead and John has become King. Rebellion is stirring throughout the Angevin domains. The friction between the new King and William leads William and Isabelle to distance themselves by going to their lands in Ireland. The situation further escalates when John holds their sons as hostages and seizes their English lands. This conflict between remaining loyal and rebelling over the injustices committed threatens to tear William's family apart. 

This can be read as a stand-alone. I read book 2 years ago so I barely remember what happened there and I never read book 1. Things you need to know will be told/explained to the reader so it's okay not to backtrack to book 1 or 2.

I do remember loving William and Isabelle. They are an adorable couple and they fit each other so well. However, I did want to kick William once in a while. I get WHY he wants to be loyal to the throne and fight through the issues and find common ground...but John is a right old bastard. No Richard by ANY means. So I get young Will's annoyance with his father. 

Sobbbbbs I didn't want this to end. I hated seeing William get old. I hated seeing others get old too and die like Queen Eleanor!!! So dang sad. It made me want to re-read book 2 when William was a super youth and Eleanor was in her prime. I do want to read book 1 which is about John FitzGilbert who is William's dad. 

This had politics, feels, love, war, and death. It is the ending chapter for William, but it isn't the end of the story. There are other stories to be told. I do want to read them, but it made me cry saying goodbye to William. He was truly the greatest knight. Yes, yes, I am being dramatic, but he was such a fun character to watch grow from a boy to an old man. I would love to see a movie based on him. I think the BBC has a documentary on him, but I think the man deserves his own movie. C'MON NETFLIX OR HULU!!!!!

Anyways...this was really good. I do think a couple parts dragged a bit. We just kept waiting and waiting for the other shoe to drop. There were a couple of lulls that seemed to slow down the plot a bit. 

The narrator was pretty good. Loved his male voices. His female voices were okay.

In the end, I recommend reading book 2 but it is not necessary story-wise. I do think you will appreciate all William did for the throne and understand him better when you read book 2 first. Yours to do. I really enjoyed this. It made me cry at the end, but I am curious to see what happens next for this family.  There are a couple of lulls that slowed down the plot a hair. I'll give this 4 stars overall. 








Challenge(s):
- #31 for Audiobook challenge
- TBR Reading Challenge (#5)


4 comments:

Blodeuedd said...

Yes why haven't they made a movie about him!?

Carole Rae said...

FOR REAL!! He is literally the perfect knight!

Sophia Rose said...

You're doing better than me. I've had this series on the list for ages and still haven't started it. King John didn't deserve his loyalty.

Carole Rae said...

hahaha. I'm sure I won't get to the next book for years if I'm sticking to my trend with this series. But I 100% agree. King John didn't deserve it.