Good start to a series. I love the Wars of the Roses and this book gives it that personal touch, taking you right into the heart of the action. It's no Conn Iggulden but the author has a different style which is interesting and stands on its own merits. ( )

During the bitter winter of 1460, while simply going about their business, a nun and a monk from the Order of Gilbert of St Mary's Priory near Lincoln are attacked by a sadistic knight, his son and their violent company. Katherine and Thomas manage to defend themselves, but they have made enemies for life. Both are expelled from their order and flee, by coincidence ending up in the retinue of Sir John Fakenham, who is taking them to Calais, where they end up joining the army supporting the Earl of Warwick in the bloody civil war known as the Wars of the Roses.

This was a highly affecting and astonishingly mature debut novel, which brings the past vividly to life. The author has clearly done his research and cleverly interweaves known historical facts with fiction. There are many terms that are unfamiliar to the modern reader, but in my opinion they don't distract from the story but add colour and texture to the plot as the meanings are fairly easy to guess, if only in general terms. The characterisations in particular are astonishing, with characters so real they appeared to jump out of the page; incredible to think they've *only* sprung out of someone's imagination.

While many historical novels shine a spotlight on known historical figures, here the focus is very much reversed: the Earl of Warwick, the Earl of March – after the death of his father the new Duke of York and eventually King Edward IV – and William Hastings move into Katherine and Thomas's orbit, and even during the skirmishes, sieges and battles the author concentrates on telling the story of the common person, who usually had no choice about participation in the violence. As befits a novel focusing on the Wars of the Roses, it is a very violent book, while at the same time bringing out the humanity of the two central characters. The descriptions of the Battle of Towton in particular are breathtaking in the depiction of the slaughter and savagery that humans are capable of inflicting on each other.

Until time travel is invented, novels like these are the best option to explore the past. The next volume in the series is already on my shelf, and I'm looking forward to following Thomas and Katherine's path further. ( )

Highly entertaining, down to the grim descriptions of battle and slaughter. Yes, if you have a delicate stomach better not to listen to those parts in the narration, but otherwise I highly recommend this. As there are three more books in the series, I can't wait to get stuck in the next audiobook. ( )

This is a historical adventure story set at the beginning of the Wars of the Roses. Starting in the Priory of St Mary, in Lincolnshire in 1460, it charts the lives of two members of the priory, Brother Thomas and Sister Katherine as they leave the Priory and head out into the world. With little knowledge of life beyond the walls they meet friends and make enemies and it’s often not apparent which is which. As they are drawn into the world of civil war, opposing armies and the associated politics they are faced with challenges and peril while largely ignorant of the world around them.

It’s a while since I read this and, opening it again to refresh my memory of the characters and events, I found it drawing me in. The descriptions of the harsh winter landscape, the harsher life in the priory cut off from the world, the characters painted with enough detail to be real at the same time as being mysterious, I’m sure I could read the whole thing again and enjoy it just as much.

Clements’ research seems real enough, his refence to the specific types of trees in the landscape, his knowledge of medieval life and the roles and behaviours of people in a religious community, all add flavour to the experience even if you have to look up the meaning of someone called a Pardoner. (That was a lesson learned when I finally got around to Googling it.) But these references don’t slow the story down. The fact that I didn’t know what a Pardoner did in 1460 doesn’t really matter, it’s just a job title. (It wouldn’t matter if a character was described as a Traffic Warden if you didn’t know what the job entailed so long as they were off duty.)

As regards the battles, and there are a lot of them, it is the Wars of the Roses after all, they are very graphic. There’s a fight scene fairly early on and it sets the tone for the bloodshed from the start. I wouldn’t say that the violence is gratuitous, rather that the story doesn’t shy away in its depiction of medieval warfare which must have been bloody terrifying. The sheer brutality of the people, often not just to their enemies, left me with a sense of shock, but in a world if Game of Thrones and the like this may be less of a surprise to others. I’ve not read this sort of thing before, having been given this copy by a friend and I’m glad to have it.

Having said that I would read more. Were I not busy with a reading list longer than I care to admit and my own fish to fry, I’d read this again. However, I have put the other two in the series on my fiction list of books to read. There are clearly some unresolved mysteries that are hinted at throughout and I’d like to know how they turn out and what becomes of Thomas and Katherine as the wars continue.

If you like a bit of history, like to imagine what life would have been like in an age of knights on horseback, peasant armies pressed into service and people without human rights just trying to keep their heads down (literally in many cases), then I recommend it.

Four out of five stars. ( )

I don't know what I was expecting from a book set in the Wars of the Roses, but this was gruesome extended battle scenes most of the way through. The rest was detailed descriptions of late medieval surgery or brutal personal violence. ( )