A review by heartland_hermit427983
The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, The Power Behind Five English Thrones by Thomas Asbridge
3.0
I made the unfortunate mistake of reading a review halfway through this book and now I'm completely adrift. The author of another biography of William Marshal called into question some of Asbrisge's characterizations and judgements and has some seemingly valid criticism. I'm ignorant of this history and unable to adequately judge for myself. The whole affair has robbed me of enthusiasm.
Once I'm over this miserable episode I'll be more diligent of either not looking at reviews until I finish or researching more thoroughly before I begin a book like this. Perhaps one day I'll return to it.
Despite this misery, I'm still grateful to have a somewhat clearer idea of the life and times of man who's name I had read in a picture book as a child.
It was a pleasant surprise to be reading history that connected to movies I'd seen like The Lion in Winter and The Kingdom of Heaven.
Edit: Okay. I finished it. The writing was good enough. I can totally understand folks who rate this a 4 or 5. But for me it was a 2 or 3 experience. The longer sections about wars especially after Richard returns from crusade hit a fine balance of just enough detail to be boring without enough to be good dramatic military history. Amounts of men, days marched, castles and strongholds held or taken. And the prose is uninspired with lots of cliches and ho-hum descriptions.
Much better are the sections that describe specific events like John lying to Williams face about his knights dying in battle in Ireland as well as attempts to flesh out interpersonal relations or medieval cultural specifics.
I'll be staying away from medieval history for awhile until the taste of this experience leaves my mouth.
Once I'm over this miserable episode I'll be more diligent of either not looking at reviews until I finish or researching more thoroughly before I begin a book like this. Perhaps one day I'll return to it.
Despite this misery, I'm still grateful to have a somewhat clearer idea of the life and times of man who's name I had read in a picture book as a child.
It was a pleasant surprise to be reading history that connected to movies I'd seen like The Lion in Winter and The Kingdom of Heaven.
Edit: Okay. I finished it. The writing was good enough. I can totally understand folks who rate this a 4 or 5. But for me it was a 2 or 3 experience. The longer sections about wars especially after Richard returns from crusade hit a fine balance of just enough detail to be boring without enough to be good dramatic military history. Amounts of men, days marched, castles and strongholds held or taken. And the prose is uninspired with lots of cliches and ho-hum descriptions.
Much better are the sections that describe specific events like John lying to Williams face about his knights dying in battle in Ireland as well as attempts to flesh out interpersonal relations or medieval cultural specifics.
I'll be staying away from medieval history for awhile until the taste of this experience leaves my mouth.