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A review by lisa_setepenre
I Serve: A Novel of the Black Prince by Rosanne E. Lortz
4.0
Despite its title and subtitle, Roseanne E. Lortz’s novel, I Serve: A Novel of the Black Prince, does not take as its central character Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales during the reign of his father, Edward III, but a man in his service: Sir John Potenhale, a lowborn man who rises to prominence during the early years of the Hundred Years War.
I have to admit to being somewhat anxious about reading this novel. I was interested in it because I’m fascinated by the Black Prince, but deterred by the label of “Christian fiction” (so very not much my thing) I’d seen given by both positive and negative reviewers. But, hey, I got a free two-month trial of Kindle Unlimited so I didn’t have to part with money to read it.
And, honestly, right now? I’m considering buying myself a copy because I enjoyed it that much.
Since the “Christian fiction” label was a big deterrent for me, I’ll address that first. I wouldn’t necessarily use that label. There are religious elements in this story, but it’s not the driving force of the novel, I rarely felt the author was trying to sell me Christianity or a message and as the novel is set in England and France in the Middle Ages, the fact that the characters are religious is true to life.
In my (inexpert) opinion, I Serve is more of a novel in line with the old chivalric romance style of stories. There’s a sense of adventure in the campaigns Potenhale goes on, an overarching plot about Potenhale’s love for Margery, one of Joan of Kent’s ladies, and the Black Prince’s love for Joan of Kent, while also a focus on what it means to be a knight. In fact, after reading a couple of military historical novels, I really appreciated that Lortz made the conflict between England and France more complex in a way that reflects the ideals of chivalric code – there were moments of mutual respect between both sides of the conflict based on ideas of honourable conduct.
I enjoyed Lortz’s characterisations – I found Potenhale a good protagonist and despite being an outsider perspective, the narrative didn’t bend to push him to be front and centre in events, but still gave him enough to do that he didn’t feel like a strict observer. Lortz’s Edward III is memorable and I fell desperately in love with her take on the Black Prince.
The writing is solid, the language clear but also tending towards a more historical tone – a few words jumped out at me as feeling a bit hokey (e.g. “methinks”) but it wasn’t enough to seriously detract. The novel is framed as Potenhale talking to widow of Geoffroi de Charny, a French knight, and thus the bulk of novel is the first person POV of Potenhale and his voice feels authentic. However, I found it jarring when he’d make the rare aside to Charny’s widow, drawing me away from his story and world, and I wished that we could have stayed with his perspective throughout the concluding chapter.
In terms of historical accuracy, I admit that I’m not too knowledgeable of Edward III’s reign, so there may be things I doubtlessly missed. There a few small goofs – maps as we understand them did not exist yet, titles like “your majesty” and “your highness” were not yet introduced in England and it is doubtful indeed that Joan of Kent’s garter falling off inspired the Order of the Garter per the tradition.
The biggest historical goof is Lortz’s handling of Joan of Kent’s bigamous marriages. In I Serve, Joan does not actually commit bigamy – she is about to be wed to William Montague when her first husband, Thomas Holland, interrupts the ceremony to claim her as his bride, though he admits that they hadn’t consummated their marriage. Historically, however, Joan had been married to Montague for some time when Holland claimed her as his bride and both Holland and Joan claimed that their marriage had been immediately consummated – an unconsummated marriage could be annulled easily and this is particularly notable because Lortz’s Joan doesn’t wish to be married to Holland at all. I can’t quite puzzle out why this change was made – maybe it prevents Joan’s tangled marital life from being too drawn out in a narrative where she’s not the focus? Or maybe it makes the narrative more palatable by bypassing the issue of a 12 year old marrying and having sex with a 24 year old man. I quite enjoyed Lortz’s interpretation of Joan’s relationship with Holland, as it’s quite different from the usual love story. Joan is not happy with him, is remorseful, ashamed and filled with dread over it.
I would have dearly loved an author’s note in which Lortz explained the choices she made and the historical basis of the characters. I did wonder if Potenhale was a real figure from history – a quick Google suggests he is a fictional invention.
All up, I was very pleasantly surprised by this novel and quite enjoyed it.
I have to admit to being somewhat anxious about reading this novel. I was interested in it because I’m fascinated by the Black Prince, but deterred by the label of “Christian fiction” (so very not much my thing) I’d seen given by both positive and negative reviewers. But, hey, I got a free two-month trial of Kindle Unlimited so I didn’t have to part with money to read it.
And, honestly, right now? I’m considering buying myself a copy because I enjoyed it that much.
Since the “Christian fiction” label was a big deterrent for me, I’ll address that first. I wouldn’t necessarily use that label. There are religious elements in this story, but it’s not the driving force of the novel, I rarely felt the author was trying to sell me Christianity or a message and as the novel is set in England and France in the Middle Ages, the fact that the characters are religious is true to life.
In my (inexpert) opinion, I Serve is more of a novel in line with the old chivalric romance style of stories. There’s a sense of adventure in the campaigns Potenhale goes on, an overarching plot about Potenhale’s love for Margery, one of Joan of Kent’s ladies, and the Black Prince’s love for Joan of Kent, while also a focus on what it means to be a knight. In fact, after reading a couple of military historical novels, I really appreciated that Lortz made the conflict between England and France more complex in a way that reflects the ideals of chivalric code – there were moments of mutual respect between both sides of the conflict based on ideas of honourable conduct.
I enjoyed Lortz’s characterisations – I found Potenhale a good protagonist and despite being an outsider perspective, the narrative didn’t bend to push him to be front and centre in events, but still gave him enough to do that he didn’t feel like a strict observer. Lortz’s Edward III is memorable and I fell desperately in love with her take on the Black Prince.
The writing is solid, the language clear but also tending towards a more historical tone – a few words jumped out at me as feeling a bit hokey (e.g. “methinks”) but it wasn’t enough to seriously detract. The novel is framed as Potenhale talking to widow of Geoffroi de Charny, a French knight, and thus the bulk of novel is the first person POV of Potenhale and his voice feels authentic. However, I found it jarring when he’d make the rare aside to Charny’s widow, drawing me away from his story and world, and I wished that we could have stayed with his perspective throughout the concluding chapter.
In terms of historical accuracy, I admit that I’m not too knowledgeable of Edward III’s reign, so there may be things I doubtlessly missed. There a few small goofs – maps as we understand them did not exist yet, titles like “your majesty” and “your highness” were not yet introduced in England and it is doubtful indeed that Joan of Kent’s garter falling off inspired the Order of the Garter per the tradition.
The biggest historical goof is Lortz’s handling of Joan of Kent’s bigamous marriages. In I Serve, Joan does not actually commit bigamy – she is about to be wed to William Montague when her first husband, Thomas Holland, interrupts the ceremony to claim her as his bride, though he admits that they hadn’t consummated their marriage. Historically, however, Joan had been married to Montague for some time when Holland claimed her as his bride and both Holland and Joan claimed that their marriage had been immediately consummated – an unconsummated marriage could be annulled easily and this is particularly notable because Lortz’s Joan doesn’t wish to be married to Holland at all. I can’t quite puzzle out why this change was made – maybe it prevents Joan’s tangled marital life from being too drawn out in a narrative where she’s not the focus? Or maybe it makes the narrative more palatable by bypassing the issue of a 12 year old marrying and having sex with a 24 year old man. I quite enjoyed Lortz’s interpretation of Joan’s relationship with Holland, as it’s quite different from the usual love story. Joan is not happy with him, is remorseful, ashamed and filled with dread over it.
I would have dearly loved an author’s note in which Lortz explained the choices she made and the historical basis of the characters. I did wonder if Potenhale was a real figure from history – a quick Google suggests he is a fictional invention.
All up, I was very pleasantly surprised by this novel and quite enjoyed it.