Don’t be put off by the cover of this, this is actually a good historical fictional account of a real part of English history. Enjoyable.

I received a copy of this audiobook through Netgalley. This is my honest review.

This story was told as a story within a story, much like The Princess Bride, it just uses a very well known English author as the main storyteller. It seems to tell the true story of King Edward III, but I don't know enough of British history to even begin to guess at how accurate the story is. I'm also not really sure what was gained from writing the story as if it were being told by Chaucer.

All that aside, I was absolutely engrossed in the tale. The intrigue of court and a woman conspiring against both her husband and her son in an attempt to wield her own power over the land. It honestly felt like she was just up there conspiring to kill everyone who might possibly be against her and her new man.

The narration was mostly pleasant, although I did have a small issue with the opposite gendered voices feeling a little bit like caricatures, but only slightly as there wasn't a real heavy emphasis on them.

Overall I give The Boy King's Tale 3.9743 out of 5 stars.

Parts of this were really fast-paced and interesting, and other parts felt like facts rattled out of a history book. The "as told by Chaucer bit" didn't really work for me, as only once in the middle of the story did they break out to remind you it was a "tale within a tale." There was a lot of telling, rather than showing, but the ending scene managed to make it worth listening to the entire book. I appreciate the free ARC from NetGalley and the publishers. I would be interested in another story about Edward III, as he is one English King I am not very familiar with.

audio
I enjoyed this one. The author created an atmosphere that felt authentic. I enjoyed the character development and blending of history with fiction.
The opening set the scene with a fictional Chaucer launching into a story.
When I selected this audiobook I thought it was a retelling or modern adaptation of a Chaucer work. I am still not sure if parts of it are. I have not read Chaucer and thought this might be a modernized, entertaining way to sample his work.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Winged Lion Publications for an audio copy of The Boy King's Tale.

This narrator is Geoffrey Chaucer. This is totally my kind of historical fiction. I love the Medieval backdrop of the story.

Well-written & narrated but not my cuppa tea😬 #theboykingstale #astoldbygeoffreychaucer by #michaeljanuary read by #davidpickering #14thcenturyengland #kingedwardiii #medievalpolitics #myeyespreferaudiobooks🎧 #accessiblebooks #NetGalley #wingedlionpublications

I enjoyed “The Boy King’s Tale” a lot ! I picked it up on a whim, because an ARC was available on NetGalley and it looked right up my alley. I mean, a tale of love, treason and politics narrated by Chaucer himself ? Sign me up!

What I liked most about this book is how immersive it is. I think it has kickstarted a whole new fascination in me for 14th century England (which is not surprising, given my tendency to find every historical period and geographical area fascinating, but still). And I really appreciate that the characters feel fully rooted in their own time period. They don’t outwardly question certain cultural elements which nowadays feel strange, and overall behave in ways that make sense to them. Also, the writing was beautiful. I did this one via audio, and everything flowed really well. It was well paced and never felt boring.

Having said that, I do want to mention that in parts, the narration tends to rather tell than show what is happening. While that didn’t bother me to the point of disliking the book, it did pull me out of the story. It felt like the author was delivering the message himself, rather than letting the reader interpret things on their own. Now this could be purposefully done as a way to show Chaucer’s hand in the telling of the story, but if this is what was intended, I’m not sure it was successful. I would have loved to have more of a “signature” style of narration that imitates what we find in the “Canterbury Tales”, but unfortunately, we didn’t get that. Also, as a side note, Edward does push-ups at some point in the story… and that really threw me off ? Because from what I would guess (and have gathered from a quick google search), push-ups are not a thing in medieval times. I’m not sure if I’m missing something here, because besides that, I did not find other anachronistic elements in the text at all.

Overall, I had a great time listening to this. Thank you NetGalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is a book I really wanted to like - it's a retelling of Edward III's early life, which is turbulent to say the least (short version: his mother Queen Isabella gets so fed up of her husband Edward II giving all her lands and money to his male lovers that she and her lover incite a war to depose him in favour of Edward III, and then dislike it when Edward III asserts his own power.) I'm a big fan of historicals, particularly ones that cover the high medieval political shenanigans.

However, the structure of this book really lost my interest. It begins with Chaucer being asked for a story, the framing device of the entire book, which is fine. Chaucer starts his tale when Edward III is king and about to have his show down with his mother's lover. Then we're back to Chaucer. Then we jump all the way back to Edward III's birth and get a massive info dump of his family for several generations that just feels like a textbook reciting facts and losing sight of the fact it's a story not non-fiction. My attention just wandered from there.

Geoffrey Chaucer would surely approve the retelling of one of his stories via an audiobook. His Canterbury Tales came from an oral tradition.. While this book can’t replace Chaucer’s elegant language, the Chaucer spirit is alive and well, bawdy jokes and all, The narration is compelling. I hope this book leads listeners to explore the original tales.

What a unique historical tale as told by a fictional Chaucer as narrator! It is a story of love, power, and betrayal in Edward III’s court. Crowned at a young age, he has to navigate medieval court intrigues with his mother and her lover’s attempts to control his rule. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
The narrator is easy to follow for young/new adult audiences.
*Thanks to Winged Lion’s Publications and NetGalley for this audiobook copy for review.