| Plot Summary of Knight with Armour |
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"Published in 1950, this is a historical novel of the First Crusade. The year is 1096 and Messer Osbert fitzRalph, a Norman knight, holds the manor of Bodeham, Sussex in England. His oldest son will inherit the title, the manor and the land, his inexperienced second son, Roger, will inherit nothing. Undecided as to his future and career, he decides to become a knight and go adventuring on the newly declared Crusade through Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, and finally to Jerusalem. Naturally he will seek fame and fortune on the way, but above all his duty will be to keep his Norman oath of loyalty to follow his sworn leader wherever he may lead them.
The internecine politics, the historical places, and the characters are captured in vivid detail. Although our young hero and the wife he gains on the campaign are fiction, the battles, the motives and the settings are all true to the events. The narrative imparts a great deal of close-up accurate history whilst always maintaining the human interest, as he learns the art of combat, siege warfare, and struggles to keep his beautiful young wife in the style to which she would like to become accustomed. The brief flashes of glory and conquest, are balanced with the fogs of war, its privations, the long hours and days of boredom and inactivity. Success, it seems, is never won by force of arms alone, even keeping his men-at-arms and warhorse fed and healthy takes more ingenuity than might be believed. The essential ingredient of the morale of the men is explored through his relationship with the priest, who counsels him in his struggle not to descend into the mere animal struggle for survival. As with Stephen Crane's 'Red Badge of Courage', we gain a sense of the grand sweep of war, but also of the importance of the smallest details, and the hardness of coming to terms with what war does to the combatants and civilians alike."
Michael JR Jose, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Knight with Armour |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 30%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30%
Tone of story
- scarey (primal ax-wielding fear)
Time/era of story:
- middle ages
War Thriller
Yes
Armed Forces:
- Army
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Religious overtones?
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- champion of justice
Age:
- a teen
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How much violence does he/she use?
- a tremendous amount
Ethnicity/Race
- French
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- very athletic
Main Adversary
Identity:
- an organization
Profession/status:
- killer
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an average amount
Motive of antagonist
- money/treasure
The antagonists are:
- Islamic Fundamentalists
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Europe
Yes
Desert?
Yes
Misc setting
- fort/military installation
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- hundreds or more
A lot of techno jargon?
Yes
Kind of jargon?
- military technology
Unusual forms of death
- dropped from large heights
- boiling
- crushed
- flamed
- impaled
- stampeded
- decapitated
- perforation--swords/knives
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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