Here Be Dragons was my first experience of Penman's historical fiction. I read it about a year ago and I still remember it as something wonderful. There aren't many books that I can remember specific scenes from and how they effected me at the time almost a year after reading them.

This book is the first in the Welsh trilogy and is about the triangle of relationships between Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, his wife Joanna, the illegitimate daughter of King John of England. Joanna finds herself torn between her loyalty and love for her husband and those for father. She's not always likable, but you really want her marriage to Llewelyn to work out. You'll find you come to love Llewelyn.

This is the mastery of Penman. The characters are so vivid. The historical detail is always accurate and her insight into Wales is a real treat. You don't want to miss this book.

This book is followed by Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning. ( )

I am a huge fan of books in the old England time period. With the Dukes, Duchesses, all the Lords, and the servants. I find the social hierarchy of the time fascinating.

I loved the history of this book with King Richard and King John. They were amazing. I have to admit I loved John the best. He was fearless, but intelligently so. Richard was brave, but stupid.

The author showed how sweetly compassionate King John was by loving every child he made with any woman. Yet, once his children grow up the balance between love and violence is questionable.

Sharon Penman did a fantastic job with this book. You fell in love with all the characters. You felt their passions and fears. It's a must read for anyone interested in historical fiction. ( )

I come away from this book feeling a little disappointed and I don’t quite know why, the book has all the ingredients for a good historical romantic yarn, a young woman, the illegitimate daughter of a king, marrying for dynastic and political reasons the neighbouring countries Prince. But I never quite got in sympathy with the main characters, I was still an outsider looking in at the end of the book, never having taken sides and become a partisan to one side or the other. King John has received a possibly unjustified bad press, just as Richard (the Lion Heart) has received an unjustified good press. (A king who spent no more than six months of his reign in his country and then beggared it to find his ransom, was not a good king. A King who was hamstrung by crippling debts left him by his brother, was going to have problems what ever he did.) Llewellyn might well have been a good personal leader, but he was not a dynast, if he had been a better man then may be his unified Wales may have lasted beyond his death, with the implications that would have on the future history of what is now the United Kingdom. The book seemed to revel in the character failings of it protaginists, when in a romance I needed to know the good points. Joanna remained a cypher. So a good book, well researched etc, but not enthralling. ( )

Llewelyn and Joanna. What a story. You learn so much about Welsh history through the evils of King John. A story of true love even though Joanna was an adultress. ( )

I absolutely loved this book. The weaving of a story based on facts made this a wonderful read. It was not a dry read of history nor was it a bodice ripper of a gothic romance. It seemed to be very natural and realistic and read smoothly. ( )