The Great Scot: A Novel of Robert the Bruce, Scotland's Legendary Warrior King

by Duncan A. Bruce

Robert the Bruce was Scotland's greatest King ever. The Bruce, as he was known, was crowned King of Scots in 1306, a time when the ancient kingdom of Scotland was under harsh and illegal English occupation. As soon as King Robert began his reign, his army was treacherously attack at Methven, resulting in a calamitous defeat for the Scots which forced the Bruce into hiding. Yet, steadily between 1307 and 1313 King Robert won battle after battle. shunning pitched medieval clashes, and fighting as a guerilla force, a form of warfare which he, perhaps, invented.

The war peaked in 1314 when the Bruce faced a formidable English invasion. With brilliant tactics and resolute bravery the vastly outnumbered Scots defeated and routed the knights, archers, and foot soldiers of mighty England at the Battle of Bannockburn. And that's only the first part of this epic tale of the Bruce's long and event-filled life.

The Great Scot is a novel filled with valor, treachery, passionate love, journeys great and small, and people of every rank and situation-all from the pages of Scottish history.

Genres: Fiction, Scotland, Historical Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2004

Reviews

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical novel written by a descendant of King Robert Bruce’s brother Sir Edward Bruce. It tells of the battles and important moments by a page, turned soldier, who was close to the King. This is the story of how Scotland became free, for a wee time.

The writing style is simple, although there are untranslated words, sentences in several languages such as Gaelic, Scots and French, perhaps a bit of Latin thrown in. At times there was too much summary, too cursory. The book is attempting to be accurate, and with lack of information from the 1300’s much has to be invented or glossed over. Yet some moments are fairly details, which makes the book a little uneven. Character development is flat as well. What you get instead is moments of battle and a lot of marching all around Scotland. Places are named, not described. There is a little more description when the narrator goes to France on a diplomatic mission.

Despite all the flaws, I still enjoyed the book.

[Scott Totten · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Robert the Bruce and his brothers in their fight for the freedom of Scotland.
I enjoyed the book immensely. It is narrated by a 3rd person and at times was a little flat, however the battles and timelines are historically accurate and it's well worth the read.

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shortly before our trip to Scotland, I discovered that Robert the Bruce is way up in my family tree - 13x great grandfather. This little book helped me form his story.

[Nathalie Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was a gift or I would never have picked it up. It is not all that well written and seems to be a lot of chest thumping to me. It lacked the excitement and grandeur one would expect from the subject.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read "The Insurrection", a novel about the early years of Robert The Bruce I found this one which followed and completed the story. A very unsophisticated style of writing, (it was the authors only novel). The author is a descendent of Robert The Bruce's brother, Edward.

[Liv · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book so intriguing. Robert the Bruce proved to be a true king. Merciful and merciless, clever yet naive. I love the fictional narrative woven into the historical battles. It shows the effects of war on the winners and the losers. Highly recommended as an intro into Scottish history.

[Blair Hodgkinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very,very disappointing. The writing is very poor and it comes as no surprise that the author claims descent from the Bruce's brother as this book has a surplus of ancestral hero worship.

[Lori Brenizer · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic

[JG (Introverted Reader) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story, atrocious writing.