Three kings of Europe are leading a crusade in the Holy Land to retake Jerusalem following its fall to the master-of-war, Saladin — and young Roland Inness, a lad whose bow beat even that of Robin of Loxley, is joining it. He doesn’t have any wild ambition to drive the Saracens from Jerusalem, but it’s the nature of feudalism: the knight he is squired to is pledged to support the King, so there you are. The journey to Outremer is one fraught with peril, from both man and nature alike, but especially man: most of the Iberian coast is hostile, and the Mediterranean has no shortage of Berber and Moorish pirates. Once there, Roland and company will join the siege of Acre, all the while Phillip of France schemes with allies in England to create a little domestic drama for the Lion Heart. We are told this story in two parts: the first, following young Roland across the world; the second, focusing his lord’s daughter Millie, who has been asked by Queen Eleanor to serve as a lady-in-waiting in a key section of the Midlands and keep her ears open. Roland and Millie are somewhat sweet on one another, but are separated here, and the events of this story are pushing them quickly into adult responsibilities and real peril, especially Roland whose boyhood innocence is long lost in the din of war.I definitely think these were intended for younger readers now, given the cover art and the continuing lack of graphic language, violence, or other content: battles happen, but we don’t have prolonged description of viscera flying and the like. Making matters more interesting is the fact that the man who killed Roland’s father, the man whose company Roland massacred and made himself an outlaw in the doing of, is involved in the domestic skulduggery and eying Millie. Whenever he and Roland finally confront one another, it’s going to be emotionally intense with all the layers of drama building between them. As with Longbow, Grant works in a little of the Robin Hood mythos, with Robin and Friar Tuck reappearing as minor characters — making this another fun bit of medieval adventuring. Grant has written seven books in this series, so there’s much to look forward to.

Related:
Crusader, Ben Kane. For multiple reasons: same Crusade, same Richard, and similar setup with the English ship being harried by various powers in the Med, same dirty domestic politics, same intense rivalry between our hero and some nefarious nobleman who did his father in and who is undermining the king. Kane’s drama is more meaty and serious, though.