King Company Jessamy Taylor 9781908041197 Books
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A chance encounter plunges young William D Amory into a world of intrigue and betrayal. He meets new friends and dangerous enemies, and learns the truth about his father, as he is caught up in the fight for the throne of England itself. This is an exciting debut by Jessamy Taylor, who blends a sure feel for story-telling with a vivid sense of period, in the tradition of Rosemary Sutcliff and Ronald Welch. And in William D Amory she has created a hero that boys and girls will want to follow to the last page.
King Company Jessamy Taylor 9781908041197 Books
I thought King's Company was an excellent book, mostly because of the plot but also for it's enlightening qualities for the british-historically-uneducated person that I am. I honestly didn't know there had been a civil war in England. Related to this war, I didn't think there could be one without ongoing conflict, although this book demonstrates the opposite. Most of the population seems to have been unwillingly supplying both sides, while no confrontations were had between them.Henry is probably my favorite character because he's not as proud and aloof as I would have written him. Instead, he doesn't seem to care, he just wants to do something before he gets captured or put in charge of a country. I don't know what to think of William's political views, though. I think he's not as supportive of the King as in the beginning of the book, but not fully an Angevin either.
I really enjoyed reading King's Company, and I eagerly await the sequel(s). What's in the ivory box? . . .
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King Company Jessamy Taylor 9781908041197 Books Reviews
I avoided history of the mid 1200s because I inevitably found them humdrum, hard and relentlessly harsh.
This story was harsh all right but the story telling of William, a young second son of a manor who dreamt of becoming a knight, fighting wars, winning glory but was in reality only looking after the pigs or helping out in the fields and who always was hungry because the harvests were always never quite enough. He knew the responsibilities for his brother Richard were enormous but Richard never sought adventure the way he did.
A chance encounter with Phillip who he rescued and offered a safe stay with turned into something much much more. It would have been eventually described as treason but the road to it was so full of adventure, so convoluted and so much on the off chance as it were that it could be considered a fairy story!
Going from being part of the Kings most ardent supporters to turning against the King was never in William's mind. The fact that it happened, that it got the blessing of his family was beyond belief and it was a story that kept one enthralled from beginning to end.
Not in the least humdrum, not boring but an adventure throughout!
This book transports you back in time. You smell the stink of the rushes on the floors, see how the rich tapestries are moulding because the walls are so damp and you realise a knight was just a farmer who owned a manor and could wield a sword unlike his Saxons fieldworkers and who was a soldier his overlord could trust to come when needed. To your surprise the castles are not the French stone keeps you remember but just a kind of hill forts with a wooden palisade and a few thatched roofed buildings inside. It also surprised me how the Saxon era was forgotten in two generations. I can understand that people had no clue what prehistoric burial mounds were but something so recent!
The book is set during the Anarchy.
"The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1135 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a succession crisis precipitated by the accidental death of William Adelin, the only legitimate son of Henry I, in 1120. Henry's attempts to install his daughter, the Empress Matilda, as his successor were unsuccessful and on Henry's death in 1135, his nephew Stephen of Blois seized the throne with the help of Stephen's brother, Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester. Stephen's early reign was marked by fierce fighting with English barons, rebellious Welsh leaders and Scottish invaders. Following a major rebellion in the south-west of England, Matilda invaded in 1139 with the help of her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester." (Wikipedia)
In the book we meet William and his two brothers and one sister who live on a Norman farm in the south of England. Their father just died fighting for the king as a knight and their mother suffers from depression due to loosing her husband. The siblings are all between 14 and I guess 18 as none is yet married. Although they are descendants from the Norman invaders who came to England two generations ago and they belong to minor nobility they suffer severe hunger during the winters and have to fear for bandits.
Two visitors arrive at the farm. An old uncle returning from the Crusades with stories to tell and guidance for the children and a young man from France who is waiting, he says, for a book the nuns are copying for his family who will train William. Life gets a bit less gloomy.
But then all of a sudden William finds himself in the middle of the civil war.
I can certainly recommend the book to everyone from 14 and up. A young person will enjoy the adventure of a group of people his own age and we the older ones will be enthralled by this tale of the past.
A 10 star out of 5!!!!
This historical novel takes place during the civil war in England 1135-1153 between King Stephen and the Empress Maud over who was the rightful ruler. The main character is young William D’Amory who lives in his family’s manor near the sea. William’s father had died fighting in the army of King Stephen. William dreams of being a knight and a chance encounter with Phillip de’Colleville results in their friendship and the two begin to train together. But Phillip has a secret that draws William into a plot to bring Maud’s son Henry to England and places William and his family in danger. The description did not indicate it, but I believe this is intended as a young adult story. The history is well researched and provides an excellent feel for life in that time and place. It describes life both on a small farm and quite accurately in the castles of the period. This was not Camelot. The battle scenes are well presented and bloody, without being too graphic. After a bit of a slow start the story takes off and is filled with action and intrigue. The characters are well developed and likable. My only complaint is a minor one, and has to do with numerous typographical errors in the version. Since this is an ARC I found that easy to explain and acceptable. I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an impartial review.
Well written tale exploring a little known period of king Henry's youthful and typically impulsive attempt to join the conflict between his mother empress Matilda and king stephen. I would have rated it five stars of the author had taken the time to let the characters develop. It was simply too short perhaps better as a novella, a common problem in ebooks and so called trilogies these days. King's Company has the makings of a fine novel.
I thought King's Company was an excellent book, mostly because of the plot but also for it's enlightening qualities for the british-historically-uneducated person that I am. I honestly didn't know there had been a civil war in England. Related to this war, I didn't think there could be one without ongoing conflict, although this book demonstrates the opposite. Most of the population seems to have been unwillingly supplying both sides, while no confrontations were had between them.
Henry is probably my favorite character because he's not as proud and aloof as I would have written him. Instead, he doesn't seem to care, he just wants to do something before he gets captured or put in charge of a country. I don't know what to think of William's political views, though. I think he's not as supportive of the King as in the beginning of the book, but not fully an Angevin either.
I really enjoyed reading King's Company, and I eagerly await the sequel(s). What's in the ivory box? . . .
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