I am a history freak and have a tendency to choose a period and read two or three books on the period in succesion. This is the third book on the crusades I have recently read and seems to be the most accurate in detail. This book is about a younger son who goes on Crusade because there is no land or place for him in the English social strata of the time. His goal is to save his soul through a Crusade, but as with most young knights his more sincere motive is to enrich himself and gain a feif in the Holy Land. This book does not glamorize the Crusades and very vividly depicts the horrible conditions on the journey to the Holy Land. In the end, all of his suffering was for naught and his Crusade was a failure after 3 or more years. The Crusades were a brutal, useless waste of time, treasure and effort.....but much in the way of new produts and learning was gained by Europeans from the Crusades. Genny
This is a great historical fiction novel. It has more facts and descriptions than romance and intrigue, but it is far more than just a dry history lesson. It's about the Holy Crusade to take Jerusalem, and there is fighting and dying aplenty.
