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A review by jmatkinson1
Der letzte Auftrag des Ritters: Historischer Roman by Elizabeth Chadwick
4.0
On his deathbed, surrounded by his family, William Marshall looks back on a particular time in his life where everything changed. In the service of Harry, the Young King, William has been fighting against Henry II but as funds run low Young Henry decides to raid the shrine of Rocamadour in order to pay his mercenaries. Sticken by dysentery Henry believes this is God's punishment for his sins and his dying wish to ask William to take his cloak on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. As William dies he remembers the events of the year he spent on pilgrimage, his love and betrayal and his promise to join the order of the Knights Templar to atone for his sins.
Chadwick writes high quality historical fiction with a more romantic twist than most. This has gained her legions of fans and, although I sometimes find her prose a little too 'chocolate box', I cannot help but admire the research and passion in her works. Here Chadwick returns to the story of William Marshall which she began in 'The Greatest Knight' however this novel is a slight aside as it is mainly fiction. The fact that William Marshall went to the Holy Land in the early 1180s after the death of the Young King is not in dispute, his adventures there are not recorded and so Chadwick has made free with her imagination. She weaves known events in with fiction so the politics about the illness and death of King Baldwin of Jerusalem, which are copiously recorded, are used to place William. This is great storytelling and another excellent tale from Chadwick.
Chadwick writes high quality historical fiction with a more romantic twist than most. This has gained her legions of fans and, although I sometimes find her prose a little too 'chocolate box', I cannot help but admire the research and passion in her works. Here Chadwick returns to the story of William Marshall which she began in 'The Greatest Knight' however this novel is a slight aside as it is mainly fiction. The fact that William Marshall went to the Holy Land in the early 1180s after the death of the Young King is not in dispute, his adventures there are not recorded and so Chadwick has made free with her imagination. She weaves known events in with fiction so the politics about the illness and death of King Baldwin of Jerusalem, which are copiously recorded, are used to place William. This is great storytelling and another excellent tale from Chadwick.