Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I picked the book as I enjoy History, and Historically Based Fiction. The latter genre allows the reader to enjoy a story based on History without necessarily being very well versed in the period. The cover of this book says "A Novel By...", not even close. Mr. Connell describes the book thusly "I think of this as a book about the crusades, not an "historical novel" a term that suggests imaginary experiences and unlikely conversations. Monologues and dialogues in the book are paraphrased or condensed from those in medieval documents. Every meeting, every conversation, every triumph or defeat, no matter how small, was recorded centuries ago..." I do not spend much time reading the book jacket/advertising, so I found myself with a History book on the Crusades, despite the publisher's comment "a towering work of the imagination". I wondered if the jacket and the book matched. Listen to the man who wrote the book. What makes this book special is that it is so well written that the result is highly readable, this is not a textbook of the Crusades, or at least does not read like one. So Jean, a soldier on the Christian side of this epic, takes the reader with him and shares the immediacy of a firsthand experience. There are maps provided so that those names of places and cities that have not survived the last 1000 years, can be found easily by reference. It's true that the more you know about the topic the more easily you may read through this work. However, if your knowledge is limited as mine was at page one, you still will enjoy the book. Novel, Historical Fiction, or History? From the standpoint of a reader's enjoyment, it matters little. The writing talent overcomes what the reader may lack, and the reading experience is excellent.