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Ivanhoe: A Romance (Modern Library Classics)
by Walter Scott

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6445.Ivanhoe_A_Romance?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Ivanhoe: A Romance (Modern Library Classics)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1165601582m/6445.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6445.Ivanhoe_A_Romance?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Ivanhoe: A Romance</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4345.Walter_Scott">Walter Scott</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5615753?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>     In my humble opinion the greatest medieval romance written,or at least outside of the era.  The heroes are good and virtuous, the damsels are fair and oft in distress, and the villians are dastardly and conspiratorial.  Many characters, historical and legendary, are drawn into the main conflict of the story: Prince John, Richard the Lionhearted, and Robert of Locksley and his retinue of "merry men", to name a few. The story also draws on the main conflicts of the day.  The Saxon nobility wrestling to gain control back from the Norman Lords' hegemonic dominion over Britian, as well as the fanatic Templar Order showing the zealotous religious ferver of the Crusader age against the pious, level minded views of the protagonists. 
<br/>    When read after "The Talisman" the return of Richard to England is intriguing.  In that novel, Richard was one of the few leading male characters that was who he said he was.  He was perhaps the only one who had one, and only one persona exhibitted.  In this novel, he is one of only two characters to adopt a dramatis persona. In "Talisman" such things seemed tedious to him, I think because it was a freedom he was unable to endulge in, but in this book he was able to run with it as no one knew he was back in the country, let alone free from captivity. This was I think a great play on the actual character of the man himself.
<br/>     The book also defies conventions and gives alot of irony to several archetypes.  Rowena and Rebecca, the two "damsels-in-distress" are both strong women, or at least as strong as they were able to be in an age of armored knights.  Rowena defies her father, her family, and later her captors and shows incredible will and fortitude.  Likewise, Rebecca saves the main character probably as much as he does her. She also stands trial and acts as her own council using superior logic to make her case. The arch-villain, the Templar Brian de Bois-Guillbert, is I feel a more compelling character than the protagonist becauce he so flawed, but still susceptible to deep love and devotion, and self sacrifice.  
<br/>     This book ties with the novel "Musashi" as my absolute favorite novel of all time.
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/272561?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Alger's review
rating:
recommended for: Anyone & Everyone

In my humble opinion the greatest medieval romance written,or at least outside of the era. The heroes are good and virtuous, the damsels are fair and oft in distress, and the villians are dastardly and conspiratorial. Many characters, historical and legendary, are drawn into the main conflict of the story: Prince John, Richard the Lionhearted, and Robert of Locksley and his retinue of "merry men", to name a few. The story also draws on the main conflicts of the day. The Saxon nobility wrestling to gain control back from the Norman Lords' hegemonic dominion over Britian, as well as the fanatic Templar Order showing the zealotous religious ferver of the Crusader age against the pious, level minded views of the protagonists.
When read after "The Talisman" the return of Richard to England is intriguing. In that novel, Richard was one of the few leading male characters that was who he said he was. He was perhaps the only one who had one, and only one pers...more In my humble opinion the greatest medieval romance written,or at least outside of the era. The heroes are good and virtuous, the damsels are fair and oft in distress, and the villians are dastardly and conspiratorial. Many characters, historical and legendary, are drawn into the main conflict of the story: Prince John, Richard the Lionhearted, and Robert of Locksley and his retinue of "merry men", to name a few. The story also draws on the main conflicts of the day. The Saxon nobility wrestling to gain control back from the Norman Lords' hegemonic dominion over Britian, as well as the fanatic Templar Order showing the zealotous religious ferver of the Crusader age against the pious, level minded views of the protagonists.
When read after "The Talisman" the return of Richard to England is intriguing. In that novel, Richard was one of the few leading male characters that was who he said he was. He was perhaps the only one who had one, and only one persona exhibitted. In this novel, he is one of only two characters to adopt a dramatis persona. In "Talisman" such things seemed tedious to him, I think because it was a freedom he was unable to endulge in, but in this book he was able to run with it as no one knew he was back in the country, let alone free from captivity. This was I think a great play on the actual character of the man himself.
The book also defies conventions and gives alot of irony to several archetypes. Rowena and Rebecca, the two "damsels-in-distress" are both strong women, or at least as strong as they were able to be in an age of armored knights. Rowena defies her father, her family, and later her captors and shows incredible will and fortitude. Likewise, Rebecca saves the main character probably as much as he does her. She also stands trial and acts as her own council using superior logic to make her case. The arch-villain, the Templar Brian de Bois-Guillbert, is I feel a more compelling character than the protagonist becauce he so flawed, but still susceptible to deep love and devotion, and self sacrifice.
This book ties with the novel "Musashi" as my absolute favorite novel of all time....less

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