** CHRISTIAN HISTORICAL FICTION **
Born a baron's daughter, Lady Merry Ellison is now an enemy of the throne after her father's failed assassination attempt upon the king. Bold and uniquely skilled, she is willing to go to any lengths to protect the orphaned children of her former village--a group that becomes known as "The Ghosts of Farthingale Forest." Merry finds her charge more difficult as their growing notoriety brings increasing trouble their way. Timothy Grey, ninth child of the Baron of Greyham, longs to perform some feat so legendary that he will rise from obscurity and earn a title of his own. When the Ghosts of Farthingale Forest are spotted in Wyndeshire, where he serves as assistant to the local earl, he might have found his chance. But when he comes face-to-face with the leader of the thieves, he's forced to reexamine everything he's known.
★★★☆☆
Lady Merry Ellison, daughter of a baron, witnesses an attack on her community that leaves many children orphaned. Word gets around that Merry's father attempted to assassinate the king. Merry, guilty by association and now marked as an enemy of the throne, goes into hiding. Though once a person of strong, ardent faith, the attack on her community turns Merry's beliefs more towards the agnostic / atheist direction, now leaving her to deem believers as "superstitious". Will future events bring her heart back to a path of faith?
Timothy Grey, also the child of a baron, craves a chance to become legendary, leaving his own immortal mark on history. Serving as the assistant to Lord Wyndemere, Timothy is tasked with capturing those still uncaptured and considered a threat to the throne. Timothy gradually begins to join forces once Merry decides to watch over the orphans, now formed into a band of scrappy fighters known as "The Ghosts of Farthingale Forest," a group that also includes some men and women who now look to Merry to lead them. Unlike Timothy, Merry is not concerned with notoriety, she only wishes to keep the orphans fed and safe, even if she has to train them into little soldiers to accomplish this. Timothy was originally told that he'd have to bring in at least three captured "ghosts" to keep his job, but he has some competition in the form of Lord Wyndemere's stable master, a man intent on discovering the secret location of the Ghosts and knocking Timothy out of the favored position with their employer. If there's any chance of keeping the little ones safe, Timothy and Merry will have to find a way to work together.
One thing I have learned --- the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend. Oft as not, he is just another enemy waiting to be discovered.
Action comes into the plot once Allen, one of Merry's men, discover she's been abducted. At this point the reader is given dual plots to witness as, on one hand, we see the Ghosts ban together to figure out how to most cleverly free Merry from her captor, while at the same time we witness said captor trying to ply Merry with rich gifts such as all the best foods, exquisite gowns, embroidery hoops, writing items, a lute, a loom... all to try to get her to give up secrets about The Ghosts.
While Merry's story does quite visibly hold likenesses to the classic tale of Robin Hood, it is not a direct retelling, as Robin Hood himself is actually mentioned in the first chapter of Dauntless as someone living at the same time as Merry. (There's also a few cameos from / mention of historical figures such as King John, son of Eleanor of Aquitaine.)
Personally, I preferred "woodland" Merry to Lady Merry. While living among The Ghosts, she had more warmth to her personality, much more of a big sister / motherly way about her, particularly among the younger, more scared girls, that was quite sweet to see. I also liked the moments where she takes time to dabble in crafting poetry here and there, though she often follows it with chiding herself for "indulging in frivolity." As far as Timothy, his tendency towards classicism had me rooting for Allen more and more the further along I got in the story.
Strong and adventurous Gwendolyn Barnes longs to be a knight like her chivalrous brothers. However, that is not an option for her, not even in the Arthurian-inspired Eden where she dwells. Her parents view her only as a marriage pawn, and her domineering father is determined to see her wed to a brutish man who will break her spirit. When handsome, good-hearted Allen of Ellsworth arrives in Edendale searching for his place in the world, Gwendolyn spies in him the sort of fellow she could imagine marrying. Yet fate seems determined to keep them apart. Tournaments, intrigue, and battles--along with twists and turns aplenty--await these two as they struggle to find love, identity, and their true destinies.
★★★1/2
In 13th century England, Gwendolyn Barnes wants to be a knight like her brothers, but her scheming father just wants her married off in a financially advantageous match. The suitor Gwendolyn's father has chosen for her has a reputation for being rather brutish in nature. It's laid out early on that our leading lady has already survived a childhood of beatings, starvation and imprisonment at the hands of her father, so more of the same from a husband just won't do.
"Although I long to be obedient, 'tis difficult when one's father is a tyrant with moods like a tempest."
A subtle sadness swept over Mother's features, "Yes, but you could obey me. I do my best to soften Father's moods and protect you from the worst of his temper."
Gwen had always suspected her mother's bruises had more to do with standing up for her children than anything else. Otherwise, she would just charm or relent as always.
"I am sorry. I will do my best to obey you from now on, and to not let bitterness keep me from obeying Father in the areas that I can. But I must also stand up for myself when it comes to issues that affect my entire future. Like marriage."
In the process of fighting for her freedom, Gwendolyn meets Allen of Ellsworth, the same Allen of The Ghosts of Farthingale Forest introduced in Dauntless, Book 1 of this series. The two bond through their mutual need to move through the world on their own terms. Both feeling the call of service on their hearts, they work together to battle against yet another plot to overthrow a kingdom. Along the way, Gwendolyn finds herself charmed by Allen's good looks and kind heart, while Allen finds himself moved by Gwen's strength of spirit and sense of compassion. The mighty team these two will make, if given the opportunity!
The plot here is kept lively with scenes full of jousting, battles, court intrigue, and dialogue written to keep a reader quite intrigued. We also see a reappearance / continuation of Merry's story when Book 1's MC is reunited with old friends to take care of some trouble involving a current foe of Allen's in this book's plot.
Though a little extra preachy towards the end, the closing scenes do bring in quite a big of action for a dramatic finale, and that very last scene drops the curtain on a very sweet moment.
Inspired by the vision of the Young Lady Sapphira, Rosalind of Ipsworth joins a group of men, women, and children as a defender of the cross, seeking to free captives from prisons near Tripoli. She gladly gives herself to the cause, as she's haunted by a tragic mistake and no longer deserves such joys as marriage and family might bring. Sir Randel Penigree was reared to serve in the church, but dreams of protecting the innocent as a knight. Joining a crusade to escape humiliation at home, he finds himself drawn to Rosalind as they partner to train and protect a group of young adolescents. When they face political machinations, danger, and an unknown enemy bent on their destruction, they are forced to reconsider their priorities and the very nature of the God they serve.
★★★1/2
Staying in the same 13th century setting as the earlier novels, we now meet seventeen year old Rosalind of Ipsworth, an employee of Sir Allen and Lady Gwendolyn (introduced in Chivalrous, Valiant Hearts #2). With the community having recently been spiritually moved by the divine visions experienced by thirteen year old Lady Sapphira, the decision is made to put together a group to travel to the Holy Land to hopefully free Christians being held captive by Muslim soldiers. One of the captives, Lord Richard De Montfort, is brother of Duchess Adela De Montfort and cousin of Lady Sapphira.
This Holy Land party made up of mostly women and children, with a few men as well, seek to defend the cross and free Christians being held captive in Tripoli. There is also hope that Christian forces can overthrow Muslim rule currently reigning over the area. Lady Gwendolyn and Rosalind trained together in combat arts with this mission in mind, but once Gwen discovers she is with child, she urges Rosalind to continue on without her. Officially, Rosalind's role will be to watch over the young girls in the group as well as serve as special attendant to Lady Sapphira. Though that may be professional position on this trip, her internal motivation is the hope that going on this crusade will help ease the guilt plaguing her in connection to a horrible mistake from her past.
Also along on the journey are Sadie, one of the original Farthingale Forest Ghosts, and Randel Penigree, a close friend of Sir Allen & Lady Gwen. Randel's greatest desire is to have enough success on this crusade to finally win the approval of his parents and secure a spot as a warrior monk for the Templar Knights. Sir Randel's position is to train the young boys of the group as reinforcement soldiers. Working together with the groups of children, Rosalind and Randel's friendship continues to grow. Though it verges on turning into something deeper, both hesitate to acknowledge anything beyond the platonic, as they both carry secrets that convince them neither are suited for committed relationships... unless it's to the church.
'I have met others among different traditions. Whatever our faith, I think, we all know somewhere deep inside that the path of love is best. But many harden their hearts to that truth.'
~~ Abu-Wassim
Courageous, in my opinion, had the most cinematic (epic is scope / description) scenes of the entire trilogy. Additionally, the plot also periodically provides some intrigue, in the moments when the POV switches from third to first person. This first person narrator is unidentified for most of the book, and clues to their identity are kept minimal. The one point that is made clear is that they want Sir Randel dead... and there are just enough clues provided to show the reader that this mystery person is someone who is clearly within close proximity to Randel pretty much all the time, but that they are waiting for just the right moment to carry out their plan.
Though this is technically a historical fiction piece, only minimal portions of the plot are spent actually focusing on that aspect. The majority of the storytelling focuses on the various romances within this group of people. Not that the characters and these relationships aren't entertaining, but I was a little disappointed to see that so early in the novel the plot is already falling on the romance trope of "let's fake a romance but then oops, we're probably going to fall in love for real". On top of that, for being a woman of the 12th century, Rosalind's mannerisms and dialogue often read pretty modern.
One of the best take-aways from this novel is the way in which Sleiman's story brings home the fact that while the children of these Crusade missions might have been blessed with visions and extraordinary strength and grit, at the heart they were still CHILDREN, with all the same fears and concerns of any other child that age. All in all, this was nearly a 4 star read for me, minus some issues here and there... the main one being the closing chapters. I didn't love the underlying tone the stories of some of these characters creates: this unspoken stance that Christians are better than Muslims and that Muslims, for the most part, needed to be killed, captured, converted, or shunned... and though friendships might be established, the friendships were ultimately stronger if everyone could come around to the Christian faith. While I get that this is, at the end of the day, a Christian fiction work, it bothered me that this trilogy would close on that note.
FTC DISCLAIMER: Bethany House Publishing kindly provided me with complimentary copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. The opinions above are entirely my own.
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