Books : Crusade (Brethren Trilogy) (Brethren Trilogy)

Rating: - Excellent read!
As opposed to what others might have said, I think Robyn Young has not only managed to outshine her first book (the brethren - which I devoured in a few days only) but has been able to get myself fully absorbed in the history of the 13th century.

As I knew little of the time period, I found myself researching the main plots of the book and immersing myself ever more into the history of the mamluks, templars and the crusades.

As opposed to Bernhard Cornwell's taste for sometimes boring battle scenes (as they somehow seem to appear to be same over and over again in any of his books), I feel that Young puts more emphasis on developing her characters well and giving them believable non-20th-century-personalities. I guess, that this is the point, which many people might disagree about.

As a non-native English speaker, I loved once more her way of describing personalities and surroundings, which clearly arose in front of my inner eye.

I think, this book could be one of those, which I might actually read again after a few years, because it gave me a great deal of joy.

The only thing I didn't like was the book cover - as it looks to me like a fantasy book similar to the abominable Eragon.

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Rating: - Gripping read!
I'm not going to go into detail about the plot, many reviews here already give that information, but I will say that it's a fabulous, absorbing read. In parts, the tension is so fierce and consuming that you just don't want to put it down! Having read the first book of the trilogy I was familiar with the main characters. I now can't wait to get the third and final book to discover what further trials life brings for Will and 'Co'!

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Rating: - what a dull read
I got so bored with this book that i'm not even going to finish it. The books called crusade and so far i'm over half way through there hasn't been one exciting battle. The first one was average but i read though it in the hope that this one would be better but its not; and this one has the added bonus of being constantly reminded what happened in the first one. i know what happened i read it.

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Rating: - Good bedtime read for insomniacs
This is a poor one dimensional book. It is great to read at bedtime if you cannot relax, as this book will send you to sleep fast. I am persisting with this book on the grounds that it just has to get better! However it is hard to get stuch into more than a few pages at a time.

Both the Templar characters and the Muslim (in particular Muslims) are just so weak! None of the Muslim chracters do anything to enthrall the reader and the Templar ones really are not believable. The title is Crusade, but I am 3/4 the way through and I can see no sign of it happening. The implausable Garin character is a work of pure literary weakness.

Another reviewer said this is Mills and boon meets History, and I think that is rather accurate. I am a Historical fiction reader and other authors do a far better job than this.

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Rating: - An interesting read
This book was interesting from the depth of research about the period he was writing about would almost be a 5/5.

Unfortunately for me, the book was let down by its story line. The characters were poorly developed, at times aspect of the story line was fantastical, and bore minimal regard to realitiy and a lack of depth. A little staid the story is 3/5.

It didn't captivate. A shame, as it was set in an intersting time, with lots to play with :(

A border line 4/5 only for the historical aspects.