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Title: Queen of Swords
Author: Judith Tarr
Genre: Historical fiction (second Crusade)
Thingummies: 3.5
Synopsis: A Frankish family lives in Jerusalem for twenty years, during the time of the Second Crusade.
Thoughts: With engaging characters and a few sweet love stories, this book putters along through the decades without much plot to speak of. The protagonists are fictional, but their friends are not--this is mostly an excuse to tell the story (admittedly, fascinating) of Queen Melisande and her son, King Baldwin III. But since pretty much all of the events are historical and cannot have been driven by the fictional protagonists, there's a certain sense of aimlessness. The main characters can do very little to affect the story itself, since it's not their story.
But the history is engrossing. I'd known basically nothing about Jerusalem between the first and second Crusades, so this was an interesting look at a time period I was unfamiliar with. And when Louis of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine ride in, the story suddenly intersected with history I did know. I was delighted to find that my pre-knowledge merely added a sense of dread instead of ruining things. Familiarity or lack thereof with the subject material will do nothing to to cloud the book's gentle charms.
It's well-written and touching, with a delightfully strong female protagonist who may or may not be a touch anachronistic. (Women were expected to be properly subservient, but when menfolk keep riding off to war, they tend to need a little spine. And with examples like Melisande and Eleanor around...) The history is engrossing. The plot goes nowhere in particular, really. Whether that would bother you is something you must decide for yourself.
Author: Judith Tarr
Genre: Historical fiction (second Crusade)
Thingummies: 3.5
Synopsis: A Frankish family lives in Jerusalem for twenty years, during the time of the Second Crusade.
Thoughts: With engaging characters and a few sweet love stories, this book putters along through the decades without much plot to speak of. The protagonists are fictional, but their friends are not--this is mostly an excuse to tell the story (admittedly, fascinating) of Queen Melisande and her son, King Baldwin III. But since pretty much all of the events are historical and cannot have been driven by the fictional protagonists, there's a certain sense of aimlessness. The main characters can do very little to affect the story itself, since it's not their story.
But the history is engrossing. I'd known basically nothing about Jerusalem between the first and second Crusades, so this was an interesting look at a time period I was unfamiliar with. And when Louis of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine ride in, the story suddenly intersected with history I did know. I was delighted to find that my pre-knowledge merely added a sense of dread instead of ruining things. Familiarity or lack thereof with the subject material will do nothing to to cloud the book's gentle charms.
It's well-written and touching, with a delightfully strong female protagonist who may or may not be a touch anachronistic. (Women were expected to be properly subservient, but when menfolk keep riding off to war, they tend to need a little spine. And with examples like Melisande and Eleanor around...) The history is engrossing. The plot goes nowhere in particular, really. Whether that would bother you is something you must decide for yourself.
