27 Mar 2021

Lady Rosamund by Joyce Williams Review

 The Rose and the Ring #1

283 Pages, November 17th 2014, Redemptive Rose Fiction 

Print and Ebook

 

 


Genre: Historical Fiction- Medieval

Setting:  Scandinavia early 1400s

Strong-minded Lady Rosamund rebels at being a pawn in a political chess game that sets her up as the prize if Hanseatic sea captain Erik Branden defeats her father’s enemy.

Victorious, but injured, Erik stumbles on Burg Mosel's tower steps accidentally tripping the mechanism that opens a secret chamber and exposes a skeleton. His discovery solves a long-standing mystery and uncovers a deeper treachery. Can Erik’s integrity and love overcome Rosamund's fear and defiance?

 

 

 

        My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

 This was an enjoyable story, but I have the same criticisms as I do for many Christian novels with a "Medieval" setting.

- Religion. The religion of the characters is not Roman Catholicism. Not even close. There are references to priests, but their religion is modern Evangelical Christianity. They pray about who to marry, "God's plan for their life" etc.

Rosamund at one point reads a passage in a psalm and sees a reference to "man". She responds by thinking "well I'm not a man". I would have thought any reasonably educated 15th century person would have grasped that the word referred to all humans, not just the male gender.

- Historical details. 15th century castles generally did not have marble floors, reception rooms or halls. The architecture reads more like that of an 18th century manor house.

- This is meant to be set in Sweden and Denmark, and yet there is a reference to the Romans conquering the region. The Romans never got that far North. They never got further than Germany and Britain.

I'd recommend it, its a sweet story but not to be taken very seriously in terms of historical fiction. The characters were- OK. Rosamund was sort of a Mary Sue though. I found her a bit flat and boring.

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