Warriors of the Faith
Against the churning background of the early days of the Third Crusade in 1189, three Scotsmen, each on a different personal journey in life, cross paths that bind them together on an arduous physical journey. Roland, an aging squire, casts in his lot with William, a young nobleman aspiring to knighthood, who has already agreed to take McTaggart, a Gaelic man serving penance as a monk, on the crusade. Less religious zeal than pragmatic concerns cause all three men to approach the journey for their own individual potential benefits. Yet along the way, they bond with each other as well as with other members who change their group into a more cohesive unit whose growing solidarity rests on more nuanced and expansive viewpoints. The character of Roland, a somber and serious man, frames the narrative between his initial solitary state and one that concludes with acknowledged friendships born of hardship, necessity, reliance on others, and changed perspectives.
The descriptive writing style very much enhances the setting, the plot, and the characters. The engagingly human thoughts and actions of the characters build empathy and heighten the tension of military confrontations as well as the unrelenting physical hazards of the road. The ongoing interactions between members of different ages, social classes, religions, and nationalities bring the twelfth century vividly to life. Readers will feel immersed in a world long gone but still believably real. Recommended for readers interested in many concurrent aspects of medieval European life such as military history, social hierarchies, political systems, and religious beliefs and practices, as well as for readers who particularly savor the promise and inventiveness of journey motifs in historical fiction.
