Feb
15
2007
Author: Robyn Young
ISBN: 0340839694
DDC: 823.92
See also: Library Thing ; Robyn Young’s site ;
The sun was approaching its zenith, dominating the sky and turning the deep ochre of the desert to a bleached bone-white. Buzzards circled the crowns of the hills that ringed the plain of Ayn Jalut and their abrasive cries hung on the air, caught in the solidity of the heat.
Set in the C13th this historical novel sets out to tell a tale of Will Campbell, a young sergeant in the Templars, who wants nothing more than to be made a knight so all his past sins can be forgiven and he can be reconciled with his father. But on his journey towards knighthood he becomes caught up in intrigue and conspiracy, both within the order and without. There is also the matter of a secret book, stolen from the Templars that Will has been ordered to locate.
And in the east there is a new sultan, Baybars Bundukdari, who has succeeded in driving out the invading Mongol armies, and has now turned his attention on the Christians inhabiting the Holy Land.
The book is well written, the character well-drawn, but I was never gripped by either the plot of the characters. Because the story covers such a range of characters there is quite a lot of jumping about, both geographically and time wise. And it seemed to be handled in a slightly clumsy manner. There was simply nothing, and no one that I really engaged with. However, there is a lot of detail and obviously quite a considerable amount of research has gone into this book.
Still, some interesting ideas, and I wouldn’t be totally averse to reading the sequel, but neither would I be rushing out to buy it.
Tags:
7 Stars,
823.92,
Brethren,
C13th,
Crusades,
Europe - crusades,
Holy Land,
knights,
Robyn Young,
series,
Templars,
War
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Feb
15
2007
My titles for these posts have to be the most original in the world, no?
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Thirteen Things that I wantssesss[1]
- A house. Even an apartment would do. In the city centre so I can still walk to work. Plus, if I move away I’ll be able to rent it out and still make money.
- Tickets for the Ireland England game. Come on, some one must have some spare, somewhere?
- A digital photo frame thingy, something like this.
- Peace on earth and mercy mi- Hang on, that’s a christmas thing isn’t it…
- A blue ant farm. How cool is that?
- A lot cooler is it glowed
- A Serenity sequal, or even better, a new series of Firefly
- Pan’s Labyrinth on dvd.
- A ginormous telly to watch it on.
- A Popcorn thingy to have something to snack on.
- The complete Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman.
- The Wire season 2
- Ricky Gervais’ Extras - either season.
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
- Caylynn
- Ankur
- Anastacia
- Christine
- Robyn
- Sandra
- (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)
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Linknotes:
- - my birthday is coming, so I’ll be expecting every reader to pick one thing and buy it for me *g* ↩
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T13
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