Thanks to Christian Cameron I've begun to research into the hundred years war. A lover of SFF, I came across the author from Red Knight series, which I completely loved. When I wanted something different, something historical and found Tom Swan series of the author. It was a adventure serial and I loved the author's handling of facets of war and the description of Italy, Greece and islands. When I wanted more, I discovered Ill-made knight whose research was ironically the one that fueled Tom Swan serial.
Initial 50 pages was kinda flat, and it's told from first person, which was a major turnoff. I loved Traitor son for it's expansive world and characters adn when I discovered I'm going to live inside William Gold's head, I was not very enthusiastic.
But that's all I could remember about the reading days, because next I know, 2 days and some 10 hours later, I'm done with the book.
Few novels succeed in holding onto my easily-distracted head but The Ill-made knight made me lose the present and feel like I lived in the brutal age in France. Great characters- I hated Boruc Camus, I understood Gold's love(spoiler, so no), his longing, his confusion about the whole war, his love for his sister and I really could see the war through the character's eyes. The betrayal hit me hard. The end felt rushed, since it was a part Will Gold yearned for, so I wanted to read more(again spoiler-y).
Another facet of the story that made me love it was the inquisitive and exploratory nature of Will Gold. He listened to the politics, he dwelt to understand the banking and economy of the war, especially around the end when Green Knight character comes in during the beginning of the Crusades.
A fine book, with great characters, expansive story, great dialogues and the best of it all, amazing writing on the duels and war. The Poitier battle that held the first half of the book was simply outstanding.