The Princes of Ireland-4 stars (POLLS)

[Joanne]

The Princes of Ireland - 4 stars

I have always been afraid to pick up a Rutherford book, so when I found this one at a used book sale for a buck I decided it was time.

This story begins in the time of St. Patrick in the city of Dublin and continues through the ages, following connected relatives. Seeing Dublin through the eyes of the mighty, the religious, the common man you get a beautiful, yet sometimes brutal portrait of the city and the people who lived there. At over 700 pages, you need to expect it to drag on at times. This is the only reason I could not offer up 5 stars. It appears that true fans of Rutherford find this book not one of their favorites. That alone urges me to continue reading this author. The Dublin Saga is 2 books, so I will move on to that one before venturing further.

[Doughgirl5562]

I've never read his Ireland books, but during the long books challenge last year, I polished off two of the Rutherfurd books on my TBR - Sarum and London. And I've previously read New York. Of these three, I think Sarum is my favorite, because of the sheer expanse of history it covers (several thousand years) and my interest in that part of England (the Salisbury plains/Stonehenge). Yes, they do drag occasionally and the writing can be a bit dry, but they are full of interesting factoids and really helped tie together all of the history of those areas.

[Joanne]

Doughgirl5562 wrote: "I've never read his Ireland books, but during the long books challenge last year, I polished off two of the Rutherfurd books on my TBR - Sarum and London. And I've previously read New York. Of thes..."

I plan on reading Sarum after I finish book 2-good to know it is a favorite of yours, a lot of other readers have said that. If the history and factoids kept your interest in Sarum, I am sure you would appreciate this one. So many interesting passages about things I did not know! It also covers thousands of years-From the time of Vikings and ending in 1534.