Customer Reviews

Love and Honor

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

 

 

I just finished reading "Love and Honor" and I liked it better than any of Randall Wallace's other stories. I really hope it gets turned into a film, like "Braveheart" and "Pearl Harbor", because it will be awesome! I read on a website that Angelina Jolie might play Catherine the Great in the film version. She would be great. "Love and Honor" has many similarities to "Braveheart". Like "Braveheart", the story deals with one man's mission to save a country. In "Love and Honor" that man is a Virginia colonist named Kieran Selkirk. He's handpicked by Ben Franklin to go to Russia on a secret mission to help save the American Revolution. Russia though, is much tougher than he thought... and every bit of him is tested along the way. Wallace makes Russia seem magical. I wanted to hop on a plane and visit St. Peterburg the minute I finished reading the book. The writing reminded me a lot of classic Russian books like "Dr. Zhivago" and "Anna Karenina". The intrigue and historical aspects of the plot were the best I've read since "The DaVinci Code". The characters were very rich, especially a Russian mercenary named Gorlov. The only part of the story I didn't like was that it ended without total resolution... but I guess that's so they can have a sequel.

I highly recommend this book

I really looked forward to getting my copy of this book. I enjoy an author who believes in heroes and heroines. The story is enjoyable and conveys the sense of history and beliefs are country was founded on. The protagonist, Kieran is the kind of man of honor and integrity all men hope to be. The pitfalls, temptations, and struggles he goes through to accomplish his mission are outstanding. His belief in freedom overcomes tyranny and intrigue. His ideals help him to overcome adversity and achieve love and honor.

The plot is thick with action, romance, and conspiracies. The description of Catherine the Greats' Russia, during the late 1700's, is breathtaking and well researched. I felt as if I was in a horse drawn sleigh in the dead of winter around St Petersburg. The fight with wolves, Cossacks, and enemies of American independence are excellent. One of my favorite scenes is with the bagpipes - I will not give away any detail. I like how a man can achieve love and still keep his honor even when there is great opportunity to take short cuts to achieve his goals. I like how women can keep their dignity even when confronted with prejudice and hardship. This is an outstanding book about love and honor and the beginning attitude of our nation.

Awesome! I've been waiting for something like this from Randall Wallace since I first saw "Braveheart". This story will not disappoint! It has everything you look for in a great epic: love; guts; glory; gore; battle; intrigue; disception; humor; pain; heartache; honor; courage; valor... If you liked "Braveheart"... You'll love this story. It pulls the same emotional strings and has the same heart. It will remind you what it really is to be an American. Make this into a movie! NOW!! (Personal Note-- The character of Gorlov kicks ass!!!!!)

It's cold outside, snow is falling. You sit in front of the fireplace, sipping hot chocolate. You read this book.

Great adventure, strong storyline, fine characters.

Sure, it's a novel but so visual that it is as if you're watching the movie. It's the best of both worlds: good writing and a great director! You'll be pulled through the pages. Nothing can nor will stop you.

It is a dark, snowy January night. Only reruns of Seinfield, and other various nonentities are on the tube. You curl up on the couch with "Love and Honor." Quickly, you are transported to the Russian forests, your sleigh careening through the night with wolves at your side.....

Well, you get the idea. This novel is a great way to spend some quality escape time. No, this is not Tolstoy or Doestoevsky, but it will do.

Randall Wallace knows how to execute good drama both as an author and screenplay writer.

I enjoyed this book.

I love this book! It will put you THERE and you will not want to leave until it's over. Very well-written--unforgettable characters--it's scary, funny, intriguing--you name it, it's in here. Just a flat-out great read.

Randall Wallace's Love And Honor, a work of dramatic historical fiction, tells the story of a young Virginian cavalry officer, Kieran Selkirk, who is commissioned by Benjamin Franklin to travel to Russia and persuade the Tsarina, Catherine the Great, not to give aid to England in the upcoming war with America. Selkirk, accompanied by his colorful mentor Gorlov, embarks on the dangerous mission through the wilderness of Eastern Europe to the courts of Russian nobility. Dangerous packs of wolves, bands of Cossacks, and the harsh Russian winter are only the first obstacles in Selkirk's journey.

But it isn't until he reaches St. Petersburg that Selkirk is confronted with the true nature of his peril when he discovers that British agents are waiting for him. Unsure of whom to trust, Selkirk is forced to use all of his wit, charm and skills as a soldier in his encounters with European diplomats, their flirtatious daughters, and jealous Russian generals. This is a story of war, romance, and restoration.

Wallace does a spectacular job crafting his lead character, Selkirk, into the sort of man every guy wants to become and every woman wishes she'll meet. He's intelligent, strong, and lives without fear while at the same time is witty, sarcastic, and has a hidden pain that tugs his and the readers heartstrings.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Wallace writes in a style that makes this book hard to put down. There's a mystery behind every character which is slowly uncovered. Each chapter becomes a new discovery into the world of 18th century Russia and the way people survived in that time.

I know that I've read a good book when I don't want the story to end in the last chapter. I feel like I've made friends with the characters and I'm not ready to say goodbye yet. This is one of those books. It was a great read and one to think about putting on your bookshelf if you like sword fighting, romance, and exciting plot twists.

Love and Honor was a very good book and fun read. Other contributors have said that it would make a better film. That may be true as the book was ended rather quickly and with a Hollywood type ending (I don't want to give it away). However, I gave the book 4 stars because it is obvious that the author believes in heroes, heroines, bad guys and good old-fashioned values like, love and honor. Our here Keiran Selkirk is a 24-year-old Virginian Cavalryman sent to on a mission to protect the rebelling colonies from European intervention by the venerable Benjamin Franklin. Franklin is worried that the British will convince Imperial Russia to send an army to the North American continent fresh off their war with Turkey to put down the rebellion by the 13 Colonies. Franklin wants Selkirk to win Catherine the Great over with his bravery and convince her to remain neutral in the conflict between the colonials and the British Crown. Along the way we meet Selkirk's friends and love interests. We meet the evil Potemkin (Catherine's General, Right hand man and sometimes lover), and all sorts of other shady characters. Wallace's image of Imperial Russia is like a fairy tale. Selkirk finds it amazing (as did I the reader) and struggles with Russia's internal workings. He even finds himself commiserating with the Cossacks in rebellion against Catherine the Great. Throughout this book Selkirk is a man of honor. It is of course exaggerated to make the point. In the end love conquers (you'll have to read to see what it conquers). This, I know, is sappy. But if you're reading this book to learn about Imperial Russia or Catherine the Great then shame on you. Find a history book. If you want to read a swashbuckling adventure story, then this is a book you will enjoy. It is clear cut, good versus evil, values versus immorality, Monarchy versus Democracy and the right to self-determination. I hope it is turned into a major motion picture, as I will go to see it.

I got this book for Christmas, and started reading the first few chapters immediately afterward. Of course, we all know "Jingle Bells," and "Oh, what fun it is to ride on a one-horse open sleigh." I can now thank God I won't ever ride an open sleigh, (this one was a two-horser) with Gorlov. I guess that's where "tossed to the wolves" came to play.

Kerian Selkirk, a Virginia-born mercenary, is dispatched by Benjamin Franklin to travel to Russia and plead the American cause to the Tsarina, Catherine the Great. The British have requested Catherine send thousands of battle-hardened troops to the New World, to assist quelling the American Revolution. Assisted by the brash Russian nobleman Gorlov, Selkirk meets a variety of other mercenaries, and swarms of beautiful noblewomen, and secrets behind every door. But true to his religious upbringing and democratic ideals, he has eyes for only one woman, and a special bond with the commoners he meets.

If I had a great fault with the book, it's the rather anticlimatic battles with the Cossacks, whom Selkirk is dispatched to kill. Often, the battles tend to go too smoothly, then something happens, but then they save the day.

There's word a movie is in the works, and I'll check it out. But, I'll still read the book first.

I bought this book based on the fact the author had written Braveheart and Pearl Harbor and a recommendation by Mel Gibson on the back cover. Also, I love historical fiction and the hardcover I bought had a nice painting that reminded me of the heroic painting 'Nepoleon crossing the Alps' by Jacques-Louis David.

After starting the book, I kept waiting for the narrator, the hero of the book, to make a fool of himself as I thought the author couldn't possibly want the reader to feel this guy was as self-centered and ridiculous as he sounded and that we were just beeing set up for some twist of characterization. Unfortunately, there wasn't. The hero comes across as the Dudley Doright of the 18th century. After I read the book, I was beginning to think that maybe this was a romance novel and that's how they are supposed to be written, since I've never read one except for Pride and Prejudice. The characters were all cliche and may have been passible if the author had not chosen to tell this story in the first person with the hero as the narrator.

The two stars are for the plot and for the pace of the novel. Although I couldn't wait to get this book finished, it moved along pretty quickly and most of the plot was decent, although it ended pretty poorly.