H A Culley

This is the fourth in the author's series of historical novels featuring his fictional ancestors the de Cuillys, a Norman family serving under the Angevin kings of England. As the title suggests, the action transfers to the Third Crusade and King Richard the Lionheart's attempts to recapture Jerusalem from the Saracen leader Saladin. Despite being very interested in and having read a lot of both fiction and nonfiction about this period, I have been lukewarm about this series and this book for me continues that trend. The author is too fond of telling events in narrative form rather than showing them happening through the actions of the characters, almost as though he really wanted to write a nonfictional narrative while working his ancestors into the story. This is to take away nothing from his research, which is sound, but this does not make for the most engaging read as a novel and for this reason, I will probably not read any of his other novels, though they are also set against historical backdrops I find interesting.… (plus d'informations)

This is the third book in the author's Normans series, featuring his fictional ancestors the de Cuillys, a Norman family. The action here takes place during a time of bitter conflict between England and Scotland in the 12th century (the title refers to William, called the Lion, the Scottish king), with branches of the family on different sides. I am very interested in the history of this period, which keeps me reading, though I find these as novels to be somewhat unsatisfactory. The author has done his research impressively and clearly wants to make his novels well grounded in historical fact, but this periodically spills over into rather excessive information dumps, as though he wanted to write a non-fiction book as much as, if not more than, a novel. The dialogue also sometimes comes across as too modern and/or stilted. A family tree of the various de Cuilly branches would also be helpful, not least because the list of characters at the start of the book is unhelpfully listed in order of appearance, not in family or other linked groupings. Despite these shortcomings, there was enough action to keep me reading and a few memorable scenes.

I had thought this series was a trilogy but have just found out having finished this that there is a fourth one available (and I see online there is a fifth one albeit set earlier on between the first two books).… (plus d'informations)

This is the middle book in the author's Normans series, featuring the doings of his fictional ancestors the de Cuillys, divided into two branches, in England and France. The action here takes place during the civil war between Stephen and his cousin Maud (as she is called here to distinguish her from his wife Matilda of Boulogne), with betrayals and violent incidents aplenty. The story is quite well told, but I didn't find it as engaging as some other novelists' of these events. There is a bit too much summary retelling of historical events and not quite enough plot in some places.… (plus d'informations)

Historical novels set at the time of the Norman Conquest seem to pop up quite frequently these days and this book, which is the first of a trilogy of novels featuring generations of the same families, covers the years immediately before and after the Conquest itself. It doesn't in the main follow the fortunes of the leading historical figures, but rather that of a family of Norman Knights, the de Cuillys, and the Saxon family of Oswin (though the latter family definitely features less). The storyline is engaging enough, though I thought a lot of the dialogue sounded too modern or strangely timeless. Finally, this Kindle edition contained rather a lot of typos and errors.… (plus d'informations)