Toby Clements

Kingmaker: Broken Faith takes place a year and a half after the Battle of Towton and the end of Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims, and knowledge of the characters and prior events is essential to be able to follow the continuation of the story. While I didn't find the sequel quite as engrossing as the first volume in the quartet, this is still a cut above most other historical fiction, with the reader being taken on a journey to the tumultuous events in the fifteenth century that are known as the Wars of the Roses. The pace is noticeably slower than before, but in return the reader gets to know Thomas and Katherine, and a number of other characters, even better. Toby Clements clearly has done his research, because not only does he give a detailed accounts of the events of the spring of 1464 involving the nobility and even royalty, but he also manages to evoke life for the ordinary Englishman in those times. Highly recommended.… (lisätietoja)

During the bitter winter of 1460, while simply going about their business, a nun and a monk from the Order of Gilbert of St Mary's Priory near Lincoln are attacked by a sadistic knight, his son and their violent company. Katherine and Thomas manage to defend themselves, but they have made enemies for life. Both are expelled from their order and flee, by coincidence ending up in the retinue of Sir John Fakenham, who is taking them to Calais, where they end up joining the army supporting the Earl of Warwick in the bloody civil war known as the Wars of the Roses.

This was a highly affecting and astonishingly mature debut novel, which brings the past vividly to life. The author has clearly done his research and cleverly interweaves known historical facts with fiction. There are many terms that are unfamiliar to the modern reader, but in my opinion they don't distract from the story but add colour and texture to the plot as the meanings are fairly easy to guess, if only in general terms. The characterisations in particular are astonishing, with characters so real they appeared to jump out of the page; incredible to think they've *only* sprung out of someone's imagination.

While many historical novels shine a spotlight on known historical figures, here the focus is very much reversed: the Earl of Warwick, the Earl of March – after the death of his father the new Duke of York and eventually King Edward IV – and William Hastings move into Katherine and Thomas's orbit, and even during the skirmishes, sieges and battles the author concentrates on telling the story of the common person, who usually had no choice about participation in the violence. As befits a novel focusing on the Wars of the Roses, it is a very violent book, while at the same time bringing out the humanity of the two central characters. The descriptions of the Battle of Towton in particular are breathtaking in the depiction of the slaughter and savagery that humans are capable of inflicting on each other.

Until time travel is invented, novels like these are the best option to explore the past. The next volume in the series is already on my shelf, and I'm looking forward to following Thomas and Katherine's path further.… (lisätietoja)