This is a book mostly forgetten and overlooked part of history told by an unconventional character. I have vague memories of William the Conqurerer conquering England. In the pivotal Battle of Hastings William the Conquerer defeated Harodl. This story is told three years as William the Conquerer has to deal with another claimant to the thrown: Edgar.

Tancred is a fictional Norman knight who was at both battles and is the main character of the story. In the end, I found him a bland hero. It was the story that kept me interested in trying to find out what was written on the note and why he was sent on such a bizarre mission.

It was a book I would think enjoy more. But when I realized there would be sequels, I was not particularly jumping. ( )

A very readable historical novel about England just after the Norman Invasion. Set in 1068, this story shows the chaos and violence as the English fought to loosen the foothold that the French Normans had gained on their island, from the perspective of a Norman soldier working to protect and support King Guillaume against the 'rebels' in Northumbria.
Written by an author who is a scholar of English history, this book uses the place names and Old English that would have been in use in 1068, though not to an extent that it gets in the way of the story. I was amused by how hard Old English was to understand even with my having studied German, which share a similar linguistic origin. And, while some of the details from history have been changed a bit to work better within the novel, for the most part this is a good retelling of history, so you can learn some history along the way. I always like books that teach real stuff while I am being entertained by adventure stories. ( )

History is written by the winners.

As someone much cleverer (Winston Churchill?) than me once said.

Except for the aftermath of the 1066 invasion and conquering of Olde England, by the Normans. All the stories about that disaster I can remember reading, are by the losers; the English.

Well, we've got the Bayeux Tapestry, of course, but that stayed in Normandy and is a little biased, I think most people would admit.

There is 'The Doomsday Book', but that is more a stock-taking and history has to be prised from it and implied and it doesn't read like a novel.

In later years, long removed from 1066, we generally hear from the poor, down-trodden 'Saxons' in their constant struggle against the dastardly Normans, personified in the tales of Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham.

That I know of, anyway.

This is an unusual book then, in that it is written from the point of view of one of the conquering Normans, only a couple of years after the 'Battle of Hastings'. Britain isn't completely conquered, the English people are still rebellious and the Normans see them as still rebelling against their new masters. In the pre-internet and national newspaper days, that's probably because not all Englishmen have heard that they in fact have new masters yet.

The story concerns a reasonably middle-ranking Norman Knight, who fought at Hastings (must point out here that the battle actually took place at what is now a town called Battle and the invading fleet probably landed near what is now Hastings). He has journeyed to the north of England, to the furthest reaches of the Normans' power, just two years after 1066. He loses his original Lord to the rebellious English and is sworn to another, embarking then on a mysterious mission, which on the surface seems easy enough - to protect a Churchman while he delivers a message for his nobleman, in the south of England - but develops and becomes more and more dangerous and, to him, develops treasonous over- and undertones, the longer the journey goes on.

This is where the book is, to me, an oddity. I am English and so used to reading about the Normans as the enemy. The English are the noble freedom fighters, battling to rid our green and pleasant land from the vicious enslavers. However, this book, by dint of being written from the Normans' point of view, turns all that on its head. And creates some very odd moments during its reading. To the book's hero, our Knight called Tancred, the Normans are of course, the rightful masters. Their King - William - the rightful King Harald Godwinsson is a traitor and usurper, who went back on a sworn promise to support William's claim to the throne. The English are the terrorists, intent on causing trouble and treachery at every turn and with every sly glance. Whether I had to hold myself back from hoping the Norman Knight would succeed in his mission, or win his battles against seemingly insurmountable odds, or come through in tense, sticky situations...I wouldn't like to admit. It's certainly an odd feeling to wonder if you should cheer for the Normans or hope the English suceed in their rebellious ways. Of course, it's not as easy as always seeing French-speaking, arrogant Normans against heroic, (Old) English-speaking natives. It's never completely black and white, right against wrong, conquerors against conquerees (?). All of which tends to keep you on your toes, keeps you thinking and keeps you involved in the tale.

'Sworn Sword' is a thoroughly enjoyable, fast moving, constantly surprising, satisfying, hard to put down, blood-soaked rampage through a post-Viking England. The old ways are about to be ridden rough-shod over, by the new, unfeeling, sophisticated and, for goodness' sake, French speaking invaders (themselves, old Viking stock, of course). For his first novel (as I understand it) James Aitcheson writes with great verve, passion and a sure style that puts him immediately in the same shield-wall as Bernard Cornwell, Robert Low, Giles Kristian and very few others. He Tweets me that there is a sequel out later in the year and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into that and having my English emotions twisted again very much indeed.

You really can't say fairer than that. ( )

Tancred is a knight following his lord as they move into Northumbria post Hastings. It's 1069 and things are not settled for William the Conqueror in England, especially in the North. In a surprise attack while Tancred and some of his men are out scouting the town is attacked and his Lord, Robert Commines is killed. Wounded while fighting, he and two friends managed to escape and find help for Tancred's wound the next town up. There Tancred reluctantly agrees to a task for a new lord despite wanting to stay, fight the enemy and be the one to kill Edgar the Aethling - the one who leads the rebels and therefore responsible for the death of his former master.

And the woman he continues to dream about. Who he knew for about six months, couldn't communicate with because he speaks French and she spoke English but hey, the sex was good. He still mourns her. Endlessly.

His sword arm itches a lot too. In fact if it itched one more time I was going to take a sword and cut it off. I appreciate that Tancred is a warrior. I appreciate that Tancred wants to fight but seriously there has to be another way to express it other than his sword arm itching. I did read an ARC so maybe this was corrected in the final copy.

Maybe I shouldn't type reviews when I have a headache. My two major complaints being expressed I can write that I did find the book readable.The author's note in the back indicates that it is based in history and that many of the characters did exist. It's a first book for Mr. Aitcheson and I would imagine that he will get better with Tancred as he goes forth in the world. Tancred needs some maturity. For a man that leads men into battle he has a very short fuse and he is really not too bright. He is a warrior as we are told ad nauseum and he wants to fight - see arm itching - but there is a lot more to a good book than battles. Characters need depth and scenes need development. I'll give the next book in the series a try - I'm not ready to give up on our hero just yet. ( )

It's good, at last, to find someone tackle the Norman invasion. Too often it is assumed that the Saxon population gave up after their loss at Hastings. This book starts to put that fallacy to rest. I'm looking forward to how the author handles the "harrying of the North" by William in future books in the series.

It liked the use by the author of Saxon place-names and of the Saxon and Norman personal names so that William is called Guillaume and so on. Making the Saxons speak Anglo-Saxon and handling it as a foreign language also worked well. The author clearly knows his history!

The story was well written, fast paced and worked around the known history in ingenious ways.

I was enthralled from cover to cover.