14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A GOOD WAY TO LEARN ABOUT A FASCINATING TIME IN ENGLISH HISTORY, March 8, 2006
This review is from: Housecarl (Paperback)
HOUSECARL is a fitting tribute to the housecarls of Saxon England, argueably the finest infantry of Europe at the time. Their most effective battle tactic being the shield wall, housecarls were the professional bodyguards of the king and other nobles and formed the core of Saxon armies. While HOUSECARL is not a great novel, lacking the deeper-etched characters and more intricate subplots of better fiction, it is a decent read and a good way to learn about a fascinating time in English history. Perhaps the best novel about the events of 1066 and one told from the Norman point of view is Cecelia Holland's THE FIREDRAKE. Mr. Brown offers an excellent historical note at the end of the book, which discusses intriguing aspects of the history behind the story. One wonders, had Mr. Brown had written a history instead of a novel, if we might have had a very fine book indeed. With these caveats, I recommend HOUSECARLS, especially to those who know little of the period.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read for fans of Harold II, August 17, 2004
This review is from: Housecarl (Paperback)
This story of Harold II and the Battle of Hastings is told from the perspective of one of the king's housecarls (fighting men with sworn loyalty to the king to fight for him till their deaths). Ranulf has spent his life fighting and most of the book deals with the nature of the housecarl position in 11th century England. A tiny bit of romance is added to the story, but only to the effect that it humanized Ranulf. He has sworn to fight to the death - but now has someone else for whom to live. Other housecarls are also introduced - each with a personal story that, again, humanizes the men behind the shield wall. So many books and movies have amazing battle scenes. You watch the "many" fight and die but the story hinges almost exclusively around one key figure and it's his life or death that intrigues...no one else really matters. Laurence Brown has given you characters (however fictional) that help you to grasp the battle from the perspective of the fighting man. Naturally, you get a great deal of story dealing with Harold, William, Edith and all of the 1066 regulars. One noticeable absence was Aldith (his legally wedded queen). I enjoyed the deletion from the story. I think that the love triangle often overshadows the true leader and military tactician that was King Harold II of England
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Three rulers . . . one crown, February 29, 2004
This review is from: Housecarl (Paperback)
As Edward the Confessor, the Saxon king of England, lies dying in his palace, he gives the nod for kingship to Harold Godwinesson, his brother-in-law and oldest son of his old enemy, Earl Godwine of Wessex. But Edward had been raised in Normandy and, years before, had promised the succession to his cousin, the young Norman Duke William, called the Bastard for the unfortunate circumstances of his birth. When William learns of Edward's reversal and Harold's accession to the throne, he takes the matter rather badly, thinking his claim better than Harold's. Complicating things, the Norwegian king Harald Hardraada (Harald Hard-Counsel), a giant of a man who has never lost a battle and spent his youth as a mercenary captain in the service of the Byzantine emperor, also covets the throne of England.
And so the stage is set as this book opens, recounting the events of the fateful year, 1066, when Harold Godwinesson became king of England, at the Confessor's death, and two strong-willed Viking descendants opposed him. The new king of England was himself part Danish so he, too, counted Vikings among his forbears. This novel gives us the events immediately leading up to the two fateful battles Harold Godwinesson would fight to defend his throne, the first in the north against a ruthless Viking monarch and the second in the south, at a place called Hastings, against a bastard duke who would come to be called William the Conqueror and would thereby change the course of English history.
It's a sad and tragic tale of ambition and high-mindedness as brother betrays brother and the last English king of the old order lurches down a pathway to his own destruction, driven by pride and events beyond his control. The story follows the actions of the king's champion, Ranulf, as he struggles to serve his king honorably, even while discovering love with a local tavern maid, a love that threatens to unman him at a time of his greatest need. Although the first 100 pages are a bit slow, this tale of the dual invasion of the English coast and Harald's desperate attempts to confront and defeat the foreigners, carries you along. The final battle at Hastings alone is worth the price of this book. It is vivid and bloody and tears your heart out. Though we know how it must end, the sorrow at a king's fall is in no way diminished . . . a well-told tale out of English history, the tragic turning point that made England the land it was to be!
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