A review by mallorypen
The Scottish Boy by Alex de Campi

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I don’t think I have reacted as physically as much to any book as I did to this one in a very long time. Gasps, blushes, tears, giggling and full body flinching … holy cow, what a story. 

What I loved:
  • Harry’s abrupt transition from naive boy hoping for glory and riches with war, to disillusioned participant in horrific acts of war, to unwilling jailor, to a man so desperately In love that it changed the rest of the course of his life. His ability to cling to chivalry, even during his darkest years of depression, make him such a good man and worthy of the love he receives. 
  • Ian’s rage and fire - from his capture, to his transition from captive to member of Harry’s household, his journey from doomed pawn to master of his own fate as the Knight of Death. His knowledge of courtly politics, his inability to back down, and his intense jealousy balance his character so well into a compelling character and unwilling hero.
  • The machinations of Montague and his cronies … and how thoroughly Ian takes them all down.
  • The medieval courtly GOODNESS … this felt like all the best parts of A Knight’s Tale but infused with the research and delivery of a historian. I died at Ian and Harry’s joust, and Ian throwing away the win at the last moment -!
  • The Yearning™️ intermixed with the most compelling political intrigue. I’m starting to think that dangerous political machinations as a B plot to a fantastically steamy romance is exactly my brand of storytelling.   
  • The smut was absolutely on fire. I don’t think I’ve blushed so hard listening to or reading anything else this year. “I only bow to one man” hnnnnnng.
  • The narrator did a great job … Scottish accent notwithstanding.
  • Elise and Annie. Does this book pass the Bechdel test? Not in the slightest. Are Annie the Straight Aly and Elise the Asexual Badass still great characters? Obviously.

I didn’t love how Harry turned to war to drown out his pain after he thought Ian was dead, but it made narrative sense. It also got Harry to France, so he could be in Ian’s path once again. The ending also wrapped everything up neatly and in a lot less time than the rest of the plot, leaving it feeling a bit like an afterthought. That said, the ending was happy, the chivalrous were handsome, strong and true, and Ian got to meet his “niblings” and I am suffused with joy imagining the love of the household.

… We will also forgive the untimely death of Star. Why are these authors killing all these horses lately???
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