Birth of the Kingdom
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- 9,99 €
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- 9,99 €
Publisher Description
The third volume of the crusades trilogy from bestselling Swedish author Jan Guillou.
Arn de Gotha has become one of the most feared warriors of the Knights Templar fighting to liberate Palestine with the Crusaders.
At the great battle for Jerusalem, a mammoth and bloody struggle where the Christians were finally defeated, Arn is saved from certain death by Saladin, his longtime enemy and trusted friend. Ravaged by wounds and sickness, Arn is at last granted his wish: to return at last to his homeland, it plagued by endless wars.
Arn is determined to find her – the woman for whom he was exiled. He must discover if their love could endure so long a separation, and if it can sustain his new quest: the create a new people, a new society, both Christian and Muslim, both craftsmen and warriors, with Arn at its helm, fighting for peace in a savage land.
A fitting conclusion to a great trilogy, a bestseller all over Europe, and now the basis for a major film.
Reviews
‘He has a remarkable grasp of the mindset of the period and always puts the emphasis where it would be for the people involved at hat time, rather than ours. Some readers may find that disorienting, but a capacity for disturbing readers’ assumptions is even more a hallmark of good historical fiction than the inclusion of the Knights Templar’
Diana Gabaldon
'Thrilling and inspiring, bloody and romantic; utterly of its time and utterly modern’
Tom Holland
'Destined to become a classic, a brilliant and dramatic recreation of the medieval world' Sharon Penman
About the author
Jan Guillou was born in Sweden in January 1944. He made his name as a journalist and rose to fame when he exposed a secret intelligence organisation, was convicted of espionage and spent 10 months in prison, 5 of which were spent in solitary confinement. He is now a bestselling novelist and writes regularly for Sweden’s leading tabloid, commenting on current affairs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This disappointing final installment to Guillou's Crusades trilogy (The Road to Jerusalem, etc.) is overlong, deadly slow, and like The Road to Jerusalem, the trilogy's first book, features very little of the crusades. Instead it takes place in 12th-century Sweden as Templar knight Arn de Gotha returns to his homeland after 20 years of exile. Arn returns rich with gold and silver, and accompanied by a curious band of Christians and Muslims, soldiers, physicians, craftsmen, and builders. He intends to rebuild the fortunes and military strength of his clan and seek out his true love, Cecilia, who bore him a son and caused his exile. Arn's plans are complicated by political intrigues among clans, with rivalries, feuds, and alliances settled by honor killings, arranged marriages, false promises, and tenuous agreements. This is a vivid history loaded with detailed descriptions of society, trade, politics, customs, and folklore, but it's unfortunately light on action or suspense, with only the last pages containing any excitement, and even that is diluted with sanitized descriptions of medieval warfare. As a history lesson this is excellent; as a novel it's underwhelming.
