The Greatest Knight (William Marshal #2) by Elizabeth Chadwick

[gilda_elise]

A medieval historical novel about William Marshal, probably the greatest knight of the Middle Ages. This is the story of how he rose through the dangerous world of Angevin politics to become one of the most powerful magnates of the realm and eventually regent of England.

I enjoyed the book, but not as much as its prequel, A Place Beyond Courage, which covers the life of William Marshal’s father, John. Maybe because John was portrayed as a three-dimensional character, a man who had great virtue, as well as real flaws. And that’s what I found missing in Chadwick’s portrayal of William Marshal. He’s too perfect. Everything he does is done honorably, everything he thinks is honorable, too. He’s a likable character, but not a terribly compelling one. Given his life, he should have been. The fact that he’s not, creates, I think, a pretty large problem for the book.

But because I did enjoy the book as much as I did, I do plan to read the third book in the series. I can only hope that, with age, William Marshal will become more interesting.




Mount TBR 2017 Book Links

Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

1. The Lost Girls
2. Hillbilly Elegy
3. Our Revolution
4. Requiem for Athens
5. Dark Angels
6. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
7. The Last Kingdom
8. The Lost Child of Philomena Lee: A Mother, Her Son and a 50 Year Search
9. And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
10. Now Face to Face
11. Our Endless Numbered Days
12.Dean and Me: (A Love Story)
13. This Changes Everything
14. Richard III and the Murder in the Tower
15. The Apocalypse
16. The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration, 1966-1999
17. The Snow Child
18. Stonehenge
19. Royal Blood: King Richard III and the Mystery of the Princes
20. To the Bright Edge of the World
21. How the Dog Became the Dog: From Wolves to Our Best Friends
22. The Hollow Man
23. The Invaders: How Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction
24. Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
25. In Line Behind a Billion People: How Scarcity Will Define China's Ascent in the Next Decade
26. The Glorious Cause
27. The Motion of Puppets
28. Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?
29. Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the West
30. The Lodestar
31. The Greatest Knight

Comments

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

You're doing so well with your mountain...!

Shame about the book - perhaps the author should have tried writing it from the perspective of someone who struggled with the hero, if they couldn't find any conflict in him at all. Is anyone really that perfect to everyone else who sees them? Surely not...!

Nice icon, btw!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Not as well as I'd like. I still have 18 books to get through in order to meet my goal!

There were characters who did have problems with him. Unfortunately, the main one wasn't rounded out very much. You knew that he had issues, but his reasons were pretty clichéd. Still, the book wasn't awful, but it didn't reach my expectations, especially after reading the first book in the series.

Thanks! I thought it fit the subject matter. *g*

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

I've seen blog posts by the author, Elizabeth Chadwick, about her work on this series - if your assessment is that she is perhaps over-enamoured of her character, I think it's probably true.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

That's a good way of describing it. Perhaps if she had had the objectivity that she showed with his father, it would have been a better book.

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

I'm ashamed to admit that I've never even heard of William Marshal and know nothing about Angevin politics! But I know where to go now to find out more. Thanks for the rec!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Though Richard III is my main focus, I've read quite a bit about the Plantagenets, and had read about William Marshal through his dealings with Henry II, and his two really awful, terrible sons, Richard I and John. *g*

And you're very welcome!

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

"Guillaume Le Maréchal, le meilleur chevalier du monde" by the French historian, George Duby ( have it somewhere on my shelves).

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

It does seem to have been translated into English, so I'll probably give it a go. Thanks!