CRUSADER

HistoryGreat historical novel

I read the majority of book 2 while traveling in Greece. I'll keep this short. Excellent story. Ben, as he writes in the notes, spent a lot of time getting the history right so even as I read a very enjoyable story I know what I am reading is factual. Great characters, good pacing, and really well written battle scenes. I followed up on youtube watching visual interpretations. Book 3 is on order.

The first book was a stand alone good novel but this one just stole the plot from A Knights Tale and others. Just trying to make a series with other books. I certainly won’t but any more from this author.

This fantastic book is the 2nd volume of the life-story of Richard Lionheart, intertwined with the fictional narrator's life-story, being the Irish noble from Leinster but now retired knight who goes by the name of, Ferdia Ó Catháin aka Rufus O'Kane, and he's telling his story 30 years after Richard's death.At the beginning of the book you'll see two well-drawn maps, one of Sicily and Southern Italy, and one of Outremer (The Holy Land) and Cyprus, both in the late 12th Century, while there's also a wonderful List of Characters with amazing great historical and superbly fictional figures.At the back of the book you'll notice an Author's Note where the historical details concerning this terrific tale are fabulously explained by the author.Story-telling is as ever of a top-notch quality, all figures featuring in this amazing historical novel come vividly to life, while the atmosphere and places of interest in these brutal historical times come splendidly off the pages.The book starts off with an exciting prologue, where Rufus/Ferdia is settling a score with a certain Henry in an attempt to save his deadly secret, and in doing so to keep his occupation as an adviser/friend of King Richard.The book is divided into four parts, starting as from September AD 1189 until late September/begin October AD 1192, and the book will describe the life of King Richard as a courteous man with fits of anger, a true leader of men in war, a shrewd tactician when dealing with other monarchs, and as a courageous man when fighting battles against overwhelming odds.What is to come is a gripping and eventful historical novel, where we follow in a most spectacular fashion the paths of the fictional narrator, Rufus, alongside the astonishing historical figure of this book, Richard Lionheart, whenever its about domestic life or on the battlefield, or life at court where disputes, intrigue and cunning are rife between various monarchs, where also alliances are made and broken for power and warfare, but when animosity between Christian allies starts to show it will play a destructive part for King Richard in his quest to conquer Jerusalem from the Saracens and its great leader Saladin, but when he finally hears of betrayal at home he has to decide to abandon his conquering of Jerusalem, and to go back home and try to stop these treacherous happenings in England and his territories on the mainland by his brother, John, and King Philippe Capet of France.Highly recommended, look very much forward to the final instalment, and what this episode is concerned I like to call it: "A Glorious Lionheart Centrepiece"!

Ben Kane is one of the premier authors of historical fiction. His shift from Rome to the Crusades, was seamless as he continues to paint a brilliant picture of bloody battles and the political machinations that go on in between. Hard to put this one down