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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Somewhere in between historical fiction and history book., June 21, 2010
This review is from: Shadow of the Swords: An Epic Novel of the Crusades (Paperback)
Shadow of the Swords is somewhere in between historical fiction and history book. It's a serious novel, a bit dry in the beginning, but it ends with the heat and passion of the true history of the Crusades in the twelfth century.
Pitted against each other in this novel, as they were in the Crusades, is Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and Richard the Lionheart, the new king of England. When Richard's father, King Henry, dies and leaves the throne to his second son, John, Richard takes the throne by force. Determined to win the love of his nobles and subjects, and the admiration of his family, Richard embarks on a war to reclaim the city of Jerusalem, which has just been lost to Saladin.
Thrust in between these two powerful foes is Miriam, a beautiful, independent, stubborn woman, scorned for her religion as a Jew by both sides. Neither man can deny their growing feelings for this emerald eyed beauty, but her actions will surprise them both.
Beneath the plot of Shadow of the Swords lies evidence of Kamran Pasha's passion for writing and his love of Muslim history. He paints Saladin as a powerful warrior, terrifying and dominating, but also gentle and generous. Richard the Lionheart, known in history as a stubborn and evil tyrant, is shown as a human, with flaws but not always so heartless. The fictional love triangle is the tool Pasha uses to illustrate what these two men may have actually been like, aside from enemies.
The first hundred pages of this novel were a struggle at times, but the last hundred were fast-paced and thrilling. I learned things about this time period and history that I won't easily forget. All-in-all, Shadow of the Swords is a great novel for fans of historical fiction, who like something more serious than fluffy romance.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
MOVING, ACTION-PACKED, EMOTIONAL, STUNNING!!!, June 14, 2010
This review is from: Shadow of the Swords: An Epic Novel of the Crusades (Paperback)
Kamran Pasha does it again. I was skeptical on how he was going to pull off SHADOW OF THE SWORDS, but he did it in a fantastic way! I have read many books, both fictional and non-fictional about the crusades. Usually they have a preachy tone to them, or rather slated take. I was 100% satisfied with this novel. It read very quickly and reads like a feature movie. I love reading Pasha's book because he is a successful Hollywood writer and the books flow naturally like a film.
Kudos Pasha. To anybody seeking an action-packed and very emotional ride - you will want to buy this book. As someone with historical knowledge of the last crusade, Pasha doesn't take that many liberties and doesn't veer off the path that much. There are a few obvious characters that are not part of history - but it makes for a better story - and hence the "non-fictional" novel.
Great job - highly recommend!!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
History Through Other Eyes, July 26, 2010
This review is from: Shadow of the Swords: An Epic Novel of the Crusades (Paperback)
Few will argue the old cliché that there are "two sides to every story," or that truth requires consideration of both sides, especially when it comes to the study of written history. The tendency of history textbooks to present only one point-of-view brings to mind the famous Winston Churchill quote, "History is written by the victors." But the "victors," unfortunately, tell us only what they want us to know, and the losers generally have lost their right to argue the point.
Kamran Pasha's "Shadow of the Swords" is an opportunity for Western readers to look at the bloody Third Crusade of the late twelfth century through the eyes of Saladin, commander of the Muslim forces in Palestine at the time of Richard the Lionheart's invasion of the region. Note, however, that portions of the book are written from Richard's point-of-view, although Saladin's character remains the most influential one throughout the book.
Most intriguingly, at the time of Richard's quest to recover the Holy Land from the hands of the Muslim "infidels," the relative strengths and weaknesses of the European and Muslim worlds were near opposites of what they are today. The twelfth century Muslim world was well ahead of its European counterpart in the areas of science, mathematics, medicine, government and weaponry. Despite this, Europeans generally considered Muslims to be little more than barbaric infidels with no right to occupy the Holy Land, especially the city of Jerusalem. As Saladin and his people saw it, Richard the Lionheart was the terrorist of his day, leader of an army seeking to destroy Muslim and Jew, alike, in the name of Christianity. More than 800 years later, the roles and positions of the two cultures have largely reversed.
Just three years before, Saladin had successfully rid Jerusalem of the Christian army that had controlled it for so long. Now, while Saladin continues to fight remnants of that army along the coast, Jerusalem is a peaceful city within which people of all faiths live and work in relative harmony. Saladin, a bit surprised at how quickly the Europeans have been able to place such a large army in Palestine to challenge him, realizes that he and his people are faced again with a war that might very well change the course of history. This fight, though, is as much about Saladin vs. Richard the Lionheart as it is about huge conflicting armies and religious differences.
Pasha uses a combination of historical and fictional characters to tell his story. And his fictional characters are so vividly painted, and his historical ones so well fleshed, that it can be difficult for the reader to remember which are real and which are made up. Pasha, very helpfully, explains which are which in an attachment to the end of the book that also puts much of the story into its historical context. "Shadow of the Swords" is eye-opening historical fiction cloaked in a love story involving Miriam, the niece of Saladin's Jewish advisor and doctor, Maimonides. Fate gives Miriam a chance to charm both leaders and she makes the most of her opportunity, eagerly playing the spy on Saladin's behalf. The inclusion of a fictional character like Miriam allows Pasha to create more complete personalities for Saladin and Richard so that there is a very personal aspect to their clash as the two men meet on the biggest world stage of their day.
Readers may find this one to be a little bit of a slow-starter (and some may, perhaps, even be a little put off at first by the point-of-view from which it is written). Do not, however, give up on this one too early; if you do, you are going to miss out on one heck of an adventure and a very painless history lesson.
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