There are many dry and dusty factual tomes about the First Crusade but it has been almost forgotten by recent historical novelists intent on drawing on the celebrity status of Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade. Jordan Neary has written an authentic, totally gripping account of one young man's journey to the Holy Land.
The era is brought brilliantly to life with all the religious and political turmoil of the late eleventh century. Cristo is just seventeen as the Crusade sets off, still a boy really, but he is a man of twenty and a Knight when Jerusalem is reclaimed for the Christians. He is the narrator, both visceral and lyrical in his lament for brutal atrocities and the murder of his friend. A fine, rich novel.