From Booklist
Gr. 9-12. In this follow-up to
Pagan's Crusade (2003), it is 1188, Jerusalem has fallen, and Pagan Kidrouck, the Arab-Christian squire, and his lord, Knight Templar Sir Roland, have returned to France, where Roland plans to ask his father and brothers to take up arms against the infidels--a very bad idea, as it turns out. Pagan relates the story in a wry, often caustic voice that adds a bit of sanity to the events that swirl around the returnees--events that are pitted by danger, cruelty, and quite literally blood and guts. Jinks dramatically evokes a historical time that was particularly dark and dirty. Roland is a knight of honor, but his relatives are louts who like nothing better than fighting, using creatively coarse language, and killing animals--and people--for sport. A subplot about Christian heresy and a homosexual proposition for Pagan extend the story even further. Along with the drama and darkness, readers will find intensity and, yes, humor. Series fans may find other books set in the Middle Ages pallid after this one.
Ilene CooperCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Product Description
Catherine Jinks’s follow-up to PAGAN'S CRUSADE is another tale with special appeal for boys — filled with action, featuring a witty young narrator, and loaded with down-and-dirty details of medieval life.The year is 1188, and Jerusalem is in the hands of the Infidel. Upstanding Crusaders and their squires—like Lord Roland Roucy de Bram and Pagan Kidrouk—are returning to Europe, hoping to rally more knights to their cause. The sardonic young Pagan expects Lord Roland’s family to be the picture of fortitude and good manners, but he is in for a rude awakening. Brutish and unfeeling, the de Bram clan cares nothing for the Crusades, or indeed for anything outside their neighborhood in France. Meanwhile, local unrest is brewing. Church authorities are duking it out with the de Brams over a group of "heretics" living nearby. And now Pagan and Roland, sworn to defend Christianity, are left to decide for themselves whom to stand by-and whom to trust.
