Customer Reviews

The Lady for Ransom (Phoenix Press)

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4 star:		(1)
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This is probably the most historically accurate novel that I have read that takes place in Constantinople/the Byzantine Empire. The story was pretty good, but not great. I don't think I have read any of Alfred Dugan's other books, so I am not sure if he writes this way in all of his books, but his style of writing was vaguely reminiscent of Anna Comnena's "Alexiad". However, I could not quite figure out what the title had to do with the story since the main female character was not held for ransom, although her husband was.

Anyway, there aren't a lot of historical novels out there that are set in the Byzantine Empire, but this one was wonderfully accurate when compared to a couple of others that I have recently read, Michael Ennis' laughably stupid "Byzantium" and Cecelia Holland's "Belt of Gold" which was ok (way better than "Byzantium") but not as good as this.

I do like Alfred Duggan. This one is about a Norman knight Roussel de Balliol serving as a mercenary in Constantinople. I very good book tightly written as ever by Duggan with no superfluous writing but leaving no doubts to the imagination about the conditions being described.