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As a keen fan of the historical novel, I have enjoyed this one by Lamour, who is not noted for writing in this genre. I am left with the regret that he did not write more historical novels as he is a master at setting the context of his stories which never fail to capture the reader's imagination.
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very interesting book well writen
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not at his best when this was written
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Louis L'Amour was probably the best known and possibly also the best of the western writers of the latter part of the twentieth century. On occasion his works wandered into the realm of the historical novel as background to other series, but The Walking Drum is, I believe, the only stand alone novel of the genre he produced. Unfortunately L'Amour died before writing the talked about sequel. The story is set in 12th. Century Europe and Asia Minor and follows the adventures of Kerbouchard, a young man from Brittany who is sold into slavery after a neighbour raids his lands and kills his family. After finding his freedom he sets out to avenge his mother's death and find his captive father. Kerbouchard is not just warrior, but also a scholar, merchant, and physician and travels across Europe from Spain, France, Germany and Italy to Asia Minor. As with all L'Amour's novels the story is full of action, intrigue and romance and the back ground is well researched and paints a fully believable setting for the novel, particularly the episode set around the adventures of one of the huge merchant caravans that plied the trade routes from France, via the Baltic Kingdoms to Constantinople, a subject which has not often been touched upon by novelists. A cracking good read and a worthy addition to any collection of medieval novels. The work was published originally in the US, and although the paperback editions were available in the UK, hardcover editions were difficult to obtain in Europe until the advent of the internet bookseller.Read full review
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