The Castle of Kings

A Novel

By: Oliver Pötzsch

Narrated by: Kate Reading

In 1524, in what is now Germany, hundreds of thousands of peasants revolt against the harsh treatment by their aristocratic overlords. Agnes, the daughter of one of these overlords, is not a typical 16th-century girl. She refuses to wear dresses and spends more time with her pet falcon than she does trying to attract potential suitors. In fact there is only one man who interests her: Mathis, a childhood friend, whom she can never marry because of his lowly birth. But the situation changes dramatically when a rogue knight attacks Agnes, Mathis shoots the knight to save her life, and the two are forced to go on the run together, into the midst of the raging peasants' war.

Over the next two years, as Agnes and Mathis travel the countryside, are captured by and escape from various factions of the war, participate in massive battles, and make new friends both noble and peasant, they also, of course, fall in love. Meanwhile, Agnes' falcon finds a mysterious ring, and Agnes begins having strange dreams that lead the two lovers to revelations about their place in the world and in the emerging German states.

With The Castle of Kings, Oliver Pötzsch has written a historical epic that calls to mind Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth and Bernard Cornwell's Agincourt.

©2016 Oliver Pötzsch. English translation © 2016 by Anthea Bell (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Historical Fiction Blended with Fantasy

Gabaldon is my exception, but I'm not usually a fan of the supernatural, especially when it contributes substantially to plot resolution. Character development and growth are interesting as are historic events and places.

Another Excellent Book by Pötzsch

This author has rekindled by love of historical fiction. Great story. Great characters. Great read.

I love this guy’s stories!

The afterword talks about how German history is not just castles and knights and damsels in distress (making reference to the use of the castle by the Nazis). For me the novels of this author are a chance to recognize a German history obscured in my mind by the horrors of the Nazis. Though they are a reminder of the horribly cril that repeats itself over and over in the past

Very well done Hitorical Novel.

Almost as good as the Hangman's Daughter series. Worth one credit and a bit more.

Charming

Set in the Palatinate of 1520s, this Historical Fuction novel propels our Heroine, Agnes, theough many adventures as she seeks to understand her dreams and the mysterious signet ring she has found. Intertwined with her story is that of the local blacksmiths son Mathis (pron Matese), her childhood friend and love deapite her high birth and his low. Theoughout the story we see through their eyes the devastation of the real war of the time and it felt strangly timely as it was the.peasants risng up to wrest control from the nobels There us a degree of the fantastic here... Some remarkable events and luck but nothing of fantasy. I really enjoyed this novel and the unabridged audible presentation

Something is lacking.

What did you love best about The Castle of Kings?

I'm almost finished this book, and I was sucked in at the beginning--I couldn't wait to listen to the next chapter! However, as the book goes on it gets quite dull, and the characters get very mundane. One big pet peeve I have so far with this book is Agnes and M--they're very immature and their "arguments" drive me insane. It's starting to feel like the characters were written by a thirteen year old who has never experienced a real relationship with real arguments.

Would you recommend The Castle of Kings to your friends? Why or why not?

I'm unsure at this point.

Did Kate Reading do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Not really. In fact, I have been wondering if I might have enjoyed the story more if I had simply read it, instead of listening to it. Ms Reading does not do that well of a job with this reading--either the characters sound too whiny or too similar; I'm not sure how to explain it but the reading makes the characters feel like they're lacking even more depth and growth.

Any additional comments?

It's an OK story--not grand, not memorable, just OK.

loved it as much as the hangman's daughter series

loved it as much as the hangman's daughter books, which were also superb. have enjoyed all of this authors books that have been translated

Great storyline

I’m selective and not always easy to please and I loved this book. It was the escape I needed. Well written and the narrator does a great job.

When will this nightmare end?

I have enjoyed this authors earlier works. In general, I like historical novels that do not attempt to update the sensibilities of the characters to modern-day morals, and in this respect, this book is just as good as his other works. But this one is too long, and the main character – Agnes – is too much of a damsel in distress. Over and over she falls into the hands of an evil man and must be rescued. It gets old pretty fast, particularly given that the character of the hangman's daughter in his earlier works was much more spunky and interesting. The narration is articulate but lugubrious. The dourness of the narration fits the narrative, but that's the problem. This book is a hard slog, with long passages about the venality and brutality of various characters, and should have been edited down to about half as long as it is. Overall, I would say, listen to all of the hangman's daughter tales first, and invest the time in this one only if you are thirsting for more by this author.

Kind of enjoyed

Is there anything you would change about this book?

the ending was not worth the wait

What three words best describe Kate Reading’s performance?

at times annoying

Was The Castle of Kings worth the listening time?

no

Any additional comments?

this book was long to get into, but i finally did and then followed the story quite easily.