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{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims (Kingmaker 1)
|author=Toby Clements
|date=February 2015
|isbn=978-0099585879
|website=|videocover=0099585871|amazonukaznuk=<amazonuk>0099585871</amazonuk>|amazonusaznus=<amazonus>0099585871</amazonus>
}}
What Toby has done is to capture the feel and atmosphere of life for the everyday people whose contribution to history may have been lost despite being just as valid. These are folks like you or I would have been with a huge dose of adventure to garnish and tempt us onwards.
Toby has actually been very clever. Thomas and Katherine may be in the 15th century; however , they're not of it, having lived most of their lives in a priory (since the age of 5 for Katherine and 12 for Thomas). The priory was so enclosed and sheltered that the mores, thought and even food of the 1400s is alien to them. This makes them ideal guides for us readers, the total aliens. The other thing is that since Katherine has no idea how a 15th -century woman should behave, she can be her own unaffected self with some interesting results.
From the moment our heroes flee from certain death among the devout (talk about thrilling set -pieces!) they're flung from one adventure to another until they find themselves in a fight of a different level, surrounded by the death that they previously sought to escape. Thomas also discovers a side to him he'd rather have remained unknown as we witness the psychological effect of gory hand to hand combat. Meanwhile , Katherine and Thomas's nemesis still looms large.
Some readerly voices have mumbled about a few instances of repetitive detail but this is a debut and will be ironed out by experience; for me it certainly doesn't spoil the overall tale.
''Kingmaker'' may not have the big-character-name historic depth of an [[:Category:Conn Iggulden|Conn Iggulden]] or [[:Category:Elizabeth Fremantle|Elizabeth Fremantle]] but this doesn't matter as Toby is mining a hist-fict niche that, in side-lining the historical celebs, brings us the grass roots grassroots authenticity. In a way this is similar to the approach of [[:Category:Karen Maitland|Karen Maitland]] (but without her mystical leanings). Toby Clements has provides ripping action we can be absorbed by and relate to; a talent that many more experienced authors have yet to grasp.
(Thank you, Arrow, for providing us with a copy for review.)
Further Reading: The War of the Roses seems flavour of the month at the moment so there's plenty of hist fict for fans of past Yorkshire and Lancastrian arguments. [[Wars of the Roses: Stormbird (Wars of the Roses 1) by Conn Iggulden]] and [[The White Queen by Philippa Gregory]] are recommended for those who prefer fictionalised accounts whereas [[The Kingmaker's Sisters: Six Powerful Women in the Wars of the Roses by David Baldwin]] is highly recommended for those wanting to catch up on the factual.
 
[[Toby Clements' Kingmaker Novels in Chronological Order]]
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