Customer Reviews

The Walking Drum

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One word to sum up this book. Addictive. Totally, completely, amazingly addictive. I was up till 1:00 am because I HAD TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED NEXT! It just gets better with each reading. The period detail is fantastic. History teachers could certainly pick worse assignments although be warned, you may stand up your prom date because as stated before this book is impossible to put down!

Read it if you love any of the following:

History cool characters Love Swashbuckling Funny dialogue Fiendish villains (The guy at the end gets the prize as nastiest villain of ALL TIME)

Read it, you will never regret it although your prom date might.

I was given this book for my twelveth birthday, and since then I have read it at least once a year. As a history major, I love to find books that reflect the truth of history in a beautiful and realistic way. Kerbouchard is a truly renaissance man who is on a quest to find his father, who may or may not be dead. In this quest, he travels mideval Europe, from the Christian lands of France to the Muslim lands of Spain and East to the steeps of Russia. What amazed me when I read this was that the middle ages were only the dark ages for western Europe; the Muslim lands were bright and alive and unoppressive. Kerbouchard's philosophy in life of learning for learning's sake is one I have adopted in my own travels through life.

WELL, I WAS IN STATE PRISON AND I CAN TELL YOU. THAT THIS BOOK IS VERY EDUCANTIAL AND EVERY TEENAGER SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. ME AND ABOUT 1500 PRISONERS TREASURED THIS BOOK. IT WAS THE BEST, EVERY BODY HAD TO SIGN A LIST, AND WAIT IN ORDER LIKE GROWN MEN. THANK YOU.

This is the story of Mathurin Kerbouchard, a sailor/druid/horseman/student (most of all...lol) and defender of all that is good in Moorish Spain (Very interesting period in itself.) and elsewhere.

I find the story very similar to others that L'amour has done (some of them quite well) but this is the best. The all encompasing man view that he likes to have about his characters is even more interesting in this, where knowledge, if anything, is more of a tool even than skill with "a blade."

This will bring to bud within you a desire to read, to contemplate, to sit in a tea house in the streets of Cordoba and enjoy thoughs...to rage across a plain on a beautiful Arabian mare, characteristic of the most precious breeding of any age...decend deep into ancient underground staircases seeking an escape from hunters...even relish the taste of water on lips almost too long parched, believing (perhaps truthfully) that you have never enjoyed something more...Anotherwards, It's a good read! Nothing too heavy, it had much the same effect on me as the Harry Potter series: just wanted to read it, nothing more. There isn't a wealth of knowledge here, just enough to make it rather interesting.

Oh, yes, I particularly liked the part where the Bedouin boy speaks to Kerbouchard about the Syrian(?) camels. These are creatures much too forgoten in fiction. The camel is a creature just as worthy (or more) than a horse.


It's better than three stars, but four was a bit of a stretch...

Other recommended readings by this author: West from Singapore (Short stories about sailor/Captain "Ponga" Jim Mayo), The Haunted Mesa (about Anasazi mythology...very interesting. Here, according to my aunts who spent several years working for a native Anasazi, L'amour does his homework), and The Last of the Breed (about an American (Irish-Soux) pilot captured on a test flight, believed dead, and forced to attempt to flee a USSR prison and the brutalities of the Siberian climate alone). These are the four best L'amour books, in my and my family's opinion.

Wonderful Historical detail meshed seamlessly with an exciting story line. This is one of my all time favorite books. My dad started reading it to me every night when I was 10 years old, and it was this book that made me truly love history and urged me to love and learn languages. It's just an absolutly fascinating portrayal of 11th century life.

Meghan

The Walking Drum is the first historical fiction book that I've read. I was very impressed. I had read other books by L'Amour (the westerns), but decided they weren't my thing. When a friend recomended "The Walking Drum" to me, well... I cringed. But I eventually acted on faith. I am now a beliver.

The great adventures of Kerbourchard kept me in suspence all the way through. I would finish a chapter, and be too excited to see whay happened next to sleep!

Mr. L'Amour did an excellent job fleshing out the charecters as well as setting the scenes and moods. I enjoyed his attenton to detail, especially: the correct foods and titles of nobility. Geographical references were also a plus. I was able to trace in my head where Kerbouchard was traveling- enjoying the ride along.

I would recomend this book to anyone interested in culture, history, fiction and fantasy.

Excelent!

The classic L'Amour novel, unlike anything he's ever done before or since. For those who dismiss L'Amour as being a mere western writer this great book will change forever your opinion of him. It's filled with engaging charactors, facinating detail, and some of the best writing this wordsmith ever commited to paper. My only gripe is this; Back in the sixties when this book was first proposed L'Amour was faced with such resistance by his publisher that he shelved it for more than a decade. Originally it was to be the first book in a trilogy that would continue Kerbauchard's adventures. Unfortunatly L'Amour went on to that ranch in the heavens before he could do it. Still we have this one.

The Walking Drum is an instant classic.
Having read the book many times at different ages from a teenager to an adult. I have found it to be full of life, passion and adventure. This book makes you want to see the places in Spain and go to the library in Cordoba, to see the statue at Cadiz. You actually want to read and learn about great things, to become a scholar, or in our day a professor or an author.
Louis L'amour brings you into the time and carries you on this adventure making you not want to put down the book.

It's Just a great Book.

In this best-selling historical novel, L'Amour plots an epic adventure story with furious action and intrigue. He departs from his renowned Western setting in order to paint a story on the rich canvas of Medieval Europe. The colorful backdrop of characters includes Goths, Persians, Greeks, Normans, Jews, Syrians, Slavs, Arabas, Franks, Moors, Saxons and Englanders, with a myriad of vocations (artisans, cobblers, weavers, potters, armorers and innkeepers), from a variety of classes, including nobility (barons, lords, and clergymen) ruffians and vagabonds (archers, swordsman) and performers (jugglers, magicians and acrobats). The scope of this novel is enormous, and covers territory including Spain, France, Germany, Italy and Turkey.

The main character is Kerbouchard, who meets action a plenty as he seeks to avenge the death of his mother and rescue his captured father. Kerbouchard's aim is to find his father, a fortune and a beautiful female friend, and his vast experiences give him a large measure of success on all accounts.

Kerbouchard is a portrayed as a warrior, lover and scholar, and it is his ability to adapt to a variety of roles that ensures his survival: from seafarer, to galley slave, to soldier, to scholar, to linguist, to vagabond, to merchant, to physician. Brash, brazen and arrogant, he is not always loveable, but in the complex medieval world in which he is placed, it is these qualities that enable him to succeed. The medieval era in which he lives is one where the sword speaks more than words, where fighting comes first and questions come later. Yet from the outset, he is equipped with the maxim of an experienced man: "Trust to your wits, boy, and to your good right hand." (p.2) Kerbouchard comes to appreciate the value of both a sharp sword and a sharp mind (p.76). One both accounts he is a rather larger-than-life hero, since his accomplishments with both sword and mind are so vast as to defy the imagination.

It is especially to the latter that Kerbouchard devotes his attention, convinced that "knowledge might be power, but it was also the key to survival." He rejects both Christianity and the Moslem religion, the dominant religions of the day, in favor of an open quest for truth, since knowledge and learning are better than money or health and strength (p.66). Here L'Amour glorifies the "spirit of inquiry" and thirst for learning, as Kerbouchard hungrily pursues knowledge of physics, astronomy, geography, philosophy, mathematics, astrology, medicine, logic, religion, politics, law, natural sciences, necromancy, drama, poetry, military tactics, navigation, history, and chemistry.

Does "The Walking Drum" have any deeper significance beyond a racing plot set on a rich historical tapestry? Consider this: Is Kerbouchard a mouthpiece for L'Amour when he confesses his paganism, and quest for truth over against the great institutions of learning, when he says "I have reverence for all who ask questions and seek honest answers... I suspect all who claim to have THE truth" (p.245) and "dogma is invariably wrong, as knowledge is always in a state of transition." (p.255)? Certainly his espousal of the philosophy of self-determination is typical L'Amour: "Up to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him; then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, this I am today, that I shall be tomorrow. The wish, however, must be implemented by deeds." (p.373)

Certainly this novel does raise questions about the truth of such a philosophy, as well as the importance of a personal quest for learning. One does not have to agree with Kerbouchard to find value in the discussion of these philosophical questions. But ultimately this book is not a book about philosophy - it's a historical novel. L'Amour is convinced that too little attention is given in Western society to the significant contribution of the Chinese, Indian and Moslem world to our civilization, and he wishes to correct this by introducing readers to a more balanced history of this era by means of a historical novel. The dark ages may have been dark for Western Europe, but it is L'Amour's contention that in the Moslem world of the East it was time of prosperity and growth.

There can be little doubt that L'Amour succeeds in achieving this aim. But even where he doesn't, there is no doubt that he's made his own unique and satisfying contribution to the piles of enjoyable adventure novels. If you're looking for depth or for perceptive insights about human nature, you won't find it in "The Walking Drum." This is not literature. But it is a great and swashbuckling adventure story, well-researched and rich in historical detail, with just the right blend of suspense, adventure, romance and history. And those elements make it a story that you won't regret reading.

Louis L'Amour's novel of the twelvth century is fast paced with lots of action. His writing creates vivid pictures of the early merchant caravans and what life was like in those times. I've loved "Down the Long Hills" since I was a kid, but this is probably my other favorite. I wrote to Mr. L'Amour years ago and he very kindly wrote back. In his letter, he mentioned that he was working on a new novel called "The Walking Drum" and I think that might be the main reason that I love it so much. But don't get the idea that it isn't a great story on it's own. Like all of L'Amour's books, the research on it is awesome and the story is interesting at the least and often riveting. He had a great feel for history, and not just of the Old West. I can't say that I enjoy the fight scenes all that much, but he definitely writes a book that is action packed. I've read it several times, though, and I always feel that he intended a sequel that he didn't get to write, and that always make me feel sad.