Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Book Review - The King's man (JS)

King's Man by Angus Donald

King's Man 

Review by Jacqui Slaney

As I mentioned in my review on Holy Warrior, I bought the sequels to ‘Outlaw’ very quickly. I had intended to read a few other books before I started on this one, but made the mistake of reading a little of the first chapter and that was it, I was hooked.

This is the description:

THE THIRD CRUSADE IS OVER Richard the Lionheart is bound for England. But with all the princes of Europe united against him . . . can the greatest warrior in Christendom make it safely home?
THE LION IS CHAINED Captured. Bound. Imprisoned. King Richard's slim hope of salvation rests on one man - a former outlaw, a vengeful earl, a man who scoffs at Holy Mother Church:
ROBIN HOOD For King and country Robin and his loyal lieutenant Alan Dale will risk all - from blood-soaked battlefields to deadly assassins - to see the Lionheart restored to his rightful throne.

Having found book two in this series a better and stronger story than Outlaw, I started this book with high hopes and was not disappointed.

The book starts with Robin and his soldiers returning home from the crusade and finding an army besieging Robins home. Robin although greatly outnumbered by the opposing forces uses a cunning plan to beat them and regain his home.

Robin soon runs into problems with the church and is accused of using the black arts to assist him; he is called to London to face these charges but refuses to take this seriously. He and his men then hear of Richards capture and agree to travel to see the Kings mother and see is they can assist in Richards’s release. The story moves to London where following his sons kidnapping, Robin is forced to face the inquisition regarding his actions, in between creating a plan to find Richard. The plot moves swiftly and I wont say one of the major incidents of Robins trial as I do not want to spoil anything. Alan and two clergy are dispatched to track down Richards’s whereabouts and eventual release. 

The story is still told by Alan, and it can be seen in this story how he has matured as a character. He started as a young boy looking at Robin as some kind of hero and though he has now seen the dark side of his Lord he has accepted him for what he is and supports him fully despite his faults.

There are some great characters in this, as villains you have Rix and his creepy partner in crime, Prince John and Murduc. On the other side, the reader now has Richard himself who is developed more as a complete character.

There are some great twists and turns in the plot and Nur- Alan’s lover from book 2 reappears which is well handled.

There are some criticism of the author’s writing in this series, saying it’s pretty basic, but then the review goes onto say that they have still read all the books which tells me that the writing cannot be all that bad.

I would recommend this book; if anything, it is a better story than the others are and does tie together threads from book 1 and 2. There is plenty of action to keep any reader entertained.

10 out of 10

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