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Free Lance and the Field of Blood (Free Lance Trilogy 2) by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (view source)
Revision as of 08:55, 17 September 2020
, 08:55, 17 September 2020no edit summary
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}} The world of jousting is a fierce one – survive the minor battles with the lance, either as a bonded employed Knight or as a Free Lance, and you might try your hands at the major league. There the men are stronger, the horses faster, and the ground hurts more when you hit it. But the big -time also offers more that can put a humble Knight at risk – such as evil hosts, beautiful princess-types in pickles, and mysteriously successful strangers. Our nameless hero and his loyal horse, Jed, are going to be up against a lot more than they expected here…
This is the second Free Lance book I've read – they had entirely passed me by since first publication in 2003 until here and now in 2017. This is very different from [[Free Lance and the Lake of Skulls by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell|the first book]], as that was a standard fantasy quest story, albeit a very good one for this age range. This volume is, it's happy to say, entirely self-contained. Here you get a real evocation of a Knight at a tournament – the preparations he has to undergo, the whole rigmarole with the lady's handkerchiefs and so on, and all the machinations the author can thrust at him.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
You might also enjoy [[Norman the Norman from Normandy (Little Gems) by Philip Ardagh and Tom Morgan-Jones]].
We don't get proper books about proper jousting enough here at The Bookbag. So much so I have to nudge you towards [[The Hawk of the Castle: A Story of Medieval Falconry by Danna Smith and Bagram Ibatoulline]] for another accurate look at mediaeval activities for this age range.