Customer Reviews

Pagan's Scribe (Pagan Chronicles)

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

 

 

I was a great lover of the first three Pagan books, and so I was overjoyed when I got my hands on this fourth one. It was all that I hoped for and more. This story takes place twenty years after "Pagan's Vows" and in it Pagan is the Archdeacon. Also, this book is told from the point of view of Isidore, a suspicious and bitter youth who is also deeply religious. As usual, the author manages to incorporate many themes including heresy, war.
The only bad thing about his story is that most of Pagan's wit and funnny, clever remarks are lost. The author attempts to recreate this intelligence in Isidore, but the effect just isn't the same,

This book is a real tearjerker, and I was up half the night after I finished reading just thinking about what I had just read. This story packs so many themes in one novel that the reader needs some time to digest all the information. I also particularly like the epilogue at the end. I'm still not sure that this story is true, but the epilogue certainly suggests it.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Middle Ages, especially the Crusades. It makes much more sense if you have already read the three others. You cacn still read it without this knowledge but it is muchh more confusing, since many characters and themes are resurrected from Book Two. I recommend the series to anyone who likees to read, though there is some strong languages and a few themes that might not be appropriate for younger readers.

The enemy. When will they come? What will they do? What does an army look like, encamped around a city? I've read so much, but I just can't imagine it.

This final novel in the Pagan series is told by bookish and rather delicate Isadore, who leaves his home village, where books are so hard to come by, to become scribe to Pagan, now Archdeacon of Carcassone. Isadore can hardly believe so irreverent a man could attain such a high position in the Church. But he soon learns Pagan's worth, not to mention how dangerous the world outside his little village is, for this is 1209, the year in which Papal forces from the north begin their bloody crusade against the Cathar heretics, and the battle line quickly moves closer to Carcassone.

From the quote with which I start this review, it can be seen that Catherine Jinks doesn't abandon the spare writing style she used for Pagan's voice in the rest of the series. However, readers are left in no doubt that the narrator's character and personality are nothing like those of Pagan. While Isadore has many endearing qualities, most readers will find him less appealing than Pagan. I personally missed Pagan's sarcastic and humorous comments but still found this book as fast-paced and engrossing as the previous three.

"Pagan's Scribe" marks a departure from the other three Pagan books. The story is told this time from the perspective of Isadore, a bookworm scribe who is assigned to the company of Pagan, now an Archbishop. The action takes place many years after the events in "Pagan's Vows", and enables us to stand back and watch Pagan, Roland and the other characters from previous books with the critical eyes of Isadore who has no idea what they have been through. This is quite effective; we can appreciate the strength of Pagan and Roland's friendship objectively, which makes the *developments* (I will say no more!) all the more poignant for Isadore's unknowing. Though he has many endearing qualities, Isadore never wins the total support of the reader as a fully-fledged character, his often comical fear and prejudice less appealing than Pagan's smart-alec reluctance of his youth. The description and imagery of medieval life and fighting is as vivid as always, and the tone retains most of its element of humour, even if we are bereft of Pagan's sarcastic comments. The ending is abrupt but expected, and is dealt with delicately and simply as possible (which didn't stop this reveiwer from shedding a few tears!). This is the last installment of the series; it is hard to see Jinks carry on with Isadore, now that the Pagan-Roland theme is no longer possible. Those who have been with Pagan for all his adventures will enjoy the maturity he has achieved, and lament the ending that was inevitable.

Catherine Jinks has once again managed to turn out a magnificent piece of work. Although Pagan's Scribe is different from the previous three in its narration, it is still just as witty and intense as the rest of the Pagan Chronicles. In this book we see Pagan adopt a young boy and give him confidence and a positive role model, in the same way that Roland had with him. Although Isadore isn't quite as hilarious as Pagan, he manages to produce a very good story, and I look forward to seeing what Jinks will do in the next installment of the Chronicles.

This is only the last book in an amazing series that everyone should read!