A Booke of Days: A Novel of the Crusades

Rating:
Summary: This book was a HUGE disappointment
Review: I have read lots of historical fiction. This was extremely vile historical fiction. This was more of one man's excuse to write about his fictional ancestor's sexual romps through Europe during the first Crusades. Lord Roger observes sex, has sex, talks about sex and thinks about sex. Oh, and there's also some references to the Crusades. Excessive in lust, violence, and carnal language. Lots of great research on the author's part, I'm sure, but all wasted as it's sandwiched in between very gratuitous descriptions of every type of sex! Some historical potential in there, but dusgusting to read.

Rating:
Summary: A Booke of Loss
Review: I just finished this book and I am saddened. What an incredible account of the First Crusade as experienced by this very spiritual and intelligent man of Provencal. His story, in his own words, is so descriptive and moving, that after shutting this book for the last time, I was quiet and reflective for a long time. The writer of the journal is Roger of Lunel, a very complex man whose faith is tested by the trials and atrocities committed by the pilgrimage of this western army to their ultimate destination, Jerusalem. He struggles through tests of faith and revelations, hauntings of past deeds, terrible violence wrought upon innocents along the way, power hungry aristocrats, lust, love, sacrifice, betrayal, duty, and loss.

Stephen J. Rivele, I am a writer of games and comics with aspirations to someday pen a novel as impactful and mature as you have accomplished here with "A Booke of Days." Stunning. Thank you.

Readers of this review, if you have an interest in military history, religious history, or the human element, this is a book well worth reading, and probably more than once. I can foresee myself taking it down from the shelf a year or two from now and experiencing it all over again.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting book--but is it fiction or is it fictionalized?
Review: The Booke of Days is an interesting novel (?) and a good read--but I couldn't tell if it was really based on a journal left by the author's ancestor or not--and that fact distracted me from the plot and characters as I read. I'd have liked to have know definitively, in advance--I still am not clear--, if this is (1) a truly fictional account, (2) based on a real person, or (3) a literal translation (as the preface states) of an original journal (then it wouldn't be a novel, would it?). Despite this distraction--I liked the book--the details in it show painstaking research, and a clever working of these facts into the story bring the characters and the time (the First Crusade) to life. The only problem I had with the book (and this is tied to my wanting to know if the hero, Roger, was a real person or not), was that I thought Roger was a bit too naive (especially sexually). He also was a bit too introspective about many things. I wanted to shake him at times and yell, "Roger, GROW UP!" Still, I did like the book and would recommend it, especially for the feeling of space and time that you get when reading it--a real insight into what it was like to be a crusader in a barbaric time