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Rhuddlan
William Longsword, illegitimate son of Henry II of England, has been sent into exile in northern Wales. His nemesis, Earl Hugh of Chester, has retreated to a manor in Wales after a disastrous defeat at Henry's hands. The two resume their rivalry on this foreign ground, a conflict which expands to involve wives, lovers, local chiefs and a neighboring abbey.
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First published August 24, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 28, 2016
This one is 3.5 stars. It would have been a full four, but the end of the book blew it somewhat.
I've had this knocking around on my Kindle for quite a while now, after picking it up as a freebie on Smashwords. I'd been putting it off due to the length, but since I've passed my number of books planned for this year and since I've read several doorstops over the last few months, I figured it was time to give it a go.
It's not bad. Set in the later years of the 12th century, Hugh, Earl of Chester has a thing for handsome, young blonde knights, much to the chagrin of his sometimes love Sir Roger Haworth. When Hugh falls for Robert Bolsover, his new love takes over his life, even to the extent of arranging for Hugh to marry his sister, Eleanor. Eleanor isn't happy about it, since she'd planned to spend her life in religious contemplation, so between that and Hugh's sexual preferences, the marriage is not a happy one. Hugh is only interested in producing an heir, and can only get himself in the mood by being extremely violent to his wife. But then he's offered the chance to support the young Henry in an attempt to overthrow the old King Henry, so he heads off to France. Eleanor sees her chance and does a runner.
At the same time, William Longsword, bastard son of the king, and his boon companion Richard Delamere, are off in France, fighting for Will's father. He manages to hold Hugh of Chester under siege until the king arrives, but despite his best efforts, his reward is Rhuddlan Castle and marriage to the Welsh princess Teleri. Will's not overly happy about it, especially as his wife gets the better of him at every opportunity.
In retaliation for his actions against the king, Hugh can keep his income from Chester, but he's exiled to Wales as well, in this case to Hawarden. He sets about improving his new home, while maintaining a vendetta with Longsword, and both Norman nobles are having increasing problems with the local Welsh population. After he's almost fatally injured in an attack, Will is saved by a mysterious Welsh healer, Gwalaes, who, it seems, has a lot of secrets to hide....
This was a huge, rambling, sometimes almost soap-operaish book. I suspect I was subconsciously comparing it to Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, since historically it's set almost at the same time, which may not have helped. But where Mr Follett set up where the book was going almost immediately, this wasn't the case with Rhuddlan. I don't mind meandering novels on occasion, but I might have liked this better if there had been some sort of path through it; it could maybe have done with some editing. The proofreading was pretty darned good, though—I think I spotted maybe 8 typos in the whole book.
There's a fair amount of intrigue and action, some of it violent, though nothing here was overly explicit. There's also some violence against women, children and animals, which some readers might find distasteful, though, again, none was particularly explicit. It was interesting to read a historical novel which had so many different M/M relationships of various levels of intimacy, as it's not something I've run into that often.
There were a couple of dream sequences which were a bit bewildering and, as noted above, the end left me somewhat dissatisfied. Several characters were left dangling, fate unknown, and the endpoint for the main characters was somewhat abrupt. All in all, it was a pleasant ramble through 1170's Wales, with some brief sojourns in France and England, though I don't think I'd have wanted to have been a woman living in those times.... If you're in the mood for a sprawling historical novel with vendettas, jealousy, intrigue and secrets, I believe this is still available for free on Smashwords, if not other places.
I've had this knocking around on my Kindle for quite a while now, after picking it up as a freebie on Smashwords. I'd been putting it off due to the length, but since I've passed my number of books planned for this year and since I've read several doorstops over the last few months, I figured it was time to give it a go.
It's not bad. Set in the later years of the 12th century, Hugh, Earl of Chester has a thing for handsome, young blonde knights, much to the chagrin of his sometimes love Sir Roger Haworth. When Hugh falls for Robert Bolsover, his new love takes over his life, even to the extent of arranging for Hugh to marry his sister, Eleanor. Eleanor isn't happy about it, since she'd planned to spend her life in religious contemplation, so between that and Hugh's sexual preferences, the marriage is not a happy one. Hugh is only interested in producing an heir, and can only get himself in the mood by being extremely violent to his wife. But then he's offered the chance to support the young Henry in an attempt to overthrow the old King Henry, so he heads off to France. Eleanor sees her chance and does a runner.
At the same time, William Longsword, bastard son of the king, and his boon companion Richard Delamere, are off in France, fighting for Will's father. He manages to hold Hugh of Chester under siege until the king arrives, but despite his best efforts, his reward is Rhuddlan Castle and marriage to the Welsh princess Teleri. Will's not overly happy about it, especially as his wife gets the better of him at every opportunity.
In retaliation for his actions against the king, Hugh can keep his income from Chester, but he's exiled to Wales as well, in this case to Hawarden. He sets about improving his new home, while maintaining a vendetta with Longsword, and both Norman nobles are having increasing problems with the local Welsh population. After he's almost fatally injured in an attack, Will is saved by a mysterious Welsh healer, Gwalaes, who, it seems, has a lot of secrets to hide....
This was a huge, rambling, sometimes almost soap-operaish book. I suspect I was subconsciously comparing it to Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, since historically it's set almost at the same time, which may not have helped. But where Mr Follett set up where the book was going almost immediately, this wasn't the case with Rhuddlan. I don't mind meandering novels on occasion, but I might have liked this better if there had been some sort of path through it; it could maybe have done with some editing. The proofreading was pretty darned good, though—I think I spotted maybe 8 typos in the whole book.
There's a fair amount of intrigue and action, some of it violent, though nothing here was overly explicit. There's also some violence against women, children and animals, which some readers might find distasteful, though, again, none was particularly explicit. It was interesting to read a historical novel which had so many different M/M relationships of various levels of intimacy, as it's not something I've run into that often.
There were a couple of dream sequences which were a bit bewildering and, as noted above, the end left me somewhat dissatisfied. Several characters were left dangling, fate unknown, and the endpoint for the main characters was somewhat abrupt. All in all, it was a pleasant ramble through 1170's Wales, with some brief sojourns in France and England, though I don't think I'd have wanted to have been a woman living in those times.... If you're in the mood for a sprawling historical novel with vendettas, jealousy, intrigue and secrets, I believe this is still available for free on Smashwords, if not other places.
February 13, 2012
Gave up after only 38 pages. Book has total of 1665 pages and desperately needs an editor.
June 13, 2012
Enjoyed the time period, but sometimes became lost, left some of the characters dangling.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews