Customer Reviews

The Leopard Unleashed

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book opens as Guyan and Judith's oldest son and heir Renard is on crusade, that being the most expeditious method of his avoiding the civil war raging between King Stephen and Empress Mathilda. Renard involves himself with a beautiful exotic dancer, Olwen, and when the summons arrives for Renard to return home to his ailing father, she manipulates Renard into taking her along with him. Once home, Renard must marry the much younger Eleanor, who he was betrothed to ten years prior. Of course, Renard's mother Judith is none too pleased with having Olwen in her household, and eventually Eleanor finds out and this knowledge causes friction in her new marriage.

Renard always believed Eleanor to be an adoring devoted mouse of a girl, and is soon surprised at the depth of her intelligence and business acumen and finds her to be a strong wife and helpmate. Renard and Eleanor begin their marriage amidst the backdrop of England's Civil War, as the Barons waiver between taking sides with Stephen or Mathilda, the evil and deceitful Earl of Chester with an ax to grind with Renard and the manipulations of Olwen.

This is the second time I've read this book, the first being two years ago before I had read much of the author's later works. It was very interesting to revisit her earlier books and see the contrast between them and how the author has grown. While I find this book a great improvement over The Wild Hunt and The Running Vixen(the first two books in this trilogy), I still did not find the effortless sense of time travel she shows in her later works, as she seamlessly blends the sights, sounds smells, clothing of the medieval period into her stories. Four stars.

This is the conclusion of the Ravenstow trilogy of which The Wild Hunt and The Running Vixen began. The book picks up where The Running Vixen left off several years later. Renard FitzGuyon is about to become the practicing heir to Ravenstow. However, first he must marry Eleanor whom he has been betrothed to since she was a child.

Renard leaves Antioch to go home but a cunning and beautiful tavern dancer named Olwen, whom he has become entangled with, has decided that Reneard will not go home without her. The plot takes many twists and turns that leave the reader breathlessly turning the pages! Meanwhile, all of this takes place as the Civil War in England continues between Mathilda and Stephen and the Welsh raid the Marches. Renard's enemy the Earl of Chester also provides dangerous excitement between Renard and himself.

A truly capitivating read! Be sure to read the above mentioned novels first to really appreciate the complex storyline. This book as well as the others are out-of-print, but are well worth finding!

Generally speaking I love Elizabeth Chadwick novels. She's one of the best authors at combining romance and real historical detail and facts into a compelling novel. So when I found out a few months ago that I hadn't read her first three books I decided I had to read them. However in reading them I discovered that Chadwick had greatly matured as a writer since her early novels. I enjoyed her first book,The Wild Hunt but didn't like The Running Vixen at all. So I didn't have very high expectations of "The Leopard Unleashed" especially after reading some of the reviews.

But I really enjoyed this book. It is by far the best of the Ravenstow trilogy and really measures up to some of her later books also.

In "The Leopard Unleashed" Renard, the heir of Guy and Judith of Ravenstow comes home from the crusades with a welsh dancing girl mistress to find his father dying and his arranged marriage has come happen. Eleanor, who he had been engaged to since she was a child, is finally old enough to marry.

You can imagine what happens next. Sexual tension, unhappy marriages that change over time, a mistress out for herself and England's civil war in the middle. The historical context in this book is what makes it so good although I did find the romance that gradually blooms between Renard and Eleanor to be very sweet and compelling. While this isn't the best of Chadwick's books (for me that's still THE CONQUEST) it's definitely worth reading.

Four stars.

Much of Elizabeth Chadwick's research is carried out as a member of Regia Anglorum, this is an early medieval re-enactment society. It would be fair to say that it is a historical romance, but I feel that it will be equally enjoyable by both men and women.

The Leopard unleashed in the third book in what has turned out to be a trilogy and follows on from The Wild Hunt and The Running Vixen. The author continues her tale of Ravenstow, a medieval Welsh estate. Renard, Lord of the estate and Crusader knight returns from Antioch, but he does not return alone. He brings with him a mistress, Olwen, a beautiful but untrustworthy dancing girl.

Renard has returned home because of his father's ill health and imminent death. Also there is tension locally caused by the dispute over the succession to England's throne. He must also think about his arranged marriage to a nearby heiress.

Though he is preoccupied with the political battles going on around him, Renard is pleasantly surprised by his new wife and soon becomes disenchanted with Olwen, his mistress. But her scheming poses danger not only to his marriage, but everything he owns.

This is not really a review, but more of a very short summary of the plot. Renard, hero of this book (the third Chadwick novel and the third and last part of the Ravenstow trilogy, after The Wild Hunt and The Running Vixen) is the eldest surviving son of Guyon and Judith (hero and heroine of The Wild Hunt, the first Ravenstow novel). At the start of the book, he has been long betrothed to Eleanor de Mortimer, an heiress who has been raised by his parents, but he is a crusader in Antioch with Raymond of Provence (uncle of Eleanor of Aquitaine).

Renard is on Crusade partly because his father Guyon wants him out of the complicated English political situation (where the rival claimants Matilda and Stephen are battling for allegiance of the barons). He is obliged to return home to the Welsh Marches when his father's health begins to fail - and he brings along with him his dazzling mistress Olwen, a half-Welsh and half-native (Armenian Christian) dancing girl. Olwen has a mind of her own and her own ambitions which do not always help Renard. He is smitten by her charms, but not so much that he will keep her at the family's main seat Ravenstow in the face of his mother's disapproval and his forthcoming marriage to Eleanor (Nell).

Eleanor or Nell is a mixture of contradictions. She is in love with Renard, and has been since she was a child. However, she is not entirely comfortable with him, and her ways of showing her love are not well understood nor appreciated by him. Nell is a remarkable businesswoman with an understanding of the finer points of the wool trade, and it is this skill that allows her to meet her husband as a equal.

Against their marriage, we have the outbreak of war between Stephen and Matilda (grandchildren of the Conquerer, and thus kin to Renard), divisions within the Ravenstow family, and conflict with the powerful but unscrupulous Earl of Chester (whose wife Matille is a kinswoman of Renard). The Battle of Lincoln in 1141 is a turning point for Renard and Nell and the rest of their family.

I liked this story very much, especially the beginning which was set in Antioch. While the story of Renard and Nell's relationship was interesting, I was less engrossed by it compared to that of Judith and Guyon (in The Wild Hunt) or Adam and Heulwen (in The Running Vixen). I am not sure if this was because the political backstory was so much more compelling in the third book, or because this third couple lacked the spark between them that I spotted between Judith and Guyon, for example.

The story is set against the same events that form the backstory of the Brother Cadfael series (by Ellis Peters). Fans of this period will probably enjoy this book exceedingly.

This book gives you an interesting look at what it must have been like to live in the Middle Ages.