HISTORICAL FICTION REVIEW: In the Name of the King - A L Berridge

Release Date: 04/08/11

SYNOPSIS:

1640, and the pall of war hangs over France . . .

The young Chevalier de Roland has scarcely set foot in the city before he crosses swords with a cruel nobleman to defend a young woman's honour. Too late he learns he has stumbled on a conspiracy within the King's own household to seize power by secret alliance with Spain. Accused of treason and forced to flee into hiding, André must fight on alone, staking both his life and his honour in the battle to save France.

Blood and Steel is an epic swashbuckling pageturner that sweeps from the political intrigues of Cardinal Richelieu to the great battlefields of the Thirty Years War.


REVIEW:

Readers have been fascinated with tales of combat and daring since ancient times when tales were originally told around the campfire and then revitalised when Monmouth’s Le Morte d'Arthur went to press, yet one of the most travelled to is that of the Reigns of Louis XIII and XIV, such as those by authors like Dumas (famed for his Three Musketeer’s.)

Braving into this world is AL Berridge whose first book, Honour and the Sword, not only announced her to the historical fiction world but made her a name to watch.

What you get in the second title is a story that’s gripping, great pace and an adventure that satisfies from the first page to the last. Add to this, great prose, wonderfully formed characters and the readers have ideal material to get them in the mood for Paul WS Anderson’s forthcoming Three Musketeer’s film.