The Sword and the Rose

by Victor J. Banis

The never-to-be-forgotten epic of surging romance and breathtaking valor...the novel that introduces a knight of prodigious strength and gentle spirit, who is as deadly to the Saracen hoards as he is magnetic to the women whose lust he awakens...His name-Sir Kenneth, clept The Knight Of The Hawk by his admiring fellows. His heart is stolen by the lovely Lady Joan, cousin to King Richard, and their tempestuous romance towers over the desert moon itself, as around them the battle for the Holy City Of Jerusalem rages.

Genres: Historical Fiction

268 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Victor J. Banis is a writer. http://www.vjbanisauthor.com/

Victor Jerome Banis (May 25, 1937 – February 22, 2019) was an American author, often associated with the first wave of west coast gay writing. For his contributions he has been called "the godfather of modern popular gay fiction

Reviews

[Sarah Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is different from the other vintage Banis novels I've read. It's pure historical fiction, & rather sedate fiction even then -- no crazypants WTFery, no whackadoodle plotting, no OTT characters, no bizarre goffick tropes. Is there anything wrong with such an approach? Not per se. But it was totally unexpected, given prior experience with this author's style. Indeed, the preface hinted at forgiveness for the rash of liberties with historical context & academia, so I was fully prepared for a Rain Maiden-esque rollercoaster.

Torrid soap, this book is not. Rather, it's a (short) fanfic about Richard & Saladin. The romance on the back cover? Well, it's the secondary plot, & a minor one at that. Joan & Kenneth are likable characters -- but they're not the focus. The real story here is Richard & Saladin's bromance o' respect & honor. They don't meet in battle. Instead they meet in disguise & we're treated at great length to the subtleties(?) of Crusade underpinnings -- Saladin's wry banter against Western culture & medicine, Richard's blustery mood swings, the absurdity (or seeming absurdity to modern eyes) of near civil war re: the placement of pennants...

Yeah. Not exactly the promised love triangle between a high-born lady, a knight, & a gypsy camp follower. *eyebrow*

...That said, blame rests with the publisher. I did enjoy this, despite the bait-and-switch cover blurb. I'm no great expert on the Crusades, so I can't speak to nitty-gritty details -- but it was an interesting juxtaposition to Rain Maiden, both in style & subject matter. (N.B.: This is the first medieval I've read wherein Richard wasn't portrayed as gay, or at least bisexual.)

[Tim Parise]

A slightly more explicit fan-fiction spinoff of Walter Scott's The Talisman . Essentially a 1970s Fifty Shades given its derivative nature. Banis copies Scott's original words almost exactly in places while abbreviating them in others and interspersing contemporary contractions and idioms, making for a jarring read. The depth and suspense of the original plot is gone, replaced by a gypsy girl, two barely introduced sex scenes, and two kisses. It is astonishing that any publishing house ever agreed to release this piece of inferior plagiarism, but no less astonishing than that their marketing department described the story on the rear cover as a "tempestuous romance...bold! momentous! sensual!" Timid, shallow, and cold would be more accurate. A literary curiosity good for some head-shaking and nothing else.